Balance is the hard part with things like transparency. In my first year managing a team, I shared too much about a company’s budget constraints, trying to be open. It caused a ton of distraction and drama. Transparency has its limits. I'd say accountability does too, especially when leadership doesn't encourage it. How have you guys decided on the line where sharing becomes more harmful than helpful? https://www.inc.com/tricia-sciortino/the-trust-checklist-every-leader-needs/91070370
Coach
This is a great point. Transparency makes a lot of sense, when you have a track record of thought out decisions. And you need to be ready for the conversation and to make the case for why things were setup in such a way. Transparency back fires where managers have failed to do their due diligence and staff starts poking holes on things that as a manager you should know or understand.
IMO lack of transparency is only going to cause opportunities for people to assume the worst case anyways.
Not suggesting for example to make public all salaries, but yes to salary bands and levels for example, and expectations on raises, etc.
Promotion decisions, etc..
Decisions don't have to be perfect, but better to own them than let bad assumptions take hold.
I agree you need to be prepared but, within reason, I always air on the side of being transparent. Accountability is a non-negotiable, especially when I’m the one at fault (which is often the case in the instances when my team has made a mistake).
It's always best to operate on a "need to know" basis, just like the military or an intelligence agency. If someone does not need to know something to do their job, there's no point in providing them with the information. Your example, where people presumably became worried about a company's finances, are a good example where information people didn't need had a deleterious effect.
Op I definitely agree with you, transparency does have its limits and not everything can be shared with the team. I definitely would not have told my team about budget constraints. Thats one of those thigns that sharing could cause a lot of of worry.