Why transparency is something every business should have

Everything’s gone a bit business casual. The days of stuffy business meetings in grey suits are gone. Now it’s all about chatty business Zoom calls in your grey sweatpants. Lockdown or not, the business world has been skewing to this more relaxed attitude for a while now. There’s less focus on pomp and flash and more on actually looking like a real person.

We can forgive the noisy kids in the background of a call or the barking dog because we all know that’s life. It’s funny. It’s relatable. It’s very human. And it’s understandable why.

The boundaries between work and life have been blurred. We’re always connected to our emails and we’re just a phone call away. That creeps into the home so people can be forgiven when their home creeps into their work. It’s a two-way street, after all.

But there’s something else about it we love – the transparency. When you can see the human behind the business, it shows you they can be honest and trustworthy. And it can lead to some great benefits – 94% of customers would be loyal to a transparent company. But what is it about transparency that makes it so great?

Why people love transparency

It can pay to be transparent – literally. For a smaller business, having a transparent approach can be great for your overall reputation. No one’s looking to work with someone who’s as transparent as a brick wall.

It’s a great way to build trust and very few clients will want to work with someone they can’t trust. And I think we’ve all got some trust issues after a run-in with a company who hasn’t provided what we expected.

In fact, 91% of business leaders believe it is key to building trust and let it influence how they work. People want to know how you work and how you address issues that matter to them. Maybe they’re big on the environment or maybe they care about social issues. Or maybe they just want to sleep at night without wondering if every company they work with is evil. You know, small things like that.

Concerns about trust and transparency have exploded in recent years; 92% think it’s one of the top things their customers are thinking about. You only need to turn on the news to see people taking to the streets to fight for what they believe in and that’s definitely going to come back round to you.

It also affects the people who work for you. If you want a stellar workforce, then you need to be open and transparent, showing them why they should work for you. Think about it: you want a workforce you can trust, so why shouldn’t they expect the same from you? When they trust you, they’ll pay you in their loyalty, engagement, and productivity. Give them half a reason to leave and they’ll gladly moonwalk out of the door and work for someone who actually cares.

How to be more transparent

Let’s start by saying there’s such a thing as being too transparent. You’re not about to tell customers all your secrets so they can just do the job themselves. There’s a reason KFC’s recipe is guarded by lasers in some deep underground vault (probably). But there are still plenty of things you can do to come across as more transparent.

Step one is to figure out what it means to you. What would you want to see in another company? Take some time to figure out what values matter to your business and make them a part of your work. Would you appreciate it if someone was honest to you about prices? Then make that a part of your core beliefs.

To be more transparent with your staff, be open with them. Let them know about the good and the bad. Take their input on matters. Show them they’re there as a human being and you care about their thoughts. It’s like we said in the intro, sometimes life makes its way into work. Who cares? As long as your staff are doing their best work, why should you care about their bedhead on the morning Zoom catch-up?

We all know the person on the other side of the phone is a human being. We understand the struggles of being a businessperson and a homeschool teacher and the family chef and the cleaner and the driver all at once. And we get that, sometimes, we just need a breather. That, ultimately, is what’s key to transparency – being human.

You want to be the big businessperson who can do it all, but if you can’t, then that’s fine. That level of transparency shows us your authenticity and vulnerability. Because sometimes doing it all is impossible and asking for help is the best idea. People want to work with people. Real connections. Real communications. Just something real.

For when you can’t do it all, alldayPA is here to help. We always try to be a transparent company and love to work with anyone who has that same vibe. If you need any help with your call answering as you dash from Zoom call to Zoom call, then get in touch on 0345 056 8888.