“Just be honest with me.”
Have you caught yourself in one of these conversations with an employee?
Whenever a manager feels the need to cajole an employee into being honest, there’s a larger problem at hand aside from guilty fibs or little white lies.
It might be that members of your team are afraid to be totally honest with you. Why? The hidden reason could be coming from your company culture – or even directly from you!
Some leaders don’t want to hear honest-to-goodness assessments because they might also have to hear some bad news. In some cases, opening themselves up to honest assessments from employees is as welcome as a root canal.
And employees almost always pick up on the sense that the unfiltered truth may be less than welcome with certain bosses, managers or other colleagues, especially when there are critical decisions on the line.
They create a “don’t go there!” rule in their minds and self-censor when being honest means a critical or negative response.
