Dear upper management: don’t keep secrets from the employees on the ground! It’s so hard to do your job and stay productive when management is hiding the fact that hundreds of new employees are being added to the payroll (thus making compliance enforcement harder) and hiding who the real customers for their new products are.
Instead, make sure your managers are kept in the loop with regular emails and meetings. Employees will be more motivated if they know what they’re working on, rather than being told to add features that don’t even make sense for what the project is for. If you don’t want to speak directly to your employees, tell your managers so they can tell the employees themselves.
It may be easier for upper management to be the only ones knowing what’s really going on, but the effects on the rest of your company are not worth it. CEOs: don’t keep secrets.
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