Sharing information with your team enables for building trust with them. Certainly there are some things that managers may not be able to share immediately with their team; but often the problem is not that they cannot share information, but that they will not – for whatever reason. Do you, as a manager,
- Keep information to yourself as a way of being “in-the-know” and maintaining power or control?
- Make decisions without sharing how you arrived at the decision?
- Worry that your team may not be able to handle information and therefore decide not to share it?
However, when managers don’t share information, their team will draw their own conclusions about what is going on. Even when a manager cannot share information – he should let his team know that he cannot share any information yet, but will do so as soon as he can! Consider these statements:
- “I know that there are some plans in the works, but I can’t share the details yet. However, I will share as soon as I can.”
- “I haven’t heard about any additional layoffs. As soon as I know something that I can share, I will certainly pass it on.”
In both these example statements above, the manager has let his team know he cannot share or does not have information yet, but will share as soon as he can do so. In this way, the manager reduces the gossip and guessing that may occur and builds trust with his staff.
How well do you share information with your team?
