The Role of Transparency in Building Trust with Employees and Clients

I’ve seen firsthand how transparency can transform an organization’s relationship with both employees and clients. When I was navigating my own experience at Harvard, the lack of transparency in their process left me feeling powerless and excluded. That experience taught me something crucial: transparency isn’t just about being nice—it’s about preventing unnecessary damage to everyone involved.

Why Transparency Matters More Than You Think

Transparency builds the foundation for trust. When someone comes to you with a complaint, they’re already vulnerable. They’ve experienced something that harmed them, and now they’re taking the risk of speaking up. How you handle that moment—whether you’re open about your process or keep them in the dark—determines whether they’ll trust you or fight you.

I’ve overseen the representation of clients in thousands of cases, and I can tell you this: the organizations that get sued aren’t necessarily the ones that did the worst things. They’re often the ones that handled the aftermath poorly. Secret meetings, withholding information, and keeping people “out of the loop” doesn’t protect you—it makes everything worse.

The Real Cost of Secrecy

Secret proceedings always come to light eventually. When you try to handle complaints behind closed doors, you’re not protecting your organization—you’re setting yourself up for bigger problems. People who feel shut out will find other ways to get information. They’ll file lawsuits just to use the discovery process. They’ll make open records requests. They’ll go to the press.

Here’s what I’ve learned: a failure to be transparent is disempowering and an unnecessary source of stress that can further intensify a person’s trauma. And when someone’s trauma is intensified by your process, that has the potential to increase any damage award significantly.

What Transparency Actually Looks Like

Being transparent doesn’t mean you can’t have discretion. You can respect confidential information while still keeping people informed. Transparency means:

Setting realistic timelines and sticking to them

Explaining your process from the beginning

Giving regular updates on progress

Answering questions honestly

Providing reports as they’re generated

When someone asks, “What happens next?” you should have a clear answer. When they want to know how long the investigation will take, don’t keep saying you’re “almost done” if you aren’t. Give them a realistic timeline, and if there’s a delay, let them know.

The Power of Choice and Control

Traumatized people need choices so they can be in the driver’s seat of their role in the process. When someone has experienced a traumatic injury or loss, they often feel devastated because they don’t have any control over their lives or what has happened to them. By empowering someone who has been harmed by or at your organization, you can minimize their distress—and your own stress.

How do you do that? You clarify their choices. What are their options? What steps can they take to protect themselves? If you emphasize the many ways they can make decisions throughout the process, they will leave your office feeling better. If they leave feeling like everything is in someone else’s hands, they will feel diminished and seek power through other means.

Building a Culture of Transparency

Transparency facilitates accountability, improved quality and safety, trust and ethical behavior, and better decision-making. To achieve this kind of culture requires a major shift in thinking—from quashing complaints to addressing them. You must shift from retaliating against those who bring problems to your attention, to taking action against those who are aware of problems but don’t report them.

This doesn’t happen overnight, but you can start with a few simple steps:

• Have a clear first step. People need to know exactly where to go when they have a concern.
• Train your team. Everyone who might receive a complaint should understand how to respond with transparency and empathy.
• Treat everyone with equal respect. How can you resolve conflicts in a manner that doesn’t dehumanize anyone and respects all people involved?

The Questions That Guide Transparent Leadership

When someone comes to you with a complaint, ask yourself:

How can I respond to this allegation in a manner that respects the humanity of the claimant?

How can I take the next step in a manner that recognizes that someone feels harmed?

What information can I share that will help this person feel informed and empowered?

You don’t know all the facts yet, but you do know that someone feels harmed. By asking these questions of yourself, you stand a better chance of avoiding a lawsuit—and even if a lawsuit does come your way, you’re more likely to protect your organization’s reputation and minimize the fallout.

Long-Term Benefit: Role of Transparency in Building Trust With Employees

By making every touchpoint one that builds trust and confidence—rather than distrust, suspicion, and resistance to the process—your institution is better served, your organizational culture is all the stronger, and your reputation is better protected. Understanding the role of transparency in building trust with employees is essential in this effort, as open communication and clear expectations foster genuine relationships and long-term credibility.

When you create an organizational culture built on transparency, you’ll have fewer serious problems over time. Not because people keep their mouths shut, but because the culture itself addresses concerns before they become crises. People will trust you enough to bring problems to your attention early, when they’re still manageable.

Remember: transparency isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being honest, open, and responsive when things go wrong. That’s how you build trust. That’s how you protect your organization. And that’s how you create a workplace where everyone—employees and clients alike—feels valued and respected.

Ready to transform your organization’s approach to transparency and complaint handling? For comprehensive guidance on creating trauma-informed processes that build trust while minimizing legal risk, check out my book Win-Win: Helping Organizations Mitigate Legal Risks For The Common Good. It provides the practical tools you need to foster emotional safety, enable trust restoration, and protect your organization’s reputation.