Communicating With Integrity

With a lack of information, people will turn to any rumors that sound good or that fed into their world view.

You can get ahead of that by giving information out by admitting what you can.

Some managers prefer to keep their secrets. They think it gives them power. What it really does it erode trust. Even in the event that you do have to keep information secret, be up front about that. If you have layoffs coming and your followers ask, be up front and tell them that you cannot discuss any of it, even that there are layoffs coming. If you have built productive relationships with your followers, they will understand you integrity and that you have to keep something private.

You have a responsibility to your followers, but you also have a responsibility to your organization. Betraying a trust to either is (or ought to be) a violation of your integrity.

If you want to create trust, tell what you can.

In the age of vaccine mandates, many organizations are facing an uncertain future. Some may be losing more staff than they require to safely operate.

Changing policies make it difficult to manage an organization after deadlines expire. Plans may be fluid. Organizations cannot be expected to provide current information about how the organization will run after large segments of the workforce are gone.

On the other hand, telling your organization nothing about the future is inviting disaster.

In the absence of any information, staff will make things up. They will believe rumors. They will become stressed and blame that anxiety on the organization.

You don’t have to tell your followers the plan, you may not even know it. You can at least do them the courtesy of telling them that you are working on a plan.

The kind of message I would like to hear from my organization would go something like this, “We know that everyone is making hard decisions. Some of those decisions we may not agree with, but they are decisions people get to make in a free society. The organization is working on plans for the future and will share those plans as soon as possible. Until then, we can all support one another and be kind to each other.”