No One Trusts Us When We Lie

A lack of trust is the issue at the heart of employee disengagement, and it's caused by the fact that we persistently lie to each other at work. We've been doing this for so long and it's so entrenched that most of the time, we barely notice we're doing it.

We start the practice of telling lies about work in our schools and colleges when we train young students in interview skills. “Interview skills” is educational code for lying—lying by presenting a version of yourself that is not true, not really you and not really your whole self. Companies also lie at interviews, from the recruitment ads to the promises of perfect roles we know aren't real. With both sides working so hard to cover up the truth, is it any wonder that so many jobs end after 18 months?

We continue lying under the guise of professionalism: a set of behaviors that adheres to some unwritten code of how we think we should behave at work that is not the real us.

We lie with concepts such as permanent jobs when, of course, there is no such thing, and then lie throughout the rest of the employment relationship with half‐truths, withheld information and saying one thing when we mean another. We tell ourselves that we're doing this to “protect our employees,” but the end result is simply disengagement through lack of trust.

This chapter is dedicated to the radical, revolutionary, rebellious idea of telling the truth, defaulting to transparency, and being open and honest—just like our parents told us to do when we were kids.

The Crime of Under‐communicating

Under‐communicating also erodes trust. You know the story: Sales aren't where you hoped they'd be or you've got retention problems, but if you tell everyone, it will worry them and they will fear for their jobs. You keep it quiet until the axe drops and you make the layoffs instead.

When it comes to talking honestly and openly, Richard Plepler, CEO of HBO, has a saying: “The building knows the truth.” Everyone knows the problems in the business because they sit next to the sales team who missed their goals, see the worried look on managers' faces and notice the closed‐door meetings.

“If you want people to make the same decisions that you would make, but in a more scalable way, you have to give them the same information you have.”

—Keith Rabois,
Investor at PayPal, LinkedIn and Square

While working for a team that missed its targets is disappointing, having that information means your people can start becoming part of the solution. But too many people work in companies that miss their targets and keep employees in the dark or lie to them. That's where trust collapses, fear comes in and disengagement happens.

Key Outcomes Rebels Strive For

When we look at organizations that have made significant headway toward a culture of open and honest communication, we see three key benefits.

Key Rebel Behaviors

We've found companies crack the open and honest communications code in five key ways:

1. Default to transparency

   Rebels make everything open, visible and public unless something absolutely has to be made private or closed to a team, group or department. They use open messaging technology like Slack, collaborate in open systems like Google Docs, and have an understanding that secrecy should be questioned and challenged.

   “Be as open with your people as you can, as early as you can. Employees are much more likely to go to bat for something they understand.”

   —Helen Craik,
   Reward Gateway Co‐founder and architect of the early culture

2. Explain why

   Rebels communicate company decisions and strategy in a unique and highly effective way. They place significant emphasis on explaining the “why,” so the reason and thinking behind key decisions comes before getting into the “how.”

3. Make room for dissent, disagreement and diversity of opinion

   Rebels listen constantly. They value diversity of opinion and create teams that include people with different perspectives. They create multiple channels for employees to share their views, ideas, and concerns to leadership on a routine, everyday basis.

4. Communicate continuously with warmth and emotion

   Rebels communicate constantly using a wide variety of channels. They repeat key messages and there is an assumption, a habit, that communication is a job never done. They communicate with rich, human stories, building relationships and constantly asking, “How will people feel when they hear or read this?”

5. Invest in lateral transparency

   Rebels create a culture where peers are open and honest with each other, departments feel safe in being candid, and there is a high degree of lateral transparency in the business. They encourage relationships between people across teams with social communication, social recognition and open directory tools. They promote a culture that allows constant feedback and improvement to occur between people, something that author Kim Scott calls “building a culture of radical candor.”²

Making a Start

The cost of improving transparency is almost zero in cash terms, but requires an ongoing dialogue between management and staff, a real commitment from leadership, and the courage to disrupt years of established HR and company communications practice.

Situation

Social media company Buffer is known for its radical approach to communication and transparency, doing something unprecedented by sharing salaries of all 71 employees, posting them on a public website for all the world to see. And not just salaries, but its customer pricing model, revenues, equity grants, and even money spent on retreats and perks. Why, why would a company take this bold and very visible approach?

To answer this question, you have to look at one of their 10 values, default to transparency, which addresses transparency with two groups. The first is with employees, and talks about sharing thoughts immediately and with honesty. As CEO Joel Gascoigne says, the reason is that “transparency breeds trust, and trust is the foundation of great teamwork.”⁴ The second is with customers, using transparent communication as a tool to help others. “Taking the extra step and making it public as well is extending that trust to a different set of people—role modelling it to customers and blog readers and prospective team members,” says Gascoigne.

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Buffer's transparent approach to sharing salaries has evolved and become more robust as the company has grown. It began by sharing salaries with the original 10 employees, explaining the rationale and formula behind each figure. After internal conversations, the company took the next step and shared salaries externally. As Gascoigne wrote at the time, “We hope this might help other companies think about how to decide salaries, and will open us up to feedback from the community.”

The approach Buffer uses and shares is its “transparent salary formula.” Now in its third version, the formula has evolved based on feedback received both internally and externally. Beginning with the objective of developing salaries that provide a good standard of living, the formula takes into account the market value of the job, the employee's location and their experience level. As Gascoigne says, transparent pay “gives employees one less thing to worry or gossip about and introduces a level of fairness.” To read more about this, go to rg.co/buffersalaries.

The company has seen real benefits to this transparent approach; starting, when it first went live, with a 50% increase in job applicants. It's also acted as a way to share a bit of Buffer's culture very early in the process with applicants, so they're quickly able to decide whether Buffer's unique values feel like the right fit. Other ways it's helped relate back to the objective of helping others, “providing a blueprint for others to use as they eradicate inequalities in pay, with nowhere to hide in this transparent environment,” says Courtney Seiter, Director of People.

Situation

When Wistia, an internet video hosting company, was a seven‐person company, it began a tradition of weekly standup meetings. The meetings were a vehicle for keeping the lines of communication open among the small team, so everyone was informed about what they'd done and learned each week. As the team grew to 100, though, the company faced the challenge of keeping this important tradition alive. Could the standup meetings still work, or should the tradition be sidelined?

In the end, the team decided that the tradition of this vital communication vehicle was too important to give up on, so they evolved it to work for their new workforce. “These meetings are critical to our business as it creates important cultural moments where connections occur and innovation begins,” says founder and CEO Chris Savage.⁵

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Wistia's new format is called “Show and Tell,” and is a weekly 30‐minute all‐hands meeting. The format is simple: Anyone can share a 5‐minute (or less) presentation; people share creative ideas, projects and customer interactions; and last but not least, everyone cheers for everyone else. Much like the child's game, where children bring in and share their prized possessions, employees get that same excited feeling by proudly sharing what they've accomplished.

“As our company's grown, meetings have become extremely focused and no‐nonsense, and everyone is busy with their weekly tasks. But it's crucial to stay excited about having innovative, unexpected ideas. That's how teammates stay motivated to build, plan, design, write, produce and work in original ways. That's how companies grow,” says Savage.

The results have been that team members are more connected and more honest, sharing both good and bad to make the company and the product better with every passing Show and Tell.

Situation

When David Politis, founder and CEO of BetterCloud, attended the New York Times “New Work Summit” conference, he was inspired by a session hosted by Adam Bryant, a columnist for the New York Times. Bryant's session, titled “The CEO's User Manual,” talked about the importance of CEOs creating a “how‐to‐work‐with me” guide to be given to their workforce to help employees understand how best to work with them and gain their trust.

“What a brilliant idea—it makes you kick yourself and wonder, why didn't I think of doing that?” says Politis. He embraced the concept so much that he invited his entire workforce to create their own guides. As Politis explains, “Why should it be limited to learning how to work with the CEO only? The learning curve seems to be even more pronounced in intra‐ and inter‐team interactions, which happen a lot more on a daily basis than interactions with me do. So I took it one step further: I decided to have the whole company create user manuals.”

This approach and tool has had a positive impact on team members working together more effectively, with increased trust and cooperation, leading to stronger working relationships.

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The how‐to‐work‐with me guide outlines what you like, what you don't like and how you work best. As Politis says, “It's a ‘cheat sheet’ of sorts, giving colleagues a way to quickly and efficiently learn about each other, which in turn allows them to work together more effectively.”

Politis introduced the concept at a company meeting, explaining why he felt the guide was valuable and sharing his with employees. He then asked everyone to take out their laptops and begin an exercise to create their own guides. “I don't think we've ever had a period of time where every person in the company was typing at the same time—they were so absorbed that nobody was talking or looking up; everyone was just furiously typing away. But the coolest part of it all was when we finished and people went back to their desks: I noticed everyone was in the Shared Drive folder and avidly reading each other's user manuals, curious to learn more,” says Politis.

The guides have become a part of the company, providing a simple tool to encourage conversations about communication styles and learn more about each other. They've led to a more productive, open and transparent environment.

Situation

It was 2013, and Holden, one of Australia's largest car manufacturers, was faced with a challenging situation, one putting both the business and employee engagement to the test. After being told the plant would be closing in four years, the leadership had to make some difficult decisions: when and what to tell their employees, and how to manage the business for the remaining years.

The strategy and approach the leadership team developed is a stellar example of employee engagement at its best, which is even more amazing given their situation. Where some companies would focus on winding down the business, Holden made the decision to ramp up and focus on its people. According to Jamie Getgood, HR Director, “If all we do as a leadership team is simply shrink the business, we will have failed our people and our customers. Our people genuinely care for each other, and our last car will be the best we ever built.”⁶

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Holden's new focus on its people was comprehensive and best in class, so much so that other companies facing similar challenges began to solicit the company's assistance. It involved the following:

• Transparent communication by removing the veil of secrecy that had existed in the past, creating a transparent and two‐way approach. This began with sharing the news of the plant closure immediately, and continued throughout the transition period, treating employees with respect and trust.
• Improved employee focus by putting money and effort into improving the employee experience. Whether this involved maintaining the gardens, upgrading bathrooms, or having site‐wide activities and events (e.g. classic car days, family days, charity events), Holden showed employees that the company cared for them in many ways.
• New methods of connection by having daily production walks by the leadership team to stay close/connected to employees at this critical time, helping them understand and react to the needs of the business and employees.
• Increased transition support by using a three‐phase approach to “support and give employees confidence, preparing them for their next journey,” says Getgood. Phase One helped employees understand themselves, Phase Two helped them explore further career opportunities and Phase Three provided outplacement services. It's been a huge success, with 82% of employees participating in the program.

With these new initiatives, Holden spent more on its people over the final four years than in the previous 10. Did it make a difference? Absolutely, yes! The company's workplace‐of‐choice metrics, which included engagement, increased a staggering 20 to 30%; attendance improved; processes improved; and the quality of the cars built in the facility attained world‐class standards. Holden's workforce rallied around the business to truly support it and to leave with their heads held high, being proud of what they had accomplished and done during this challenging period.

Situation

Krispy Kreme, the doughnut and coffeehouse chain, is passionate about delivering delicious tastes and connecting both customers and employees with moments of happiness. Key to this is engaging and connecting with its workforce, and aligning with values that focus on creating situations and destinations that bring people together.

The company felt a key way to create this connection was through communication, but hadn't found a scalable approach that would also align employees with business goals and company values. Over the years, it had used a variety of approaches and media to communicate with its 850 employees in multiple locations, but the leadership felt important messages weren't reaching all employees. “Our intention was to give people exposure to the business beyond what they see every day, and context for how their role fits into the bigger picture. We believed this would drive engagement and showcase how great a company Krispy Kreme is to work for,” says Sally Park, Head of People for Krispy Kreme Australia.⁷

The result has been to create an online communications hub, one that shares information in an open, honest and transparent way. “This has been the beginning of our journey to open up how and when we communicate to our workforce. It gives us a tool to improve engagement, trust and connection with our people today and in the future,” says Park.

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Krispy Kreme developed a centralized communications platform that they named “KK Mixer”. The hub keeps employees connected to Krispy Kreme's culture and business goals by featuring regular updates on what's going on in the business, such as new promotions, sales results, community involvement and even the number of doughnuts made (very important to know!). The hub also hosts other tools, such as benefits and recognition, so all employees can easily access them.

A regular feature of the platform is the updates from Australia's CEO Andrew McGuigan and his heads of department. These help employees understand what's going on at the company by sharing results, progress and even challenges, strengthening their connection to the business and strategy.

“With the introduction of KK Mixer, we've transitioned our HR communications to a branded, culture‐driven platform that employees love engaging with,” Park says, “and as they're engaging with the platform, they're learning more. About the company, and about how they can make it a better place to work. We will continue to learn, too, while we continue to evolve the KK Mixer to meet the changing needs of our business.”

Situation

When Stuart Gulliver became Group CEO of HSBC in 2011, he recognized that the international bank needed to make a cultural shift, setting a new direction for the business and for how its global workforce of 230,000 employees communicated and worked together. According to Pierre Goad, Group Head of Communications, “We needed to look at what went wrong back in the ‘noughties,’ creating the right environment for our people to speak up about what was going on in the company, taking shared responsibility for creating change.”⁸

This objective laid the path for a more progressive approach to HSBC's communication strategy, and to the development of the “HSBC Exchange” program. This program has not only set the standard in the industry for an open and transparent approach to communication, but has had a profound and positive impact at HSBC, including a 10–20 percentage point positive differential on key sentiment metrics between those who have attended an exchange meeting and those who haven't.

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HSBC Exchange, otherwise known as the “shut up and listen” program, was launched with the aim of helping to move communication from being one‐way and not very “free‐flowing” to a situation where multiple conversations could happen in every direction—up, down and peer‐to‐peer. It's a unique forum that helps employees share their thoughts and views freely, and then cascades this information from the bottom to the top. It has set the scene for a new type of communication at HSBC, one that encourages and creates an environment where employees can not only speak up but feel it's their responsibility to do so.

There are three simple rules for Exchange meetings: The manager does not talk but just listens, there is no agenda, and the time belongs to the employees. Topics could be on the food served in the canteen, a local process or the big issues that affect the company—employees make the decision. “In the first meetings, discussions centered around problems or complaints, which is what you'd expect as they're things employees needed to get off their chests. But over time, the discussions and topics have become broader—some are about customers, others about how to make our products better or improve customer service, while others are about how employees can develop their careers,” says Goad.

HSBC had a few challenges at the start of the program. Many managers found the art of being quiet uncomfortable and confusing, but they quickly realized the value of this approach and the results they achieved. Many employees did not know how to participate in this type of meeting. “For the first 10 minutes, employees often sat in silence. However, now that the meetings have become more business as usual, the conversations flow naturally and employees understand and appreciate their role and their voice,” says Goad.

Important to the success of this program is that HSBC did not set a fixed schedule for when the meetings should take place, and did not force managers to conduct them. Instead, they let the results speak for themselves, with people quickly realizing their value, which encouraged them to take place organically. HSBC have truly created a “speak up” culture, giving all 230,000 employees a seat at the table where conversations can happen and changes can be made.