We put a lot of the weight of becoming a customer-centric organization that manages to outcomes and "tests and learns" on the shoulders of our leaders and executives. But it's a two-way street. Our teams also need to change how they work to increase the likelihood of change 1/n

Teams want their stakeholders to trust them to solve problems, allow them to listen to customers and empower them to make tactical day-to-day decisions. In many organizations this is a radical shift for these stakeholders. What do we give them in return for that trust? 2/n

Transparency. Radical transparency is the proactive sharing of information on a regular cadence both up to your leaders and out to your colleagues. Candidly putting on display your work, wins, failures & learnings is key to building the trust that enables agility. 3/n

This proactive communication with stakeholders reduces stakeholder anxiety of not knowing "what the team is working on right now." If they were dictating features to you, they'd have that answer. If you're continuously discovering the best path forward, they don't. 4/n

If stakeholders get anxious, they ramp up control and increase micromanagement. Radically transparent communication eases concerns about what the team is doing at the moment and provides them that answer for when they get asked that question by their boss. 5/n

What does radical transparency look like?
Weekly status emails
Daily outcome/OKR updates (+/- from day before)
Information radiators
Slack channel updates (automated/manual)
Hallway conversations
Office "pop in"
Etc

6/n

It's easy to blame execs for not "being agile" or "trusting the team." Take a look at it from their pov. What would you want to know if you were in their shoes? Then start sharing it, regularly, w/o being asked. Err on the side of overcommunication. Your boss will thank u. /fin