ASK YOU ANYTHING

There's one thing I've learned about honest speech.  As a leader, I often have to talk about: what we are doing...with a business unit...what the future looks like...what happened yesterday...you name it.  Invite the partners you lead to ASK YOU ANYTHING.  When they ask, publicly thank them for asking.

Tell them that when they ASK YOU ANYTHING, they'll generally get one of four answers:

1. "Yes, that's true because...."  (In which case, because they had to ask, I need to communicate MORE)
2. "No, that's not true because...." (In which case, I AGAIN have to communicate more; otherwise, they wouldn't have had to ask)
3. "I don't know."  (Find out and get back to them)
4. "I can't talk about that right now."  (I tell them that this is a rare answer...only a few times per year, then illustrate when it might be used.  I say, "For example, if it concerned a disciplinary action involving someone, it wouldn't be appropriate to discuss.  Or, if there were ongoing sensitive negotiations with an outside entity.")

This amount of transparency is healthy and reassures people.  To be really honest and transparent you must also be vulnerable--to showing your ignorance and to acknowledging when you haven't communicated well enough.  As you model honesty, questions are asked earlier and so rumors die out easily; also, problems surface more easily, ideas get kicked around in a wider circle.