Of 75 possible drivers of engagement the ONE that was rated as the most important…
…was the extent to which employees believed that their senior management had a sincere interest in their well-being.
It is vital that leaders demonstrate that they act in the best interest of their constituents. Shredding or sugar-coating the truth leads to distrust. Facts can be stubborn and dangerous things.
Want an example of this? It comes from social media.
Social media management company Buffer has a unique approach to building trust. “Default to transparency” is the phrase that has become rooted within the Buffer company culture. Since 2013, transparency has been integrated into the core values with beliefs like:
“always state your thoughts immediately and with honesty”
“use transparency as a tool to help others.”
Buffer is well known for the ease of public access to information such as the salary of every employee, the individual equity formula, and the company’s diversity statistics filtered by department, gender, ethnicity, and age.
Takeaway: Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis perhaps put it best, “If the broad light of day could be let in upon men’s actions, it would purify them as the sun disinfects.” Perhaps sunlight (not bleach) is the best disinfectant.