Transparency — getting it right

Photo by Marc Sendra Martorell on Unsplash

Looking at the business world from the comfy spot around Camplight I’m noticing a trend — more and more companies are joining the transparency wagon. It’s like some hot bread — some are doing it because of incentives, others cannot think of a better way for operating.They try to market it as added value, they emphasize it’s an integral part of their culture.

I’ve been thriving in the past half a decade in an organization with radical transparency. So I’m not only witnessing the tectonic shifts in this domain of the evolution of capitalistic companies, I’m also experiencing almost every ripple.

Transparency as a concept in the operations of an organization is actually very old. So old that people always try to reinvent the wheel when they integrate it. They think that it’s enough to just share some data and “voila!” now the organization can reap the benefits of being a high trust environment.

So in order to level up the transparency in a “digital tribe” I’ve formed a couple of axioms, statements so to speak.

Transparency is in the simplicity

It doesn’t matter if a company is sharing its financial, legal, operational data internally for everyone to see. It’s all about distilling this data into information so people can acquire from it the necessary knowledge and build upon it a solid wisdom framework. We’re constantly with “open data” inside Camplight but only when somebody turns this data into more user friendly tale we have something actionable. Otherwise it’s just noise.

Transparency should not be siloed

We cannot be open with our communications but filter our decision making in email threads or private messages. If you’re going the rabbit hole you should go all the way down to see zero opacity. When everybody is having the same expectations about trust only then the organization is building a foundation of confidence, In Camplight everything is shared between camplighters in an easy and meaningful way. This creates a decentralized network of opinions which leads to diversity. Everybody can peek, discuss and self-organize after any new found knowledge.

Having these axioms I can outline the following theorem:

A system of habits can unfold the true nature of transparency.

Assuming that a system of habits should have an intersection with:

• Always add to CC the team in external email communication. Don’t use email for internal communication, there are better tools for that. We use slack for fire and forget chats. Emails are for reaching out people who are “not around the fire”. This adds to the overall
• Have a history of decision makings. We use trello and have one major organizational board where we collectively & openly decide and execute initiatives which relate to all aspects of the business. We don’t delete trello cards. We just archive them for future reference

• Share all financial data — how much everybody is earning, how much money the company has in the bank, for which services the organization is paying etc. Basically every income and outcome flow. This levels up awareness. For that we have build our own tool MoneyFlow
• Share all legal information — new contracts, offers, templates, documents which are forming the framework by which we coordinate with the rest of the world. This builds up trust.
• Open up how much anybody is investing for value creation with clients. We track hours with a homebrew tool called Assista. This helps for catching symptoms of burnout. What’s the point of having a stressed & overworked friends? Transparent organizations are there to help each other.
• Let information and knowledge to flow freely. Freedom is the ultimate way for practicing honesty which leads to transparent expectations. We use google drive and github and always try create “in the open playground” where we can communicate with ease with peers. We’re even giving transparency reports to the Camplight partner network and friends. This gives shared ownership and responsibilities.
• Have functional transparency, not only informational. What’s the point of knowing something bad is happening if you cannot change it?

I’ll leave the proof of that theorem for you to explore ;)