Sarah UpdikeRecently I was thinking about “transparency” as a positive culture builder and looked up the word to ensure I was defining it correctly. The first meaning was what I expected: “being open and honest in communication and business practice to build teammate and client trust. ” I didn’t anticipate the other definition which has sparked my leadership coaching brain: Transparency is “the quality of allowing light to pass through so that objects behind can be distinctly seen.”
Noodling on this definition led me to this quote attributed to Lao-Tzu: “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” Lao-Tzu is describing “transparency”: When the light passes through so that the people behind them can be seen, and even more, so that the people behind the leader can see themselves. The best leaders I’ve had have been transparent in this way.
As I was doing all of this pondering, I caught sight of this acrylic plaque on my bookshelf. It’s mostly transparent, but the frosted writing on the inside obscures some of what’s behind it. You can still see that there are books and most of the words are visible, but there are critical pieces of titles that aren’t visible. Which got my brain going again…
Transparent leadership begins with open and honest communication, yes, and it also requires searching inside ourselves to find and refine the “frosted” parts of us that get in the way of letting others be seen (and see themselves).
In my early 30’s I had my first big leadership role as a store manager. At that time, I didn’t have the maturity to recognize that I was an “opaque” leader: I often insisted that I was the one who had to talk to my boss directly; I did and redid work myself because it was easier than explaining or correcting; I said “No” to their creative ideas without fully hearing them. I was standing in the way of their light–not because I didn’t trust them, but because I didn’t trust myself to manage whatever might come from letting them be seen. (We won’t even mention the negative assumptions I must have been making!)
17 years later, after much internal work, watching and learning from transparent leaders, and grappling with my leadership Achilles heel (my own fear), I have matured to a place similar to that acrylic on my bookshelf: I know that more of my team’s light is seen; I also recognize that there are opaque bits (fear, ego, unawareness) that still need “defrosting”. Being transparent with myself (open & honest) has made it possible to grow my transparency.
So what about you? What’s the corporate buzzword that has an alternative definition that’s got you thinking deep thoughts? Or what word might you like to dive a little more deeply into?
