Having recently spent some time in a leadership position, I must admit I became disillusioned with "consensus emerging from democratic debate" - everyone tends to argue from their myopic view of the issue and to avoid thinking through the consequences fully (because ultimately they won't be responsible for them).
That said, as a subordinate, I hate it when no rationale is given. And it can be counterproductive too because people will start to speculate about "true reasons" behind the decision. Instead a reasonable thing to do seems to be to publish a rationale but make it clear that the debate is over and everyone has to commit to the decision even if they disagree with it.
I agree with your experience. However I disagree with one aspect, in my experience.
Giving a rationale hasn’t engendered trust, and instead has contributed to conspiratorial discussions (they say it’s about x, but it’s really about y!) and often times the conspiratorialists were kind of right. There is no good answer but a straight directive with little food to chew on leads to less counterproductive speculation. And often it is less “dishonest”.
> and often times the conspiratorialists were kind of right
I think people are fairly good at noticing when they are just getting “spin” or an incomplete answer. The conspiracy theories pop up to fill the void. The only way to avoid this is to give enough information. Once you are caught withholding key information you will never be fully trusted again.
Giving no information is probably better than giving misleading information but it certainly doesn’t engender trust.
If you want your employees to be honest with you then you must give them a reason to trust you. Personally I believe part of that is being as transparent as is rationally/legally possible.
That said, as a subordinate, I hate it when no rationale is given. And it can be counterproductive too because people will start to speculate about "true reasons" behind the decision. Instead a reasonable thing to do seems to be to publish a rationale but make it clear that the debate is over and everyone has to commit to the decision even if they disagree with it.