Open communication can be scary to senior managers

Senior managers today face a conundrum when determining how much information they want to share with employees. In effect this is a balancing act as

• It is widely acknowledged that open communication within an organisation encourages Employee Engagement ; But 
• It is perceived by many managers that open communication can open the company up to a greater risk of leaks to the market (and a breakdown in confidentiality), which can be devastating, especially in a highly competitive situation

Determining how to handle this issue for an organisation has become even more difficult recently with the advent of a world of hyperconnectivity , both in the general public, but also within companies themselves.

It is now much easier for customers, competitors and even potential employees to source (in the public domain) information regarding a company. The open availability of email and applications like Twitter now make it much easier for information to be distributed outside of a company, whilst services like Glassdoor now mean that employees can easily share their thoughts on working in a company, senior management and even their salaries with the public (and future employees) in a confidential manner.

This increased “risk” of leakage of information has prompted some companies to clamp down on information sharing within their organisations. The result of this can be an unengaged employee base which feels dis-empowered due to a lack of access to information regarding key corporate strategies or initiatives.

This can in fact turn into a vicious cycle, with these disenchanted employees feeling the need to rebel against their lack of perceived power, increasing the likelihood that they share their negative thoughts on sites like Glassdoor, or in the worst case actually leaking confidential information that they have access to.

This issue is one of the reasons that many companies are struggling with the concept of Enterprise 2.0 whereby employees are openly encouraged to share information, and provided the tools to do so. In fact, I would argue that this is one of the main reasons that the deployment of Enterprise 2.0 services is placed in the “too hard” basket in many organisations. 

So what is the solution? Unfortunately there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer for every company. A lot of it comes down to creating a culture of open communication but implicit trust through the company, which is not a very easy thing to do at all, and not something that can be easily taught or communicated by consultants or the like.

In most cases, companies will just have to find their own path if they want to move towards becoming more open towards their employees, something that will most likely be the key to successful business in the future.

From social animals to information hoarders

Humans are social animals who love to communicate, but you often wouldn’t think so in many organisations. In many cases, communication, especially between teams, is the furthest thing from what actually happens on a day-to-day basis. Instead, employees become information hoarders who actively keep information within their teams and are extremely reluctant to share it. 

Causes

The causes for this can be many, but in most cases can be traced back to the culture of the organisation.  Specifically, the following cultural drivers are amongst a range of possible underlying reasons for this lack of communication

• Remuneration (pay) – If the pay structure of employees or teams does not explicitly encourage cross-functional teamwork there is very little incentive for groups to work together.
• Power structure – If individuals or teams are implicitly rewarded for having specific information no-one else has they are encouraged to gather and hold this information
• Structure – A structure which duplicates functions amongst teams (or does not provide clarity of function)  can create competition and discourage sharing between groups working on like functions
• Confidentiality – An over-reaction to the risk regarding confidential information leaking to the market can create an excessive focus on secrecy
• Systems – A lack of systems that allow teams to easily share info can make it difficult for this information to be disseminated

Consequences

The results of this information hoarding can be extremely detrimental to any organisation. Amongst other consequences, it can create

• Duplication of activity
• A decrease in productivity
• Increased need for explicit management of cross-company work
• A lack of positive recognition
• An increased reliance on outside expertise
• An inability to take advantage of success across the business
• A lack of trust amongst groups

Solving the problem

Given the lack of communication is often driven by underlying cultural causes it can be a very difficult issue to resolve. Addressing the problem can only really take place as part of a broader cultural change program addressing all drivers of culture, both explicit and implicit. This will be the topic of another post in the near future.