11/22/2019

When Transparency Becomes a Bad Word

What Lowell Aplebaum, CAE, CPF is observing in strategic planning sessions

Over the past week, I have been in two strategy engagements where, in the process of setting goals and core values, the term transparency has risen to the surface.

But not in a good way.

In one instance, upon an elder statesman raising transparency as a possible place of cultural focus for the organization, a nextgen voice at the table shared strong feelings that by needing to say the organization was going to be committed to transparency, it was inherently demonstrating it was not transparent. In a second case, a board member queried committee and local leaders on how they viewed transparency within their organization. The conversation that followed quickly evidenced an undercurrent of potential mistrust – comment after comment expressed that transparency should mean everyone should know everything.

Please select this link to read the complete article from LinkedIn.