Mark Twain said it best: \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cIf you tell the truth, you don\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t have to remember anything.\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d In other words, there\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s no reason to waste your time and energy trying to remember what you said when, and to whom, if you make it a practice to be a truthful person.<\/p>\n
A human resource executive told me just yesterday that the number one reason<\/em> she is approached by people seeking a \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cchange\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d of some kind is because of the dishonesty in their workplace<\/em>. As an executive coach, my experience has been that it is\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u20ac\u009dmore often than not\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u20ac\u009dthe lack of truth telling that gets leaders and followers in the biggest jams.<\/p>\n Who Would You Trust?<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s not rocket science to say that dishonesty breeds distrust<\/em>, but many leaders still act confused by that reality when it rears its head in the workplace. An international study cited in the online version of the Harvard Business Review<\/em> revealed that \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201c\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u00a6the majority of respondents trust a stranger more than they trust their boss\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d (Michael Segalla, \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cHow Europeans Do Layoffs.\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d Posted on the Harvard Business Review website June 9, 2009. The data on trust is found in, “Managing Talent in Troubled Times”<\/a>).<\/p>\n That\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s quite a finding, isn\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t it? Most people are more likely to trust someone they know nothing about, than a person with whom they may work day in and day out.<\/p>\n Do you have a boss? Where is your trust level of him or her, and what\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s behind your response? Are you a boss? What\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s your sense of the level of trust you have from your direct reports? How do you know how to gauge that? What do you suppose figures into their relatively high or low levels of trust?<\/p>\n Office Politics \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u20ac\u0153 The Game<\/strong><\/p>\n I hear leaders and others talk about \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201coffice politics,\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d as if it\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s a necessary game they have to learn to succeed. But think for a second about a person you believe is especially adept at office politics. What is it they do really well, politically<\/em> speaking? Where do they register on your personal Trust-o-Meter<\/em>, and why?<\/p>\n There\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s a lot to think about regarding the importance of truth and trust, and it\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s disastrous to under-appreciate its significance. In upcoming blog posts, I\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2ll dig in a little deeper and more specifically about the link between the two, and what you, as a leader, can do to build that trust.<\/p>\n For now, though, give some real thought to how comfortable you are with truth telling, whether it be with direct reports, peers, or superiors. What figures into your relative comfort levels? Don\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t be afraid to dig into that question, because doing so will pay huge dividends down the line.<\/p>\n