> Transparency is not your job.
> You're job is to keep telling your reports that everything is on track no matter what
> This will 100% require lying or being non-transparent at some point.
To add my 2 cents I kind of agree. When I first got into management, I didn't realise how many fires they were, or priorities I needed to balance. Initially I thought "there shouldn't be this many fires" but I soon realised that that was my job, to put them out, escalate when required, etc all while making sure the ship is steady and doing it with a smile on my face.
Some examples include:
- News that a sales person has sold a huge project which will save the company, but we can't deliver or build with our current backlog / resources
- One key team member has been taking a lot of doctor's appointments recently - and suspect they might be quitting / job hunting
- There's a very obscure security issue which could be fatal if discovered, but is a huge task which will disrupt a project which is already delayed and over budget
If I ran into any of these when I first started I would have freaked out - and that would have disrupt my team as they couldn't be productive with that anxiety over their heads.
Instead I just had to be confident that I could put out those fires, or put in place strategies to mitigate them, and let the team know it's all under control.
Of course if something was too big to handle I'd escalate, or if something blew up I'd take responsibility etc - but I think job #1 in management is to shield the team from distractions and let them do what they're best at doing.