It’s Confidential. Really?

Imagine hearing from a stranger that your team is hiring for a role that you didn’t even know was open…

Would you question your leader’s integrity?

(Can I trust my leader if he hid this from us?)

Would you question the health of your team

(Is one of my teammates getting fired?)

Would you question YOUR job security

(Am I the one getting fired)?

My client created this situation when he conducted an external search to fill a “confidential” position and, unfortunately, one of his direct reports happened to meet a candidate for the role. Understandably, her trust in my client was significantly diminished. She shared the following sentiment with me during a 360-degree interview:

“From now on, I’m assuming that he is hiding things from us. I generally try to ignore when my colleagues gossip or spin out about hypothetical scenarios. But now that I witnessed my manager’s secrecy, I am distracted from doing my job and I’m paranoid about changes on my team.”

My client, the leader, had his reasons for the confidential search. However, after reflecting on the negative effects of secrecy in this case, he realized they weren’t worth it.

You face daily decisions about what and how much to share with your teams and colleagues. There’s a delicate balance between complete confidentiality (NDAs, etc.) and full transparency. Sometimes, you might miss the mark.

Oversharing at the wrong time can cause legal complications and disrupt productivity. Conversely, too little transparency decreases trust and breeds paranoia—in the absence of information, people will fill in the blanks and create their own stories. Wouldn’t you prefer to control the narrative?

Appropriate information sharing and levels of transparency depend on your organizational culture. Use these general guidelines to help maintain the balance:

• What is the likelihood of people finding out before you want them to?
• Examine your motives for confidentiality: Are you avoiding the effort of creating a solid communications plan, or is confidentiality necessary for legal or strategic business reasons?
• What are the consequences of not sharing the information?
• To avoid people filling in the blanks on their own (often with negative results), would a simple “Here’s what we can share at this time” or “We know you’ve been hearing rumblings…” update suffice?

Advice: Be as transparent as you can without jeopardizing legal guidelines or disrupting operations. Remember, it is a small world, and the likelihood of individuals finding out what you are trying to keep secret is high. Ask yourself when “confidentiality” is worth the cost of trust.

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