Behavior #3 — Create Transparency — is about being open. It’s about being real and genuine and telling the truth in a way people can verify. It’s based on principles of honesty, openness, integrity, and authenticity. I also like to include the principle of light, because when something is transparent, light will flow through it.
The opposite of creating transparency is to hide, cover, obscure, or make dark. It includes hoarding, withholding, having secrets, and failing to disclose. It includes hidden agendas, hidden meaning, hidden objectives.
The counterfeit of transparency is illusion. It’s pretending, “seeming” rather than “being,” making things appear different than they really are. The internet is a good example of both transparency and illusion. At the same time as it engenders extraordinary transparency, allowing people to get information and access truth wherever they live, it also creates a place where people can make up false names.
Stephen Covey’s Speed of Trust
Transparency will usually establish trust fast. For example, when a charity recently fell into trouble, it took the quickest path to restore trust, which was simply to show people where their money was going. In situations where there is a conflict of interest, the best way to prevent it from turning into a concern is to simple by up-front about it and to address it in the spirit of complete disclosure. Transparent companies are constantly disclosing relationships, interests, and conflicts ahead of time so that everything is always out in the open and no one can question their agenda.
Stories in the podcast
- Pencils of promise
- Ex-colleague and being a bad teacher
Arsenio's ESL Podcast 
Leave a Reply