The Goldilocks Search for the Right Amount of Information
Information is the life-blood of all businesses. The trick is knowing how much information to share, and with whom to share it.
If you give out too little information, your employees will fill the void with whatever they can divine from the environment. Wide-spread rumors is a sure sign that there is not enough credible information being shared. If you give out too much information, your employees will complain about being over-burdened and confused about what’s expected of them.
Your job is to give out just the right amount of information. I could try to give you a list of rules of when to share and what to share, but there is no way to cover every nuanced scenario. That list would be ridiculous and a prime example of too much information. What I can give you a list of indicators that your employees have too little or too much information. Your job is to notice and respond to the indicators and make adjustments to what you are sharing based on what you notice.
Signs and symptoms of too little information:
- Employees complain during meetings about not having important information.
- You hear several different, ridiculous rumors about the future of the company.
- Employees leave comments on electronic information boards about how useless they are.
- Employees ask to speak with you privately and request that you confirm some information they have heard through other channels.
- Employees don’t know the answers to important business questions about data that should be readily available to them. (This is also a sign that there may be too much information.)
- Employees have a large amount of skepticism after receiving new information from senior management. You hear attitude like, “We’ll see” after major announcements are made.
- Employees complain about decisions being made and implemented without their knowledge.
Signs and Symptoms of too much information:
- Employees groan and complain when they are asked to attend meetings where information is shared.
- Electronic dashboards and portals have decreased visitations or are ignored.
- Employees complain about the number of emails they receive.
- Employees complain about the cumbersome system to gain approval for decisions they believe should be theirs to make.
- Employees don’t know the answers to important business questions about data that should be readily available to them. (This is also a sign that there may be too little information.)
- Employees complain about how everything they are asked to do feels like a number one priority.
- Employees start a pool about how many new initiatives will be started each month.
What are some of the signs you’ve noticed that you have too little or too much information at your place of work? We’re very interested too hear your stories!
Written by Clare Coonan, LCSW
Clare is a Senior Consultant and one of the founding partners at Five Degrees Consulting. Connect with her on Twitter, LinkedIn, or leave a comment below.
This is a blog we share between several of the Consultants at Five Degrees, guest authors and colleagues. We work with companies large and small on People and Organization strategies. Our work specializes in organizational development, leadership effectiveness and executive development. With a focus on working with leaders at all levels to create an intentional corporate culture, we help organizations increase employee engagement, energize working teams, develop critical leadership competencies and enhance strategic communications for more information about our services, please connect with us.
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