Transparency and openness are simply invitations. Transparency is an invitation to see how the sausage is made so to speak and Openness is an invitation to help make the sausage.
Today, to “see how the sausage is made” is a metaphor regarding business practices. There was a time however in the US where this phrasing was more literal and where changes were made to bring improvement to an industry which was rife with unethical practices (I’ll spare you the details of human tragedy and disgust, go read Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle). This industry, however, would not have improved, had it not been for outside intervention – the human cost inside and outside the factory would have gone on for quite some time as there was no reason for change in the eyes of shareholders and management.
Upton and other muckrakers as they were known forced the doors open where investigations grew, laws changed and practices improved. Change came from outside. Today, numerous articles and books present a grim depiction of work once again, this time mental stress has replaced the physical but still the poor environment remains. Even as the Great Reassessment has led to mass resignations and workers refusing to return to jobs they deem worthless – companies press on, profits grow and change comes from the standard management playbook in the form of sign-on bonuses, flexible hours, and flexible work locations… all having limited impact.
The outside is not coming to the rescue this time.
Managers and leaders at all levels will soon learn that it’s not the workplace, the hours, or the money – it’s the work. Work is a grind. It’s not a physical grind this century, it’s emotionally and mentally taxing to invest so much of one’s life into work that provides no purpose, insights, and no inclusion. Management is missing a golden opportunity. The Transparency and Openness activism imposed on 20th-century business practices is not going to happen, change must come from inside. And here’s how:
Allow employees to see the why of decisions, the data used in making them, and inviting them to sincerely share input on direction. 21st Century Transpaency and Openness.
It’s really all still about trust as it was over 100 years ago. Trust arose in the meat packing industry when information was made available and individuals were asked to improve conditions. Just as transparency and openness created trust back then, it’s exactly what is needed today. Forcing open the information to be seen and understood and inviting real input, decision-making, and criticism will once again make work and society better.
