Team Principles 2.1
“Honesty is the best policy.” Sounds simple, right? Being honest takes vulnerability, which doesn’t always come easy. It can be tempting to hide the truth when you’ve made a mistake or promise an unrealistic deadline because you think it is what a manager wants to hear but ultimately, being accurate and honest in these situations often reflects better on you than the image you are trying to uphold.
At MEDUCOM, we prioritize transparency internally with our managers and co-workers. Here are a few ways we put this into practice:
An open-door policy – unless they’re in a meeting, managers doors are always open. - At MEDUCOM, we love having conversations about learnings so if we’ve made a mistake, we are encouraged to not only share it with our manager but to also be prepared to discuss what we’ve learned and how we will adjust moving forward. - If we are reaching capacity with our workload, informing our manager as soon as possible allows them to help re-prioritize tasks and direct us to other members on the team who can support us.
Regular updates – a quick chat, instant message or email to keep our project leads and managers updated on the status of projects goes a long way. - Updating those who are expecting work from us helps them to manage their time if they need to review it and their expectations on when a project will be completed.
We are fortunate to work with a team that makes it easy to have open communication, helping us to grow as individuals and work as a well-oiled machine!
Written by Amber Hutchinson, PhD, MSc
