How Honest Leaders Win Trust (And Results)

Hey Full Potential Zoners!

Your team doesn’t fear change—they fear the unknown.

Openness isn’t a weakness—it's 2025's leadership strength.

Some leaders avoid transparency thinking it might:

❌ Cause confusion

❌ Slow things down

❌ Make them look weak

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But here’s the truth:

Clarity reduces fear.

Openness builds trust.

Sharing ideas moves things forward.

Transparent leaders don’t just manage change –they inspire it.

Today we are going to help leaders master this by using:

‘Leading Change Openly - The Power of Transparency For 2025'. 

Let’s dive in!

5 Powerful Scenarios to Ensure Success

Scenario 1: Addressing Sudden Organizational Changes

A company decides to restructure a department, and employees feel anxious due to a lack of details about how it will affect their roles.

How to Handle It:

• Schedule a team meeting to explain the “why” behind the restructuring in simple terms.

• Clearly outline the next steps and how these changes align with organizational goals.

• Address potential questions upfront, such as timelines and impacts on current projects.

• Provide a consistent update schedule, so employees know when to expect new information.

Scenario 2: Handling Employee Feedback Openly

During a team meeting, an employee raises concerns about ineffective processes but hesitates to elaborate due to fear of backlash.

How to Handle It:

• Acknowledge their concern immediately and create a safe space to discuss specifics.

• Ask the team for input and identify steps to address the process issue collaboratively.

• Share progress with the team at regular intervals to demonstrate accountability.

Scenario 3: Clarifying Miscommunication During a Project

A project is delayed because some team members misunderstood their responsibilities due to vague instructions.

How to Handle It:

• Hold a team meeting to clarify roles and the expected outcomes.

• Use visuals or a shared document to ensure alignment.

• Reiterate the importance of asking questions if instructions seem unclear in the future.

Scenario 4: Building Trust After Leadership Mistakes

A leader realizes they made a decision that negatively impacted the team but didn’t communicate the reasoning openly.

How to Handle It:

• Publicly acknowledge the mistake and explain the reasoning behind the decision.

• Share how you plan to prevent similar situations in the future.

• Ask for feedback from the team to rebuild trust and ensure better decision-making going forward.

Scenario 5: Leading a Team Through Challenging Goals

The leadership team sets ambitious goals for the quarter, leaving employees feeling overwhelmed by the expectations.

How to Handle It:

• Break down the goals into manageable milestones and explain their purpose.

• Show transparency about what success looks like and any available resources to help achieve the goals.

• Create a feedback loop to address concerns and adjust the approach as needed.

Poor Communication During A Project

A company I was working with faced repeated delays during a critical product launch due to persistent miscommunication between the marketing and development teams.

Marketing often provided incomplete project briefs, while development made assumptions that led to errors and rework.

The lack of alignment frustrated employees and derailed the timeline.

I started by observing team dynamics and processes. I noticed that the leadership teams were not holding structured meetings, leaving gaps in alignment between departments and there were many processes and workflows with little to no communication in them.

I addressed these workplace issues by:

• Implementing structured workflows:

  • I introduced a simple system for cross-team communication. Marketing and development agreed to weekly alignment meetings where tasks, responsibilities, and progress updates were discussed.

• Clear documentation standards:

  • Leadership and I developed a checklist for project briefs to ensure all necessary details were included upfront.

• Assigning accountability:

  • I helped leaders appoint key liaisons for each team to serve as points of contact, ensuring direct communication and ownership of tasks.

• Leveraging AI tools:

  • We implemented AI tools to assist with clarity (Grammarly for error-free documentation and Monday for automation) to centralize updates.

By focusing on better communication practices and leadership accountability, the teams learned to collaborate more effectively.

Regular alignment meetings addressed issues before they escalated, while the checklist ensured both teams started each task with the same understanding.

AI tools were used to improve clarity and reduce manual tracking.

The project was delivered on time, and the teams reported significantly fewer misunderstandings.

The marketing and development teams built stronger relationships through open communication, and overall productivity increased by 40%.

Here's how you can make it real over the next 4 days:

Day 1: Identify Your Focus Area

• Choose and reflect on one of the lessons/scenarios you want to work on.

• Write down the specific challenges you face in this area and the outcomes you want to achieve.

• Spend 10 minutes reviewing your recent experiences related to this lesson.

  • For example, if you chose “Clarifying Miscommunication,” list the areas where miscommunication happens most often in your team or projects.

• Identify one key situation you want to address by the end of this week.

• AI Prompt to Help:

  • Act as a workplace consultant. Help me identify key challenges and desired outcomes for improving [insert lesson focus, e.g., “miscommunication” or “transparency”] in my workplace. Provide:

    1. Questions I should ask myself to reflect on recent experiences.

    2. A framework to pinpoint specific areas where improvement is needed.

    3. Steps to clearly define the outcome I want to achieve by the end of this week.

Day 2: Gather Input and Feedback

• Seek input from others to understand their perspective on the lesson you’re focusing on.

• Talk to at least one colleague or team member about their views on the chosen area.

  • For example, if your focus is “Handling Miscommunication,” ask questions like, “What would help improve how we communicate on projects?”

• Document their suggestions to build clarity.

• AI Prompt to Help:

  • Act as a communication coach. Help me create a simple conversation guide to gather input and feedback from my colleagues about [insert focus area]. Provide:

    1. Clear, neutral questions I can ask to understand their perspective.

    2. Tips on how to actively listen and document their feedback effectively.

    3. Phrases I can use to invite honest input and encourage open dialogue.

Day 3: Take a Small Action

• Implement a small step toward improvement in your chosen focus area.

• Based on your reflections and input from others, take one specific action.

  • For example, if you’re focusing on “Building Transparency,” send a clear, detailed email updating your team on a project’s status, goals, and next steps.

  • If you’re working on “Clarifying Miscommunication,” create a checklist for your next project handoff.

• AI Prompt to Help:

  • Act as a leadership advisor. Help me take one actionable step to improve [insert focus area, e.g., "team communication" or "project transparency"]. Provide:

    1. A clear example of an action I can implement today.

    2. Tips for making sure this action is effective and impactful.

    3. Suggestions for how to communicate this action to my team or colleagues

Day 4: Reflect and Adjust

• Evaluate the impact of the changes you made and identify ways to improve further.

• Spend 10 minutes reflecting on how your small action impacted your work or team dynamics.

  • Ask yourself: Did this step improve the situation?

  • What could I do differently next time?

• Write down at least one adjustment to improve your approach going forward.

• AI Prompt to Help:

  • Act as a personal development guide. Help me evaluate the results of the action I took to improve [insert focus area]. Provide:

    1. A set of questions to assess what worked and what didn’t.

    2. A framework for identifying areas to adjust or improve further.

    3. Suggestions for documenting this reflection to track long-term progress.

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Transparency is the foundation of trust. When leaders openly share the 'why,' they build a bridge between intention and action.

Clarity in communication removes doubts and prevents misunderstandings before they start.

Consistency in words and actions reassures teams that leadership is aligned and dependable.

When leaders share openly, fear is replaced by trust.

When your team knows the why, they’ll find the how.

Until next time and with lots of love,

Justin

This Week’s Growth Recommendations

Book To Read:  

"Leading Change" by John P. Kotter (see it here)

TED Talk to Watch

"Dare to Disagree" by Margaret Heffernan (see it here)

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