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As a proactive division leader committed to my team’s success and meeting client needs, I frequently share relevant information with my team, but other leaders have provided me with feedback that suggests that I should share less information.

Elaine Varelas provides advice on things to consider when you receive feedback that you are sharing too much information as a leader.

Ask the Job Doc. Boston.com

By Elaine Varelas

3 minutes to read

Q.  I am a very proactive division leader dedicated to the success of my team and fulfilling the needs of clients. I share lots of (appropriate) information and am seen as a hub for advice about the business. Many of the other division leaders are telling me that I should “slow down,” or “stop spending so much time sharing so much information,” or “spend less time with each of my team members.” It’s almost as if they want me to take my work down a notch. Since they are my colleagues, should I be considering it?

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A. There are a huge range of management styles and the conversations that you are having with your colleagues reflect that there are numerous levels of comfort for how much information is shared with colleagues, how proactive some managers are, and the level of customer service that people see as appropriate to provide. If many of the other division leaders within your organization are telling you to slow down or stop spending so much time, I encourage you to find out what the real issue is that they’re having. Are you making them look bad? Are they trying to tell you that the information and messages should instead be delivered by whoever your direct report is? Or are they uncomfortable with the pressure being put on them to live up to the way that you are leading your group? Your approach might make other divisions look less engaged.

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Don’t take the feedback from your colleagues at face value but instead try to dig deeper into what the actual meaning of what they’re trying to tell you. Is there something specific that they’d like to see changed in your demeanor or is it that you think the information that you share is appropriate, as you’ve said, but perhaps they don’t share that same level of agreement about what you’re sharing. Are they viewing you as a hub of advice or are you being seen as a hub of gossip and rumors? Does your “advice” not let people develop their own skills?

Everything is in how people perceive you and whether that aligns with how you perceive yourself. Your first step with sharing this information should be to your manager to find out what their perception of you is and if your approach is in alignment with organizational goals. Do they see you as the kind of leader that they wish their other leaders were, or do they see you as someone who is creating too much visibility around their level of performance in the office while looking for credit, high regard and the provider of inside “dirt” on what’s really going on at the organization?

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Ask your colleagues for examples of where they think you should scale back in terms of sharing information. Also consider the way you share the information. Is it an email every hour when you think of something? Do you share it via email or share it via a less intrusive platform such as Teams or Slack, that your employees can view whenever they have a moment? Consider ways to streamline your information sharing without losing quality. Information overload can be real, so you may want to focus on only sharing the most critical information with your team.

You may be the best division leader since sliced bread or you may be the proverbial pot stirrer, and without more information from your colleagues and manager, I can’t tell. Your goal should be to find out if your self-perception aligns with your manager’s perception. If you are developing your people and they are being promoted, that leans toward telling you good things about your performance. If not, then that might also give you clues that your performance is not as exceptional as you might think. If your team is performing exceptionally well, and your manager is happy, you may not want to make any changes to your information sharing.

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