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Behind Closed Doors: A Secretive Culture - Who's to Blame?

Our recent web poll of change leaders throughout the world, which questioned the cause of a secretive culture, shaped up this way:

a. Personality of the leader(s). 52%
b. Nature of the industry. 4%
c. Because it's the way we've always done it. 15%
d. Incentive, reward, and punishment policies. 18%
e. Other. 11%

TJ and Sandar Larkin in their book Communicating Change (McGraw Hill, 1994) identify six steps to disaster:

a. During planning swear everyone on the team to secrecy
b. Rumors begin
c. No communication - plans aren't finished
d. Rumors run wild
e. Details begin to leak
f. Plan is formally announced - but everyone already knew.

This vicious cycle can be broken right at step one. How about if we told people what we know or at least what we think we know? Scary thought isn't it? What about the alternative? You see, communication will occur. The only question is, do you want to participate in the communication or leave it to the rumor mill, looking sneaky or worse in the process?

The personality of the leader is so important (52% in our survey) in dictating the openness of communication in the organization. This is great news. The CEO can do so much by example to move the organization from a secretive culture to a more open one. The question is, does he or she want to? This really takes individual work, usually with a professional coach, to determine the cause of a secretive approach and then break through it. The cause many times is simply that the executive was "brought up that way" and doesn't understand the alternatives, or they may have been burned in the past. Like any behavior that you desire to change it's necessary to develop new habits. It's also easy to slip when encountering a situation in which you've been secretive in the past.

The carrot and stick of our incentive, reward, and punishment policies (18% in our survey) can be a big cause of a secretive culture. If we reward people for keeping secrets or punish people when the word leaks out (which it always does) we will create a secretive culture. I have actually seen situations where the manager never met some of their employees. There really is no excuse for this. Let's make regular communication with teams a part of what is expected, instead of assumed, from our supervisors and managers. How to do this? Simple, integrate this practice into the evaluation mechanism.

One of our clients printed buttons with the universal no symbol over the words "We've always done it that way." Fifteen percent of survey respondents said this is a cause of a secretive culture. The only way to break through this barrier is with a grass roots effort showing examples of successful impacts when we acted in a more open manner. Stringing these success stories together is the best way. People need proof.

Only four percent of respondents blamed their industry for a secretive culture. I think secrecy may be institutionalized for example in an investment-banking environment dealing with mergers and acquisitions. Luckily change managers don't see this as a prevalent excuse for a lack of communication.

Some of the other reasons for a secretive culture mentioned in the survey include:

An underground structure, management, and communication system will emerge when a vacuum of leadership occurs. Leaving policies, procedures, and guiding principles to chance is just not a good idea.

A desire for control, perceived of course, is associated with hoarding information. We've all heard the phrase, "Knowledge is power."

A silo structure in which there are physical as well as organizational boundaries can be the cause of a secretive culture. A little competition internally can be a good thing unless people forget that the "enemy" should not be our colleagues.

Additionally, organizations under stress have a higher likelihood to retreat into a secretive, bunker mentality squashing communication. Unfortunately, habits learned under stress many times for better or worse are cemented into our culture.

Do you have a secretive culture? Awareness is the first step. An outside opinion may be helpful. What is your cause(s)? The solution to winning back the trust of your employees and clients and reversing a secretive culture is a long-term one. A secretive culture is a cancer in your organization. Early detection and early, aggressive treatment is the prescription.