I've always been the same. The people who know what's going on are the operators and the customers and if you ask them what they thought about the management of Royal Mail they'd say exactly the same thing as me. So there's no point pretending it's any different. Half the time, if you want to create change you have to say to people: "We got it bloody wrong." Even if you've been there a few years and you bugger it up. You can't stop demotivating staff, but what is the point in pretending that something is not what it seems to be? And actually in the case of the Royal Mail, as soon as I started to say the management's completely buggered it up, the morale of the troops went up because it was the first time they'd actually heard somebody say that.
It doesn't matter who you are, if you are on the board of the company, you'd better understand whether the execution's working or not and the only way to do that is turn up in places and ask people things.
BIG AL
I know this point because ive heard it from a real I,T, some one had. (names witheld) As for DEMOTIVATING!!!!! Well a very sound fact i learnt from a dear departed friend is "telling aint selling" and Big AL U AINT SELLING IT TO US!!!! 
!!! WE want straight talk WE want the true facts BUT the FULL FACTS not half or RM's spin... The Spin Dr's of goverment and RM, (same thing) are very dangerous!!