The Corporate Rebels Handbook Series: Radical Transparency

We value transparency a lot. It helps us to involve everyone in each part of the business. Therefore, a lot of stuff is transparent, which in other companies would only be available to certain people in the organization.

But not here.

Below are just a few examples of the things we make transparent to everyone in the company.

Financials

Let’s start with perhaps the biggest one: money. For some reason, it’s been a longtime practice for companies to disclose financial stuff to a select few, or maybe just a few people in a department. Because apparently, such info is only for the people in the C-suite or whatever.

Not here. All of our financials are fully transparent. We discuss the cash flow forecast (money that comes in and goes out) every month. On a quarterly basis, we discuss the profit and loss account, including how much money we make, with a full breakdown of the costs.

You get the idea.

Salaries

Oh yes, here’s another big one. We’ll keep it simple: our salaries are transparent for everyone to see. We believe there shouldn’t be any secrecy around this topic.

(Marc-Peter Pijper from Viisi wrote a great piece that touches on this topic. Check it out here.)

Calendars, etc.

Our mailboxes and calendars are open for everyone to see. This helps us to easily collaborate and find something if needed.

Workflows

It’s always good to know where everyone is at with their work and tasks. We utilize various dashboards, a strategy wall, and Basecamp so we can all “work out loud.” This makes it easier for everyone to know who’s working on what, check on progress being made, and help each other out if needed.

Transparency is always the right policy

For whatever reason, organizations have always been predisposed to shrouding important matters in secrecy. This fosters a distrust across the company while also relaying to employees that they simply aren’t important enough to know what’s going on—whether that’s financial matters, salaries, schedules of “higher-ups,” and so on.

But it’s bullshit. And it's ultimately disrespectful. We strongly advise you to consider making radical transparency a foundation in your company. You’ll be amazed at what it can do.

That’s all for now! See you in the next post in this series: Business Rhythm.