Full disclosure from the executive level exposes Doers to the truth about the difficulties they’re about to face. Doing so triggers the search for new tools and new ways to improve performance and to improve the bottom line. Most importantly, it generates a whole new set of critical questions like:

Are we missing or overlooking something?

What resources are available to enhance the success of this new produce or service?

Whose help will be needed now and later on?

How are we going to get them involved?

Thereafter when a new product is in the planning stage, Doers will consider what they are doing now and immediately offer suggestions for how to improve the product as it develops.

As their focus shifts from the past to the future, they will start posing strategic questions such as,

Is what I’m supposed to do now different, and, if so, how am I going to get it done?

What will happen if I don’t do it right?

If I don’t know how, who’s going to teach me?

If truthful answers are not forthcoming, those who work on the product will not risk aligning themselves with a potential failure. There also needs to be some collective discourse around the subject of change itself. Not just what is different, but how is this going to affect our ability to work together.

Once there is acceptance and understanding of what is expected then all the folks at the top have to do is keep the workforce informed as problems arise and praise them when they make the necessary adjustments.