Deception in the workplace

Do you ever wonder how honest people actually are in the workplace? One of the toughest things, I think is still being able to be honest with people. Yet it’s one of the most important factors in building solid, effective relationships. But how easy is it, really to be completely honest? In short, I don’t think that I know the full answer to this, yet, or even if there is a way to really answer this…

But what I do know is that it is a very important question to consider. The Edleman Trust Barometer shows that trust in western society is very low. Only 43% of people in the UK trust businesses (graph below) and combine this with data from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills which suggests that 47% of middle managers rate their own manager as in-effective, we have a problem!

But why do we not trust people as much as perhaps we could?

According to the likes of Sissela Bok (author of; Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life) and John Mearsheimer (author of; Why Leaders Lie) much of this comes down to 2 things; 1). The impact of being honest. How honest would you be if you knew that your company was on the rocks?

And 2). What our intentions are. If our intention is to win, at all cost, we may be more inclined to deceive others, whereas if our main intention is to respect, value, care and keep our people safe, our approach maybe different.

Yet deception is not black and white, there are so many facets sitting within this;

Not sharing information

This isn’t quite deception but holding on to information that can really benefit others doesn’t do much to increase trust. If you are holding information back, ask yourself why. Once you have given yourself an honest answer, then ask yourself if people on your team would agree with you.

Being selective about sharing information

This can be tricky, if you know that people’s jobs are at risk, do you tell them? Most of us would elect not to for logical reasons. However, Bob Chapman, CEO of a large American company would disagree. His business was facing huge cut backs and instead of laying people off, he explained the situation to all of them and asked each person to take so many weeks of un-paid leave. Long story short, the performance of his business actually improved, and the business saved and made more money then they needed.

Seek the advice of others about what information is best to share and why they believe it is sensible to share certain information, or not

Mis-information

This is where we give false and/or inaccurate information. I was once “advised” by a Senior Leader not to share some poor performance standards with an Executive, yet this was information that they would be able to act upon straight away and resolve the issue. Why was I advised not to share this information? simply the Senior Leader concerned did not want it known that performance was not where it needed to be in one of his regions. I told the Exec anyway.

There are other facets and these are 3 that are common in the workplace, which are you guilty of indulging in?

But how do we decide on the best course of action?

A retired CEO of a billion pound business told me that it’s down to your brand, know what you stand for and stick to it. If honesty is so important, demonstrate it. There is a real skill in doing this effectively though.

He also mentioned that deception creates a tangled web of narratives, some true, some less so and the more tangled this becomes, the harder it is to manage and before long you will fall on your own sword.

Our world is busy enough now, without having to keep track of what we did, didn’t and should have said. Being open and honest is clearly the way forward, but knowing when is best to share information and with who distinguishes those leaders that succeed from those that can cause more damage.