Transparency in the workforce is currently a major concern among employees, managers and at the executive level. Not only does a culture of transparency increase employee trust, but incorporating it effectively can boost your staff’s performance. A recent study from BetterWorks and Wakefield Research found just how important transparency is when it comes to goal setting and performance management. The most notable result of this survey revealed how transparency has a significant impact on employees: 92 percent of respondents said they’d work harder and improve their performance if their goals were visible on a company-wide basis.
In addition, 37 percent of survey respondents said their performance would improve if they better understood the goals of their employer and their peers. Unfortunately, 64 percent believed their company leaders aren’t transparent enough about the overall goals of the business. Company leaders must work hard to ensure visibility across their offices.
One way goal visibility enhances performance is through giving individual employees meaning. By observing the goals of their peers, managers and the company at large, they understand where their own tasks and aspirations fall when it comes to the big picture. They see their work is more than just a means to a paycheck – it’s part of an overall strategy to help them and their coworkers succeed.
Adding Transparency with Goal-Setting Software
As the survey results indicate, transparency has the ability to transform an entire workplace, making employees more efficient and getting them more engaged in their work. There are numerous ways to create this type of culture in your office, but the easiest, most effective way to start is to add goal-setting software that everyone across your business can access.
Visible goal-setting software is the simplest way to ensure employee objectives are observable across all levels. With this tool in place, employees record and share goal progress in real time, showing everyone how they align with the rest of their department and encourage one another to accomplish their stated objectives. They can also see the progress of their peers and their department as a whole, showing them how close a business is to achieving its objectives.
In addition, as Entrepreneur noted, transparency in the workplace leads to better, faster problem solving. Executives and managers are no longer the only ones with the capacity to solve a specific issue. The insight employees gain with visible cross-company goals allows them to find innovative, effective solutions.
