As you say, the inner circle certainly may have reason to do non-obvious things. But while withholding information from people can be occasionally politically helpful, it seems usually best for the company to have the employees on the same page and working toward a goal they see reason for. Because of this, I would usually assume that seemingly poor decisions in upper management are the result of actual incompetence or a deceitful actor in the information flow on the way down.
Broadly agreed—this is one of the main reasons I consider internal transparency to be so important in building effective organizations. in some cases, secrets must exist—but when they do, their existence should itself be common knowledge unless even that must be secret.
In other words, it is usually best to tell your teammates the true reason for something, and failing that you should ideally be able to tell them that you can’t tell them. Giving fake reasons is poisonous.
As you say, the inner circle certainly may have reason to do non-obvious things. But while withholding information from people can be occasionally politically helpful, it seems usually best for the company to have the employees on the same page and working toward a goal they see reason for. Because of this, I would usually assume that seemingly poor decisions in upper management are the result of actual incompetence or a deceitful actor in the information flow on the way down.
Broadly agreed—this is one of the main reasons I consider internal transparency to be so important in building effective organizations. in some cases, secrets must exist—but when they do, their existence should itself be common knowledge unless even that must be secret.
In other words, it is usually best to tell your teammates the true reason for something, and failing that you should ideally be able to tell them that you can’t tell them. Giving fake reasons is poisonous.