Transparency, which has been growing in importance in many dimensions of business, has moved into the workspace itself. Recent research suggests that we need to think carefully when it comes to transparent workspaces. Research suggests that if we are to have innovative and engaged employees, more transparency is not better. Leaders need to a smart transparency strategy.
Transparent workspaces include open landscape offices as well as open manufacturing floors. Leaders see workspace transparency as an opportunity to “increase accountability, collaboration, knowledge sharing and innovation.” However, Ethan Bernstein, of Harvard Business School, makes the case, as reported in the WSJ (2/22/15) and HBR (10/14), that greater transparency is not better. Smarter transparency is what is needed. Bernstein’s research suggests that leaders need to adopt a transparency strategy that strikes a balance between openness and privacy as summarized below.
Bernstein’s research led him to suggest three principles to follow in developing a smart transparency strategy<strong “mso-bidi-font-weight:=”” normal”=””>. The first principle focuses on creating a balance between openness and privacy. There is a long-held belief that if you minimize barriers using an open office landscape people are more likely to share ideas and collaborate. However, while research shows that an open space environment does increase inter-team information exchange by 50%, at the same time, intra-team conversations, the ones needed to get work done, falls by about the same amount. Altogether the total number of interactions fall. In addition, in open environments people feel less free to do what they need to do. People need to be able to find a closed area in which they can work creatively as a team. What is needed, Bernstein tells us, is that leaders need to design spaces where teams can work without interruption or scrutiny.
The second principle focuses on the appropriate use of data. Bernstein reminds us of the huge amount of data about what goes on in a workplace that is now at our fingertips. He notes that there needs to be a clear separation between using data that is collected to help employees solve process problems and improve productivity, and using that data in their performance reviews. Without such separation, using transparency to address accountability, collaboration, innovation, and knowledge sharing, which is intended to have positive results—can lead to more unproductive gaming of the system, more hesitation toward unplanned collaboration , more difficulty innovating and more obfuscation of key data.
The third principle focuses on the timing of things. With a smart transparency strategy leaders are clear about times when transparency works well and times when it doesn’t. Bernstein tells us that leaders need to think about when observation will improve productivity and when it will undermine innovation and complex problem solving. For example, in some hospitals where rounds include patients and families, doctors now “pre-round” in a private space so they can do their problem solving together and then present a united front to families.
From our perspective creating spaces suitable for engaged employees, with opportunities for them to innovate and solve complex problems will continue to be a strategic imperative for some time to come. We appreciate Ethan Bernstein’s contribution to making that happen.
