At Activus Connect, we’ve uncovered a little-known secret to enhancing transparency in business.
Consistency.
When a company sticks to its ideals, consistently fulfills promises, and adopts consistent communication practices, it can become a transparent, inclusive business with a culture of openness.
Let’s go over some of the ways consistency leads to organic improvement in a company’s transparency.
Owning Up to Mistakes Every Time
Whenever we mess up at Activus Connect, we consistently acknowledge those failures and address them with our entire workforce.
For example, in a service organization such as ours, it’s common to experience errors with employee hours. Technology can sometimes calculate things incorrectly and people lose out on logged minutes. When these issues come up, companies have a responsibility to announce them to the masses and give people the opportunity to resolve them.
At Activus, we share this information with our Ambassadors 100% of the time, giving them a chance to come forward if it affects them. We then promptly communicate how we’ve corrected the issue, giving people the peace of mind that it’s no longer a problem.
By taking this consistent approach to communication, we’ve been able to earn the trust of our employees and create a culture of transparency in the process. Our teams know what we’ve done wrong and how we’ve fixed things, so they’re secure in the knowledge that we’re always open about the things that matter most to them.
Maintaining Social Platforms Without Censorship
Employees should always have the freedom to air their grievances or sing their employer’s praises online, but as soon as companies start controlling these virtual soapboxes, it starts a pattern of inconsistency that strongly suggests they have something to hide.
Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or Glassdoor give employees a public place to speak their mind about a company, from calling them out for a bad experience to telling others how they think it’s a great place to work. Likewise, managers and supervisors can interact with their colleagues on these platforms, reaching out directly to right any wrongs or show gratitude for good feedback—the internet is ultimately where the truth comes out, so it pays to handle these situations correctly.
Many companies shy away from hard truths, either not responding to comments or deleting any negative opinions and experiences. Consistency goes both ways here: if you’re consistently deleting posts, then people will come to expect that as part of a repressive culture. However, if you’re consistently responding to comments, resolving issues, and addressing employee grievances, it evokes a sense of transparency, building greater trust within the workforce.
Explaining Business Decisions Truthfully
In the business world, if you cry wolf too many times, none of your employees will have your back when a predator attacks. Companies need to earn employee trust through consistent acts of truthfulness, not by placating them with statistics or excuses.
For example, when our Ambassadors expressed concerns about the quality of our medical plan, we didn’t try to convince them otherwise, we wholeheartedly agreed with them. Instead of trying to convince people they were getting something great, we explained our decision-making process and laid out the situation: it could be better, but that’s all we can offer right now.
By responding to complaints honestly and transparently like this, businesses are immediately signaling their respect for the workforce. It’s essential to take this approach every single time, as any white lies or attempts to hide the reality of the situation can lead to mass malcontent. After all, truth and transparency go hand in hand.
Consistent Acts of Inclusion
Transparency, inclusion, and diversity aren’t about being neutral or landing in the middle of an argument; they’re about giving everybody a platform for their beliefs with dependable regularity.
At Activus, we celebrate as many cultural holidays as we can, and we do so consistently. In our efforts to create the right internal experiences for our people, we regularly discuss how we can represent or include all religions, beliefs, and preferences, rather than trying to group everything under one politically correct umbrella.
Through our consistent approach to inclusion, we’ve noticed an incredible feeling of openness without our workforce. People are warmer with each other, more understanding of each other’s needs, and curious to learn more about each other on a personal level. In a virtual setting, especially, this environment is essential for rapport building and transparent work culture.
Final Thoughts
The BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) and CX (Customer Experience) sectors are built upon great operational execution, great relationships, and consistent quality of service. Now that almost all providers are virtualized, they will benefit greatly by ensuring consistency permeates every part of the company. Transparency is sometimes inconvenient, and consistency can be hard to achieve, but, from our perspective, it’s the only way to gain the trust of your clients and your employees.