Transparency has the ability to transform employees into operating partners for an organization with much higher levels of ownership and vesting.
Trust and transparency are closely related. Transparent organizations and leaders are more trusted by team members.
Trust your team members with the truth and as much as you can tell them about financial results, customers, meetings and other team members. The more you trust them, the more they will trust you.
Leadership transparency must be balanced with the need to be upbeat and optimistic. Transparency does not grant license to be a fear-based leader or to be an ass.
Focus on Healthy Workplaces-People Centered Leadership
One of the most common predicting elements of a healthy (and successful) workplace is the presence of people centered leaders at all organizational levels. From the C-suited to the first line of supervision.
People are never be viewed or treated as a commodity at healthy workplaces.
People centered leaders are great listeners and prioritize listening to their team members.
People centered leaders provide genuine empathy to team members.
People centered leaders build solid and lasting relationships with team members.
Ethical consistency or ethical congruence is not about ethics and certainly not about morality. It is about the consistent and fair application of policies to all team members.
When team members believe their are dual standards, unfairness, lack of consistent enforcement or favoritism, morale will be substantially harmed.
Avoid making policy exceptions because of who someone is or because they happen to be a favored team member.
Senior leaders especially must be consistent and great role models for this behavior.
Take special care to ensure you are not creating any appearance of impropriety or favoritism.
Focus on Healthy Workplaces-Team Member Self-Esteem Needs
Meeting the self-esteem and ego needs of team members creates a healthy and high performing workplace as well as develops increased performance and engagement.
Making praise, appreciation and recognition a part of the organization’s culture creates sustained health and performance.
Leaders must be committed to consistency in providing appreciation and positive feedback.
Leaders must overcome their own stigmas related to appreciation and praise and not judge the needs of others based on their own needs.
Focus on Healthy Workplaces-Safety and Security Needs
Organizations, and individual leaders have an obligation to meet the basic second tier need for safety and security.
The bulk of this need can be satisfied with team members by demonstrating financial viability and sharing key information related to that strength.
Telling and sharing the company history will also aid in meeting this need set.
Key company policies, including anti-harassment, bullying and hostile working environment elimination, must be enforced fairly and equitably.
Communicate any situation in which the company or organization may appear in the news or social media in a less than favorable manner. Never surprise team members with reading bad news elsewhere.
To contribute to a healthy and effective working environment, compensation strategies must include fairness and equitability.
The most common point of lack of fairness is the amount paid for internal promotions versus outside new hires.
Great organizations provide “value statements” to their team members showing the total of all compensation and other contributions by the company.
Many healthy workplaces now provide assistance and training to team members to assist them in managing their personal finances.
Compare your compensation plans to your competitors and ensure that you are within a common range. You do not have to be the highest but should not be the lowest.
