Yesterday we spoke of Transparency and Visibility, but let us look at Transparency in the light of Mistakes, Ignorance and Ethics.. These are just starters for you to think more…

Transparency and Mistakes

Mistakes happen, and it is also true that based on the severity of the impact the mistake has on the organization, your mistake will take its own gravity. But mistakes that force us to not be transparent are not always that grave, they are often things that can easily be corrected and convinced to others as unrepeatable and one can work on them. But people fear that dialogue where one has to answer to others, they often rather not let people know and then work on resolving it without people coming to know about it.

But once you take that fear out and be ready to admit a mistake and sincerely work on it I don’t think any of your stakeholders or managers or peers who have had the pleasure to work with you will not want to continue it….. In fact sometimes you will be better off because they know they can trust you on your own mistakes, which is a big boost to your individual contributions into a team… So first step towards embracing transparency, is to be fearless in accepting mistakes….

Transparency and Ignorance

Some people find ignorance or lack of knowledge as their hurdle in becoming transparent. While it is true no one wants to show their ignorance to others or even the smallest lack of knowledge…. this thinking is fast changing…. We live and work in an environment where everyone does not know everything and often at work places it is the collaborative mind that achieves the impossible… So accept two things; first that you don’t know everything and secondly, it is not important to know everything and finally commit yourself that you will do all it takes to fill in your gap of knowledge so as to be more effective… This should take out your fear of being exposed and thus help you in being transparent…

Transparency and Ethics

In my opinion one reason some people don’t become transparent is a matter of ethics; they want to deliberately hide and in such cases I would rather let that people not have the visibility and advancement in their career, because I am not writing this for people who have an ethics problem…. There are always aberrations in all fields… but the majority is always good…at least in my field… and in my experience…

Finally do not mistake transparency with your responsibility to keep information secure, because adhering to information security and ensuring that you never share information with people who do not need to know… it is your responsibility as well…. When I say transparency what I have referred is our ability to bring people together and know us better and be comfortable in committing on our behalf and not having to deal with surprises…

So work your way to being transparent and you will see that you get Visible as well….

Categories: Podcasts, Work & Career

Tags: Transparency, visibility