Here is another valuable Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review. To sign up for a free subscription to any/all HBR newsletters, please click here.

*     *     *

If you want your employees to perform at their best, they have to know you trust them.

o One way to signal this is to openly share information with them. It’s not always easy, of course, to communicate honestly with employees.

o Some managers are reluctant to disclose information for fear of premature leaks, second-guessing, or dissension. But being transparent shows that you trust your employees with the truth, even in difficult circumstances.

o For example, if you’re a manager making pay decisions with an ever-shrinking budget, you may be hesitant to explain your rationale for fear of upsetting people.

o But if you provide a detailed description of the budget constraints and how the criteria for merit raises will be applied, you can preempt suspicions of bias and demonstrate that you trust employees with sensitive information.

Adapted from “Want Your Employees to Trust You? Show You Trust Them,” by Holly Henderson Brower, Scott Wayne Lester, and M. Audrey Korsgaard.

To check out that HBR article and join the discussion, please click here.

Here’s a direct link to dozens of other Management Tips.