On the Jobsite
The Challenge & Reward of Transparency Culture Written by Elizabeth McCormick Inspiration Speaker
Don’t incentivize employees with money. They don’t want it. Did you do a double-take? While the statement is a bit facetious, your workers expect fair compensation for the work they do, but it’s not the be-all and end-all of their motivation. In fact, it’s not even one of their top three motivators. The top three motivators - Culture & Values, Career Opportunities, Senior Leadership - account for over 60 percent of a worker’s job satisfaction. Let’s look at each of these in turn and examine how it influences – and is influenced by – a transparent corporate culture.
Defining Transparency and Culture There’s a temptation to think of corporate culture and transparency as synonymous, whether that transparency is achieved yet or not. Consider the following statement by a fictional CEO: “Our corporate culture is one of transparency.” It probably strikes you as an empty phrase. The more cynical would likely start looking for transparency in practice in this executive’s organization, or worse yet, start examining the CEO for behavior consistent – and inconsistent – with the statement.
On the Jobsite
Take a minute to look out the window. Some of you might see trees, greenspaces and water, while others might see walls of adjacent buildings. A few of you probably noticed the window needs cleaning. You probably see where this is going. While people can value transparency, in many ways transparency isn’t a value at all. It’s a condition. Transparency sits in between culture and perception. You already have corporate transparency. It’s simply a matter of opacity. With this model in mind, it becomes clear that an enterprise with opaque cultural transparency is likely to frustrate perceptions. Conversely, high transparency contributes to a satisfying work condition. Traditional, hierarchy-based management is often defined by the corner office or the prime parking space, beneficial rewards and demonstrative achievements that get entrenched in the myths of corporate culture, making the workplace a competitive environment rather than a collaborative one, promoting a set of skills in the workforce that may not be the skills best suited to advancing corporate objectives. So it’s easy to see that, if the fictional CEO of our example makes his or her statement then goes back to the office and closes the door, the words are hollow.
CONTRACTOR ADVANTAGE
JULY / AUGUST 2016
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