Oversharing is not caring
Leaders today face a challenging balance with transparency. Many of us have developed a habit of sharing everything. Not because it adds value but because we’re afraid of leaving someone out.
This creates what I call reverse FOMO. Instead of team members being afraid of missing out, leaders become anxious about not including everyone in every conversation, decision, or update.
There are two problems with this approach:
- It overwhelms people with information they don’t need. Not everyone needs to know everything about every project or decision.
- It actually makes it harder for people to find the information that is relevant to them.
There’s also a small shift of responsibility happening. When we put everything in the open, we sometimes use it as a shield: “Well, I shared it, so it’s on them if they didn’t read it.” This isn’t leadership - it’s avoiding our responsibility to communicate effectively.
Good transparency isn’t about sharing everything. It’s about sharing the right information with the right people at the right time.
If you are servant leader, then your role is to remove obstacles or create clarity for your team. Sharing everything is not reducing obstacles.