Are You a Transparent Communicator?

Test Your Transparent Communication Skills

When managers foster transparent communication with their teams, there are a multitude of benefits. Information flows freely, so that employees are well-informed about decisions, feedback is openly encouraged, and managers are perceived as authentic and accountable.

We’ve used research from the Mindtools Impact and Insights Team to create a 12-question assessment tool, to help you identify how transparently you communicate with your team.

Your Self-Assessment

Coming up are 12 statements that can help to determine how you’ve demonstrated transparent communication over the past three months.

There are no right or wrong responses, and you’ll have a chance to review and change them before you submit them.

Look at the statements and choose how much you agree with each by selecting the most appropriate answer.

When you have completed the diagnostic, click on "Calculate My Total."

Your Result

Take a few moments to reflect on your result. Does it surprise you or confirm what you already know? Now give yourself a few minutes to think about what you’d like to get out of this experience.

For example, if your result shows that perhaps you share incomplete or unverifiable information with your team, then you can identify ways to hone your messaging more accurately and effectively.

If you scored well, this resource will help you to make further improvements.

Let's Act

Having reflected on your score, pick one of the following areas to take action on in the next week or two:

• Taking steps to ensure that the information you share is necessary, accurate, complete, and relevant. (See questions 6, 7 and 8.)
• Working to ensure the information you provide is trustworthy. (See questions 9 and 12.)
• Taking care to simplify your messaging, and avoiding jargon to ensure clarity. (See questions 2 and 4.)

Take Your Learning Further

Enable participation in decision-making

Inviting opinions and feedback from your team to support effective decision-making is one way you can communicate more transparently as a manager. Not all decisions can be made in a participatory way, but where it is appropriate you should seek participation from your team.

Share clear, concise and complete information

Enabling access to information that is both detailed enough and accurate is important, but be cautious of sharing sensitive or confidential information too soon, or at all!

Avoid common communication mistakes

Poor communication can tarnish your reputation, and has an impact on how much your team trust you as a manager. Knowing the common mistakes to avoid will improve your everyday communications with your team.