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Transparency: Clear Steps To Transparent Leadership - EP 331 - CHART

• John Ballinger

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Leadership gets messy when silence lets rumors grow. We dig into practical transparency—the kind that earns trust, sharpens execution, and cuts through noise—without veering into oversharing. Starting from the twin meanings of transparency (letting light through and inviting scrutiny), we show how to communicate clearly, absorb criticism without reacting, and set boundaries that keep information useful, not chaotic.

We break down twenty concrete habits any leader can adopt: admit mistakes fast, share the why behind decisions, be honest about what you don’t know, set crisp expectations, and make your actions match your words. You’ll hear how regular company updates calm speculation, why 1:1s and transparent performance management anchor accountability, and how to design a 90-day onboarding plan that signals growth from day one. We also explore skip-level meetings and the value of early employee voices before they assimilate and lose fresh insight.

Along the way, we connect research-backed insights to the daily reality of leading people. You’ll learn how discernment prevents oversharing, when financial transparency is essential for those who own budgets, and how to handle tough feedback without defensiveness. We close with a simple homework plan: choose three transparency habits, practice them deliberately, and track progress in a journal so improvement sticks.

We unpack what real transparency looks like in leadership, from clear communication and boundaries to systems that reduce rumors and raise engagement. We share 20 practical habits, a simple homework plan, and research-backed practices that turn vulnerability into trust.

20 Habits of Transparency for Leaders

  1. Clear Communication
  2. Express Emotions Honestly
  3. Admit Mistakes
  4. Share Decision Making
  5. Be Open to Constructive Feedback
  6. Share Relevant Information
  7. Admit Ignorance
  8. Set Clear Expectations
  9. Demonstrate Actions Matching with Words
  10. Disclose Conflicts of Interests
  11. Display Personal Boundaries
  12. Be Financially Transparent with Team Members that Need to Know
  13. Match Team Member Work Ethic
  14. Don't Be Defensive
  15. Show Vulnerability
  16. Provide Regular Corporate Updates
  17. Invite Transparency in Return
  18. Hold Meeting with Accountability
  19. Have Clarity in the Onboarding Process
  20. Have Skip-Level Meetings


If building trust, engagement, and clarity sounds like the culture you want, this conversation gives you the steps to start today. Subscribe for more practical leadership tools, share with a colleague who needs a nudge toward clarity, and leave a review to tell us which habit you’ll try first.

SPEAKER_01:

The word transparency actually dates its roots back to in the Latin word transparency, which means sh to show oneself clearly.

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to First Lead You, a podcast dedicated to building leaders, expanding their capacity, improving their self-awareness through emotional intelligence, and developing deeper understanding of selfless leadership.

SPEAKER_01:

Hello, America, and welcome to First Lead You, where we believe selfless leadership is essential. America is suffering a leadership crisis. Self-awareness and emotional intelligence is the key to developing selfless leaders.

SPEAKER_00:

Now, here is personal growth coach, John Ballinger.

SPEAKER_01:

Hello, leaders. My name is John Ballinger. I'm with First League U. I'm here with First League U, and I'm here with my trusted co-host, Mr. Douglas Ford.

SPEAKER_02:

Hello, John.

SPEAKER_01:

How are you today? I'm good. Douglas, today's Veterans Day.

SPEAKER_02:

It is.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you for your service. Thank you. The acknowledgement. And for all of our listeners that are in leadership positions or are aspiring to be in leadership positions that were our veterans, were veterans, or they would be veterans if they're if they're out of service. That's Armed Forces Day. But thank you for your service. You are in a very small population, as you well know. Less than 1% of people at any given time in our country are serving in an armed forces capacity. And uh so thank you for your service uh for the country and standing guard and uh standing in the gap.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, let's just be clear. We're recording this on Veterans Day. When it plays, it probably will not be Veterans Day.

SPEAKER_01:

That's that's correct. So we are yeah, we should say that we're thank you for that. Yeah, we're recording on Veterans Day. Uh and it's it's uh I don't think here's some this is not irony that we are uh on T, so we're on the transparency of our acrostic, and uh uh we've got one left, so we've got teamwork, which is our last one. But today is transparency, and one thing I learned pretty quick in the military is don't have secrets or don't try to lie, or you know, you gotta be totally transparent because you're in such confined places with people and you're in under a microscope all the time, especially when there's a potential uh you're in conflict, uh little conflict, or you're training for conflict, you can't fake that stuff, right? So you gotta just be who you are and and be very transparent because you will get seen pretty quickly if you're not you're not being. And uh they'll they'll call you out on it too. They're not they're not uh shy about that. But I want to read the definition because I we talked about this when we were preparing for it. So there's always that initial definition, and then there's that secondary definition, because you know the the English language is kind of crazy like that, you know. Uh a word can mean two different things depending on how it's used. But the the initial is the quality of allowing light to pass through so that objects behind can be distinctly seen. So light flowing.

SPEAKER_02:

So you're gonna see through it? Yep. Yep, so you can see something? Yep. It's kind of like a window.

SPEAKER_01:

Could be a window. Yep. Sliding glass door that's so clean that you run into it because you think it's open. But the second is the quality of being open to public scrutiny. And I so I'm thinking through interesting use of, yeah. Yeah. I'm thinking through. So one of the things that I ask leaders, are you afraid of being embarrassed? And what's the normal response?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, most people don't want to be embarrassed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

But what you've got to learn that you're not going to make every decision right. There may be times you're called out by somebody. How you respond to that is critical. What most leaders do is react to it, and they it's usually not a good reaction. And so they don't take to being called out or you know, uh corrected or um scrutinized, which is that's a challenge in today's society because guess what people like to do a lot?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah. Everybody wants to give you their opinion about what's going on for sure.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I was talking to uh a gentleman that's poured into my life from a spiritual standpoint, and he he didn't recall. I was talking to him Sunday night, and I said, you know, you taught me well early on about the 67 books of the Bible. He stopped and he's like, No, there are 26. He says, No, there's not, there's 66. I said, No. You told me there's 67 a long time ago. He said, I don't recall. How did I mess that up? You know, he's a very, you know, specific person. Right. I said, You don't recall telling me that? He said, No. And I said, You told me that 67th book was the book of opinions. And that's what everybody, and I'm like, he's like, oh my gosh, I hadn't thought about it that so long. But the reality is today, man, yeah, there's a book of opinions everywhere.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, there's a reason there's term Monday morning quarterbacking, right? Everybody's everybody's got an opinion about what was done yesterday.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so in the acrostic chart with the T's, you know, we're we're talking about um transparency because it's something that's very difficult for a leader to embrace knowing there could be times where his team or her team actually calls them out or scrutinizes decision making. But don't let that challenge you from a position where you stop being transparent with your team, you continue to communicate with them, learn how to take that criticism or that scrutiny and have conversations about it.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, and I th I think it is more than just about uh scrutiny or you know, having people challenge you. Uh there's a level of vulnerability that goes along with being transparent that may or may not necessarily be connected to criticism or scrutiny or, you know, that that is certainly needed if you're going to be a transparent leader.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So obviously I had to go a little bit into my psychology books, you know, because that that is a difficult uh trait for leaders to embrace. And the definition of transparency in the psychology world is it's a personality trait of being genuine, open, and honest in one's thoughts, feelings, and actions. So that lines up a little bit more with what I was just saying. Yeah. Yeah. But it's still difficult. Yeah. Right. The term uh the word transparency actually dates its roots back to in the Latin word transparency, which means sh sh to show oneself clearly.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, that makes more sense now.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So when you have personal relationships or professional, and we we talk about having learning the how to have a personal relationship with your team members enough so that there's boundaries there, but you know enough about them to personally understand like what's going on with them from a leadership standpoint. So you can foster building trust and strong connections. And that that boundary is sometimes difficult to put up because as we were talking to a business owner today who worked for a company, she then bought the company, and so now the people that she was colleagues with now work for her. And she said that's one of the biggest challenges she's got.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And we're gonna we're gonna work through that because that's tough.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. I mean, whether you bought the business or you just get promoted into a uh managerial leadership position, it's like yeah, when you go from being team members uh and team mates uh to uh now being being the leader of the group, it there's so you know, there's an expectation, I think, on both sides. Like, you know, uh perhaps as an as a new leader, you're like, okay, well, I know these people, so they're gonna be with me. And probably the team's thinking, well, you used to be one of us, so why are you acting this way?

SPEAKER_01:

Right. Yeah, yeah. Oh, she's got the big head, yeah. Now that she's the owner, yeah. Yeah, I think this is something that, and we've talked about this in the past. You can be too transparent.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And you can say too much, especially to the wrong team members. And so you have to understand what level of information to give to what level of team member inside the organization. And so being transparent also, and I and I've got this written down, it's being able to understand and not overshare unnecessary information that can lead to difficult or or misunderstandings. Because when you go to a team member, and if you're saying, I'm just being transparent and honest with you, and you give them information that they really can't understand and absorb at their level, and they go around and tell other people that create much more out of it than what it was intended to, all of a sudden you've probably created a very difficult situation as a leader. And that can happen if you're too transparent to the wrong team members inside your organization. So that almost sounds like we're talking out of both sides of our mouth, but we're not. We're trying to tell you as the leader, know your people well enough and know the information you need to share and be transparent with that team because you can overshare information to the wrong team member.

SPEAKER_02:

Transparency requires discernment.

SPEAKER_01:

It does. Yeah. So here's some examples from a leadership standpoint of transparency. So these are some things that you need to incorporate inside your leadership journey. And the first one's clear communication. Sometimes that's difficult to do because as leaders, you will communicate how you want to receive information instead of communicating on how the team that you're speaking to receives and hears information. So, like, I've been guilty of this in the past. Sugarcoating information because you're afraid that the person you're talking to is just gonna blow up. And so you'll soft pedal, is what I call it. So let me let me go in because this is gonna be very difficult because when I start saying this, person's gonna, you know. So but learn how to do it knowing the audience you're talking to. Now they may still blow up, but just sit and pause and be still and let them blow up and say, Are you done? So now let's talk through that. Express emotions honestly. There are some times that you're giving information out that's tough information, and you have to be honest about that information and express like, you know, there have you ever heard anybody that said before they talk and say, I'm just gonna be honest with you?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

You wonder. And I will say, well that's why I say so. Does that mean that prior to, if you don't say that from the beginning, I can't trust what you're saying?

SPEAKER_02:

But that's kind of a phraseology that's entered into society and like people say it more often, I think, when they're getting ready to be honest with you and they won't they want you to be prepared.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Admit mistakes.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

That's a tough one.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, I don't know if I have any to admit, but what I've heard people say not today.

SPEAKER_01:

I've all right. I've I've you've had my one mistake for the year, so that's all I'm that's all I'm getting. No more. Share decision making. We've talked about this. Find the team members when you're in a difficult situation and you need to be transparent that can help you with how do I communicate this to the team based on who the team is I'm talking to.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. Well, like we get back to the discernment issue, right? Like transparency needs discernment to partner with.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Be open to constructive criticism. There's nothing wrong after you get done doing an AER, an after-action review, and saying, so how do you think that was received? Did they hear me? You know, do you feel like that they're going to take what they heard in the meeting and we're going to move forward uh, you know, during down this path to be able to grow and you know, execute or whatever it is you needed to uh communicate with them, which brings up the second one. Share relevant information with the team that you're asking uh to be trans that you're being transparent with. Sometimes we'll go into these meetings and there'll be information that we have and we'll fail to give that bit of information, which could be really important information. So there's nothing wrong with making some notes. Don't try to do it out of your head if you can't. If you're not one of those people that can keep the sticky note of bullet points in your head, write it down. Get you little index cards or a book or something like that. That helps you stay on point and make sure you hit all the relevant points. Admit ignorance if you don't know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah, I have to say that all the time. I don't have the answer to that question.

SPEAKER_01:

There's nothing wrong with saying I don't know. Because in a leadership position, you have people that are specifically working on things that you may have no idea what they're doing, but you're still responsible for the overall outcome of the project or the organization. So just admit to it. Now, there are those people, and you've met those people that they love to hear somebody that's over them say, I don't know. Well, why are they paying you all the big bucks? I don't get paid the big bucks. You should know everything that I know. I have you ever met those people? I have. Yeah. Yeah. Those are people I want to sit down and have a cup of coffee with. And so let's talk through that. Let's swap for a day and see how that things work out. Set clear expectations. That's one of the things that we've seen many times that when you come in and you talk to your team and you're not clearly communicating with them and you're not being transparent to the level that that team means needs, that you leave and they have no idea what you said and what they're supposed to do.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Yeah. I think clear expectations is uh one of the keys to successful leadership. Because unless people know what you what what needs to be done, what you expect, where we're headed, it gives them a target to go toward.

SPEAKER_01:

Um so this this next one's a little tough to describe over the over the airways, but I'll do the best I can. So what you say, actually act on it. If you're having a meeting and you say these things and this is how we need to move forward two days from now, you better be walking that walk.

SPEAKER_02:

Practice what you preach.

SPEAKER_01:

Because if you're not, guess who's we're looking?

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, everybody. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And then and then discuss conflicts of interest. So if there could be a conflict and what's going on, discuss that. Uh, get it out front in the opening because it may be with a vendor or something going on, and just make sure that everybody knows there could be some conflicts of interest in here. So we're gonna take a break and we're gonna come back and we're gonna finish up on the items that you need to think through, and then we're gonna go into an article that I that I found in the Harvard Business Review that actually talks about the importance of transparency through trust. We'll be back.

SPEAKER_02:

Hello, first week news listeners, Douglas Ford here. I want to take just a few seconds during this break to say thank you for spending a few moments with us as we discuss the challenges and opportunities of being a leader. We hope that in every episode you find some bit of information that will help you on your own personal leadership journey. In order to reach more people and to improve our position on all the podcasting and social media platforms, it's important that you subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcasting platform like Apple, Spotify, or any other platform where you listen to First League V. We would really appreciate you clicking on the subscribe button to help us reach more people and expand the message of First League U. And please take time to visit the First League U website. That's number one, S2, the word lead, and the letterd.com. First lead.com. Number one, S2, the word lead, and the letter D.com. I hope you have a great day as you continue to learn through first lead. Today we are talking about uh transparency or being transparent as a leader and all the different elements of that. Uh before we went to the break, John was sharing uh several things that he had researched that uh helps leaders uh be more transparent with their team and also to request uh transparency from their team and and how a leader needs to respond to that. We've got a few more of those items to uh cover, and then we're gonna get into an article that actually, I think we said it came from Harvard, but it actually came from Forbes. Uh, and so we'll talk through that a little bit uh as well before we wrap up for the day. So, John, you've got a few more items that you did some research on that can help us as leaders become transparent. You want to finish sharing those with us?

SPEAKER_01:

I'll do that. Before I do, uh, you know, we reference uh articles we read, and one of the reasons we do that is because we're trying to show the leader like what we're talking about at First Lead U is starting to permeate throughout society, and these larger uh media outlets are picking this up and they're they're spending time uh doing research, they're they've got percentages in there, they've got here's here's the leader of the future, and these do these things. But you and I both know that it's the application process the most difficult part. And as we teach first leadership, first lead you leadership classes, we see that's the difficult part. I was meeting with a young man who's been on his personal development journey. He's in really year one, and he finally told me this week that the most difficult part of developing was his brain would start fighting him when he was trying to develop. And it would he he was and he would start looking for distractions so that he wouldn't have to develop. And once he started allowing the he he wouldn't run to the distraction, he would actually let the brain fight itself through and move through it. We made some pretty significant uh changes in his life in the last month.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but he stopped fighting it. Your brain, when it starts doing uncomfortable things, that's what it'll start doing like, why are you doing this? Right, stop this, go do that, because that's fun.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. Yeah. I mean, you know, anything you time you do something that's physically challenging, you know, uh consistent like uh distance running of any sort, you know, that your brain was like, Why are you doing this? We should stop. Uh and I remember when I was doing distance running for a while, the first mile was always the worst mile. It's like, I don't want to do this, I don't want to be out here, it's cold, it's hot, it's raining, it's what, you know, whatever it is, there was always an excuse. But for me, usually getting through that first mile, and the brain's finally like, okay, I guess we're gonna do this. And then and then it goes and it get, you know, it would still uh not always be great, but at least I had a little bit more mental control at that point.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but it is mental, it's really mental. Absolutely. Um, so rounding out the uh top 15. So create personal boundaries. So as you start being transparent, people are gonna be drawn to that and they're gonna think, oh, I can go ask anything. No, and be very vocal about where your boundaries are at. When they come up and they ask too much or they want too much, they're like, no, we're not going there. Not going to talk about that. Um if it's a department head, and I'm working through that with an organization that I'm working in right now, teaching the business, the business leaders, the financial aspect too. Don't hide that. If there's a responsibility that they have in a department and there's a financial piece tied to it, let them know what that is. Don't try to hide that. Be uh be transparent with your with your work ethic. Don't expect all of this from your team and then keep the door shut and your feet up on the desk and play in solitaire. Make sure that you're they see that you're out there doing it too. If somebody does say something to you, don't be defensive about it. I know that's the that's easy to say, but in the in the firefight, it's easy to get very defensive if somebody's saying something to you that that you think may be scrutinizing you and you're critiquing you. And then lastly, when you do that, it shows vulnerability, which is very important. So we'll go back through those 15 quickly, but I wanted to let you know because that is those are those are critical items. But I'm gonna I'm gonna go to that article because so this is the the initial what you heard me is a lot of research. Now this is one article that says transparent leadership, building trust and commitment within your team. And this is uh a December 10th, 2024 article, and it's talking about in the stage of corporate world that we live in now, just the business climate, being transparent builds trust and build tr and trust building builds transparency. And you reference is a a double the double side of the coin. Yeah, right. Two sides of the same coin. You gotta have both of them, yeah. Yeah. And what this article says, it's tough to do that because the egos in leadership position.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I mean, the the the reluctance to be vulnerable, right? Uh and the uh and not having created that culture or that atmosphere where you can be vulnerable and still feel safe uh about doing that, uh it's it's very difficult for for people.

SPEAKER_01:

So this article talking about that for it says for some the issue is a touch of ego. They fear being perceived as vulnerable or exposed for not having all the answers, which runs counter to the traditional image of a strong, confident leader that knows everything. Admitting you don't know something or that things aren't going as well as you hoped or predicted can feel extremely risky to your personal and professional reputation. We know that people have asked for business leaders to be open.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

This article is saying that's one of the most difficult things you'll do. The results of doing it turn out positive. But it's just like your leadership journey. You're gonna hit resistance mentally and emotionally. It's what do you do when you hit it to get past it so you grow? When you started running that first mile, you're like, I gotta get to 13 miles. That's crazy. Am I ever gonna get there? But then you found yourself getting there because you kept working at it. And there were mental obstacles that you had to get past to get to that 13 miles.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah, there was there was a lot of time I would just want to lay down. It's like, where where's the next juice break? How far is the water?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, this one particular person that wrote this said, I once worked in an organization where senior leaders had lunch together every day behind closed doors. Whether or not they discussed official business or intended that way, the practice created a perception that they were in an elite group and walled off from everyone else. Nobody could come in the room. Now, if they left that meeting monthly and then went and had lunch with their team, that that starts creating trust and transparency. But the fact that every day they had lunch behind closed doors, what's your what are your people gonna do? They're gonna start speculating and putting together their own scenario of a story that's going on inside the company. The employees, when they get that way, are not engaged. It it actually says that it creates a lack of engaged team members.

SPEAKER_02:

And they're usually not creating the right narrative or or the a correct narrative, I should say.

SPEAKER_01:

That is exactly right. So a few of the things that's that that article says that that you should do as a leader is provide regular updates. And I think that's critical just to give like here's the state of the organization where we're at. And be be as transparent as you can, but not too transparent to where, like if the information got out to a competitor or something like that. But just let the people know. Invite people to be transparent back to you. It's one of the top 15 that we talked about. Transparent performance management. Hold regular 101s with your direct reports and provide ongoing feedback, coaching, and goal setting, and then ask for them what can I do to better serve you from a leadership standpoint?

SPEAKER_02:

And let them tell you. And then you need to do it as best you can.

SPEAKER_01:

You gotta act on it. Yep. Right. Clarity and I love this one. Clarity about onboarding and progression of new team members.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, that's that's crucial. Because then they don't never really, you know. I mean, they're a year down the road and they're like, Oh yeah, I guess, I guess I finished that process at some point. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, you you lose those people, they get lost in the cracks and the crevices in the organization, and the only time they rise if something goes wrong, and they're like, What's so and so why is this not getting done? Right. Like, oh, so you know I exist. Right.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I mean, it'd be great if you know everybody had like part of your decision to hire is have we created a nine-day plan for the person that's coming in before we start the hiring process? Because if you haven't started the nine, you know, you haven't written out the nine-day plan before you start the process, then you're likely not to do it.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, one of the the uh complaints that the great resignation folks said is they didn't feel like that there was ever a uh a clear progression process inside of the company.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh yeah, absolutely. Well, and that's yeah, I mean that's part of their big re um great resignation, right? Yeah. They didn't see there was a clear path for them to advance in a variety of ways.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So this this part of it is is really having it part of the onboarding selection process, making sure that 90-day plan is in place, making sure that the person that that person respond reports to, the manager or director, whoever, is clearly uh educated on how to perform those things, because I think that's one of the other things we do not do a good job on, is prepare leaders and managers on how to do these performance evaluations.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, correct. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, they're a mess. Right. And so what happens is they either don't get done, they don't get done well, and there's really no progression process that takes place, and so that that employee gets stuck.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, and what happens typically is people take an objective process and make it very subjective, right? I mean, because they've not been trained how to use the process, right? The so they just like, oh well, here's how we're supposed to evaluate you, so I'm just gonna make it up because nobody's really showed me how to do this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

This is a good one on the backs of the uh the the onboarding process is skip level meetings. I like that word. I hadn't heard that word before, but that's holding meetings with people that are inside the organization that fit the narrative for the discussion, the decisions that are taking place, and they may not be in the direct chain, but you see that person could be beneficial to the conversation that's going on, particularly with that uh part of the organization.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and we talked about this. I mean, that's uh one of the assessments that we uh use called working genius, and that's exactly the point of that assessment, uh, especially in a group setting, is to identify the people who can most contribute to the meeting you're about to have. And so if you have people whose genius is not necessarily related to that meeting, that doesn't mean they shouldn't be there, but you definitely should include people who have the genius you need so that you get a more productive meeting.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. That those type of meetings are actually going to be helpful for that junior employee or that new. Employee, team the team member, because it gives them confidence. Hey, I was invited in, they listened to what I had to say, and it empowers them.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. Absolutely. And working genius gives you a great framework in which to do that. If we're having a brainstorming session, even though somebody may be relatively new to your organization, and I say this to every new team member that I work with, is like your most valuable time here is really the first 30 to 60 days. Because the especially the first 30 days, because you're gonna always wonder, well, why do they do things that way? And the more you could actually get a new team member to question you and say, Why do you do this? or or is there a better way to do that? That's valuable because kind of after that they get caught up in the minutiae of things and they start to understand why you do some of those things. But if they could question it, it would really help uh organizationally if you embrace those questions that people ask early on.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So can I go back through the uh the top 20?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, that'd be that would be great. That'd kind of create a checklist of things that people could help with the homework assignment. Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

So the top 20 things that a business leader or a leader of any type needs is clear communication, express emotions honestly, admit mistakes, share decision making, be open to constructive feedback, share relevant information depending on who the team member is, admit ignorance, set clear expectations, demonstrate actions matching with words, disclose conflicts of interest, display personal boundaries, be financially transparent with a team member if they are responsible for a financial piece of the organization. Have your work ethic match what you're telling your team members. Don't be defensive about uh being open to criticism or negative feedback, show vulnerability, and then lastly, the last five are going to be regular corporate updates, invite transparency in return when you're talking to people, hold performance management meetings where transparency is held account, there's accountability for it, have clarity in the onboarding process, and then lastly, have the skip level meetings. So there's those are 20, and I know that's a lot. I mean we we we talk often about the acrostic chart is literally a journey of leadership development. But it was built to be that because we knew that that this is not a hundred-yard dash of learning how to be a leader in today's society for today and in the future, and you need to incorporate all this into your leadership journey. So the homework is pick three of the things that we've just listed, three of the 20, and say, those are three of the most difficult things that I deal with from a transparency standpoint, and work on those. Use your journaling for those because you'll you'll come up in things in your business where oh, I should have been transparent about that, and you weren't, and because you weren't, it it created a negative either situation, could have caused could put more work on you from a leadership standpoint in all of that. We know it's tough with the acrostic chart to embrace all this, but that's why this is a leadership journey. And just start. Start at the C, work your way through it. It is tough, but and you're gonna you're gonna find those obstacles like Douglas was talking about when he got get past that one mile, get two miles, five miles, you're gonna look up and you're gonna be doing ten miles. It's like I used to go do one mile, now I'm at ten miles. And um it is a journey, but please lean into that. And if you do hit obstacles, journal those obstacles, work with your mentor or your business coach or whoever you you just somebody you trust to come alongside. We've always said, email us, send us a message, we'll help however we can uh to help you be the best leader uh that you can be for yourself and your team. And remember, in order to lead your team well, you must first lead. Thanks everyone.

Contributor

John Ballinger

Host
Contributor

Douglas Ford

Co-host