What to Promise Instead of Transparency
TWO COMMUNICATION COMMITMENTS LEADERS CAN ACTUALLY KEEP
Everyone loves the idea of transparency.
It feels good to tell employees, customers, or the public, "We're going to be transparent throughout this process."
The problem is, the moment you make that promise, you're almost guaranteed to break it.
There are decisions that simply cannot be communicated until they're made. A board may be considering a Chapter 11 filing. A lender may be evaluating strategic alternatives. A CEO transition may be in the works. A sale process may still be unfolding. Those conversations happen behind closed doors for good reason.
Then the announcement comes, and stakeholders immediately ask, "How long have you known?" Leadership feels like they've failed because they promised transparency, and stakeholders feel like they've been misled because they weren't told sooner.
Nobody walks away feeling good.
That's why I rarely encourage leadership teams to promise transparency.
Instead, I encourage them to commit to two things:
Communicate proactively.
Communicate with integrity.
Those are promises you can actually keep.
Communicate Proactively
To me, proactive communication means sharing what you know, when you know it.
Too often, companies wait until every question has an answer before saying anything. In the meantime, employees hear rumors, customers read speculation online, and the company loses control of its own story.
Your stakeholders shouldn't learn about major developments from an internet blog, LinkedIn post, or news article before they hear from you.
Being proactive means communicating early, talking through what you know, acknowledging what you don't, and committing to provide updates as decisions are made.
Communicate With Integrity
Integrity means making sure your communication reflects reality.
If leadership knows the business is under pressure, don't hold an all-hands meeting pretending everything is great. That doesn't mean announcing layoffs before decisions have been made, but it does mean level-setting with reality. Talk honestly about the challenges the business is facing. Explain where performance needs to improve.
Time and time again, I see those conversations build more trust than trying to reassure everyone that everything is fine when most people can already tell it isn't.
Plus, if difficult decisions do become necessary later, people aren't left feeling blindsided.
What This Looks Like in Practice
One client recently asked me:
"We know the business is going to change significantly, and some roles will eventually be eliminated. How do we answer that question honestly without causing everyone to leave?"
Here's where we landed:
“The business is going to change and evolve as we shift our strategy to strengthen the company. That will impact roles on certain teams. When that time comes, we will communicate with those affected as early as we can and handle those conversations with respect."
Our response doesn't speculate about decisions that haven't been made, and it sets an expectation for how leadership will communicate.
Another example came from an engagement where a senior lender acquired a company through a bankruptcy process. Employees wanted to know whether the company would eventually be sold. The answer was: we didn't know yet.
Rather than guessing or avoiding the question, we said:
"That's one of the questions we're actively working through. [The Lender]'s immediate priority is supporting our company through peak season. Beyond that, [the Lender] will evaluate the best long-term path for the business. That could include continuing to own [our company] or pursuing another ownership structure in the future. Those decisions have not yet been made. We know employees want clarity about what's next, and we'll continue sharing updates as decisions are made. For now, our focus remains on operating the business and serving our customers."
A Better Standard
The best communications strategies I've rolled out aren't the ones that promise complete transparency. They're the ones that consistently communicate early and follow through on the commitments they make.
In my experience, that's what builds trust during times when it's hard to win and easy to lose.
