It’s become de rigueur in leadership circles that “walking the talk” is a critical must do for any leader. If the boss wants to earn the trust and respect of staff, it’s essential they are seen to act in accordance with company policies and, more critically, with their own pronouncements.

As any MD will tell you, however, this is a lot easier said than done, especially living up to commitments to openness, honesty and integrity. For genuine reasons of competitive sensitivity or confidentiality, MDs sometimes simply cannot be open and honest about everything they know.

That’s fair enough but too often leaders fail to earn the trust of their people, essential to breaking the “them and us” mentality, by not being as open as they could about the 95% of things staff would appreciate knowing about.

If you want to demonstrate your own personal commitment to behaving with openness and integrity here are my Top 5 recommendations:-

• Publish and personally present the annual business plan to all staff and report progress at least quarterly.
• Publish your own top 5 personal objectives so everyone knows what your priorities are.
• Devise an “ask the MD” process where staff can submit any question to you anonymously – and publish your answers.
• Keep your office door open – use a meeting room for private conversations like everyone else!
• Routinely publish your personal diary

If these suggestions seem unworkable, too radical or plain crazy, then I challenge you to ask yourself two questions:

• Why?
• Do I really want staff to feel the company truly values openness, honesty and integrity?