Listen to article audio:[<span style="background-color:rgb(246,246,249);color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, &quot;Segoe UI&quot;, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, &quot;Open Sans&quot;, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif;">https://d1lzrgdbvkolkd.cloudfront.net/3471_Audio_955e88b37d.mp3] Change management has become a crucial component in any business transformation, and effective change management relies on trust. In fact, research found trust to be a top employee need during the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most change-inducing crises in recent business history.1Trust can be a nebulous concept, though. What does it mean in more concrete organizational terms? Deloitte research breaks it into four key factors: humanity, transparency, capability, and reliability.2 We'd like to zoom in on transparency. &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<hr> For employees, transparency is seen when their organization clearly and openly shares information about its motives and choices. When it comes to large-scale change, there is understandably some resistance to maintaining transparency—especially when that change might bring some perceived negative impacts, or lead to major shifts in the way employees are used to working. However, research shows that increased transparency leads to greater trust, and therefore greater employee buy-in and satisfaction: Deloitte research, for example, found that employees are 1.7 times more likely to be satisfied with compensation when there is pay transparency.3 &nbsp;Communication and engagement are areas for leaders to tangibly practice transparency, which can be cultivated in the following ways:<ul><li>Honest and accurate communication. Let teams know why a change is occurring and who it will impact. &nbsp;</li><li>Clear motives. The business implications or financial interests tied to a change should be communicated openly. &nbsp;</li><li>Plain language. Transformation can be complicated; try to make it easier to understand. Language that is too technical or difficult to interpret can lead to a lack of understanding and loss of trust. &nbsp;</li><li>The right leaders. Recruit the right people to engage your teams. Leaders who can be trusted to communicate clearly and candidly about a change can boost transparency and build greater trust. In fact, according to Gallup, when followers trust their leaders, one in two are engaged at work. When followers don't find leaders trustworthy, only one in twelve are engaged.4 &nbsp;</li></ul>Transparency in communications and engagement is one of several levers that organizations can pull to build trust not just in the short term, but over time. Long-term, companies can prioritize transparency as a leadership capability that is valued and rewarded to encourage the emergence of more trusted leaders. They can deploy a businesswide communications strategy that encourages transparent, frequent, and clear messaging to stakeholders. Ultimately, transparency is key to laying trust as a foundation for change.&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2 style="margin-left:0px;">About the Authors</h2>Stephanie Roman is a Senior Consultant in Deloitte Consulting’s Human Capital practice. She specializes in change management, leading stakeholder engagement and communications for large scale transformations. With over six years of consulting experience working across industries, Stephanie has helped clients transform their people-related strategies to enable successful changeDhara Puvar is a Consultant in Deloitte’s Human Capital practice. In her role, she leads end-to-end change management and workforce transformation initiatives for complex, global organizations. Dhara leverages her background in HR management and social science research to advise clients from both a human-centric and data-driven lens. She is especially passionate about talent strategy, pay equity, and change innovation. &nbsp; Footnotes:<ol style="list-style-type:decimal;"><li>COVID-19: What employees need from leadership right now, Gallup / Jim Harter, 2020.</li><li><a href="https://www.deloittedigital.com/content/dam/deloittedigital/us/documents/offerings/offering-20200706-hub-trust-hx.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">A new measure of trust for consumer industries</a>, Deloitte Digital / Ashley Reichheld, et al., 2020.</li><li>Ibid.</li><li>Trust Is in decline: Here's how to rebuild it, Gallup / Vibhas Ratanjee and Jennifer Robinson, 2022.</li></ol>

Change management depends on trust, and trust requires transparency.

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Change management depends on trust, and trust requires transparency.

It's clear: Transparency builds trust

Organizational change is human change. The success of transformation efforts depends not only on the organization’s vision, strategic objectives, and aptitude for change, but also on distinctly human factors that must be in place to change behaviors, work practices, and workplace culture.&nbsp;