Transparency

Now I know what you're thinking (actually I don't, but I can guess): "transparency" is a corporate buzzword. Well maybe it is. But I've learned that in the corporate world, buzzwords exist for a reason. Transparency is on such buzzword that's tossed about a lot, but it's very rarely realized.

Here's what I mean. I once consulted for a small-town retail business that had three employees who had no idea what they were doing. They would show up for work every day, do the same repetitive routine, go home, and receive a $1,000 paycheck at the end of every week. I asked one of them what his job entailed and he said something like this:

Well, I take this paper here and this paper here, and I compare the numbers on them. If any of the numbers are different, I highlight them. I then attach this coversheet and bring them to my manager.

So I asked a natural follow-up question: what are the numbers for? He had no idea. I then went to his manager and asked what the numbers meant. His manager said that he had to report any large differences between highlighted numbers. I finally went to his manager and asked what the numbers were for.

Apparently, the numbers on one sheet were the sum of the total retail values of the stock that had been sold at an outlet in a given week, and the numbers on the other sheet were the total revenues of the same outlet for the same weeks. If there were differences between the numbers it meant that either the inventory had been incorrectly counted, or something had gone missing.

For a retail business, knowing these things is really important! But the people doing the actual work didn't really understand what they were doing. Once I told them what I knew, they understood that they really had to do their jobs well. Mistakes could cost their company a lot of money.

This example is the polar opposite of transparency. Transparency is when workers know fully what it is they're doing and what impact their work has on the future of the business. If people don't know what they're doing, they have no motivation to do their jobs quickly or accurately.

So if you're a manager, make sure your employees know what it is they're doing. And if you're one of those people who don't know what they're doing, ask!