Are you transparent enough?

Today my kids came up to me with a very important question, “Papa, why do we need to do homework?”.

Now these are times I instantly feel like Master Shifu from Kungfu Panda and in a wise voice I answer in a very kungfuey and mystical way… “if you don’t do your homework what will you do in the future.” This now gets both my kids confused. Frankly I am equally confused, as I do not know what the future holds and as for my six-year-old twins, their definition of future is very different to mine.

This phase comes at least twice in every manager’s yearly life cycle… yes you guessed it- Appraisals.

During appraisals all managers wear the cloak of Master Shifu and become all kungfuey and Mystical. The managed have only one question “what will I get” and the manager has only one answer…” you will see” or the typical answer “you shall reap what you sow”.

The question then arises “Why are we doing this work” or “What is in store for me ahead.” … just like my kids asked me the homework question.

In this new age corporate world, being transparent is high on the priority list, and instances such as these are actually detrimental to the organisation, and may nudge a talented employee to actually move out. We need to remember that the employee of today is smart and generally intolerant to statements that confuse them or do not close an issue/ query raised by them.

Studies show that this very basic question is detrimental to the organisation’s growth and home to a disengaged workforce.

According to Glassdoor, 90% of job seekers say that it’s important to work for a company that embraces transparency. And interestingly, 85% of employees are more likely to work for organisations that are completely transparent about their workplace benefits. It reinforces your purpose.

Although an organisation may seem transparent at the onset, there is opacity in multiple layers, more so in the area of performance. So the next question is, How do we become transparent?

Have you ever played any game… physical or on the computer? If yes, you will notice an interesting fact…Let me take Cricket for example… whether you are playing at an international level or you basic level gully cricket, the rules or you might say guidelines are laid out right at the beginning of the game, – the important aspect being these are decided irrespective of the environment you are in.

Also if you are playing the latest PUBG…or any other computer game, the game environment offered to every player is equal and clear. I guess, that is what attracts most users, a clear transparent path that can be navigated by an individual on their own.

Talking about performance… every manager has only one mantra…” you have to have SMART goals”. But in my experience the SMART goal is never that smart.  However in a gamified environment your goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timebound – in essence truly transparent, to help make decisions that benefit both, the individual and the organisation.

Lets Gamify… today!

Ankush Malhotra

Ankush is an adventurist by passion and a Communicator by profession. He specialises in Employee Engagement and Gamification techniques to build and drive organisation culture. With over 20 years of premeditated experience he has emerged as a thought leader canalising & creating path-breaking communications strategies.