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It’s an idea that is inconceivable to some, heretical and even crazy-frightening to others. Yet, for those who work in highly collaborative organizations, it evokes a casual “why not?” response.

Here it is: In your next regularly-scheduled functional meeting invite people from other functions to attend.

How does the idea sit with you?

Maybe you already work in a transparent organization. Perhaps you and your teammates already know that making data available to those in other functions is merely a first step in transparency. To achieve trans-formative transparency, the sort that leads to step-level changes in the quality of work being done, requires inviting others to your decision-making discussions.

There’s a correlation between the number of decisions being made behind curtains of exclusion and the pain an organization will have to endure as it executes its strategies.

For those serious about being collaborative leaders, there is a surprising – and inspiring – benefit to decision-making transparency: Opening our work to others activates greater levels of humanity in all of us.

Consider the study that shows if you’re a patron at restaurant where you and the cook can see each other, you’re 17.3% more likely to be satisfied and have 13.2% better chance of getting served faster. And here’s the key: Those benefits occur not because the cook is afraid of you observing them making a mistake; rather, the cook wants to impress you. And, the good feelings are mutual: According to the research, the gratitude the patrons feel for the efforts of the chef increases in notable measures.

Few of us work in restaurants, but humans are humans wherever they go. Keeping the door closed while we make decisions doesn’t protect us from being wrongly judged, it exacerbates the poor opinions others have of us. Doors, after all, do what they’re supposed to do: separate us.

Open the door. Show people how great your team truly is.

 

BUILD THRIVING, SEAMLESS ORGANIZATIONS

BUILD THRIVING, SEAMLESS ORGANIZATIONS

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