LEADERS KNOW THAT HONESTY IS NOT ALWAYS THE BEST POLICY
This past week I discussed the value of honesty with two different leadership coaching clients. As someone who served as a leader in the workplace for many decades, I have believed that honesty is always the best policy. Being honest with our teammates serves us as leaders and our team members as followers. When leaders are honest with members of their team, they are serving as role models and helping create a positive work culture.
Leaders can strive for honesty when:
- They must deliver tough feedback to help a teammate grow
- They are correcting inappropriate or mistaken behavior
- They are providing suggestions for project advancement or completion
- They are giving annual review assessments
- They have concluded that a team member is no longer a fit for the job
- They are helping a teammate learn a new skill
- They are sharing non-confidential financial information
- They are reviewing team goals, both in advance and after a project or specific time period
The challenge facing most leaders is knowing when not to be fully honest with teammates.Sometimes “honesty is the best policy” can sound good, but does not serve the team or the leader in the big picture.Part of a leader’s role is recognizing when to refrain from total honesty, even if a part of her wants to be fully transparent.
When ought leaders pause and reflect upon the need for full honesty?When might it be appropriate to decide to withhold certain facts and opinions from a team member?When might discretion be the best path to pursue, even if certain information is being withheld?
-When revealing the whole truth would hurt someone’s feelings without helping them grow
-When being totally honest would make matters worse rather than better
-When revealing the full truth would jeopardize relationships between teammates
-When being fully honest does not accomplish any positive goal
-When total honesty would significantly harm a teammate’s confidence without a corresponding benefit
-When full honesty would only inflate the leader’s ego without promoting improvement in the situation
-When the full honesty is more appropriately delivered by a different member of the team rather than by the leader
-When it is too early to know the full story and additional data is needed
-When complete honesty would damage the team culture that supports the entire office
It is never appropriate to intentionally lie to our teammates, to tell untruths based on our own need to be right, or to stray from honesty only because we are afraid of hurting someone’s feelings.As we have learned before, sometimes courageous conversations or radical candor are absolutely necessary in our workplaces.
However, experienced leaders know that “honesty is the best policy” does not mean that complete honesty is always the best policy.At all times, we must call upon our years of leadership experience, our knowledge of our teammates and team culture, and our own good judgment to determine just how honest we wish to be – in a conversation, in an email and in a meeting.
So use your own skills and knowledge to know when to be fully honest – and when to hold back for the benefit of others.
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-Larry