Issue
Employees don’t trust the organization’s leadership
Facts
Managers want to
- motivate employees – so they make it seem better or worse than it is
- avoid communicating with employees around tough issues because they want to avoid conflict and/or think:
- their employees can’t handle it
- their employees don’t need to know
- they feel they don’t have all the answers
- the information is material
Learnings
Know what the legal and regulatory constraints really are and find ways to work within them – target, filter, find appropriate and secure channels, etc.
Be clear about what you know and what you don’t know – the facts including probability and possibility. Then tell it like it is
Make sure that you have what you need to speak with your teams about what’s going on and what it means for them and provide regular feedback to your own direct supervisors on how it’s going