“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.

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“I feel like I’m not getting through to them.”

“Don’t they hear what I’m saying?”

“They just don’t listen to me!”

Any time we try to teach and can’t get employees to catch on, it’s frustrating.

We pride ourselves on being good coaches. So, when we can’t seem to get employees on the same page, it saps even the most patient manager.

But before pinning the blame on the employee, consider that the problem could be coming from you.

A crucial part of coaching is to play to the person’s strengths.

It’s useless to coach a 350-pound lineman to be a fleet-footed wide receiver. It helps to think of your employees the same way.

“Coach employees to their strongest abilities and the lessons will pay off,” says David Lee, founder of HumanNature@work.

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To light a fire under employees – and keep it burning – be an inspiration.

Employees with inspirational bosses are engaged, productive, reliable and loyal, a Gallup poll found.

Almost all of those who don’t have an encouraging boss are actively disengaged.

How can you inspire employees? Do what inspirational bosses have in common:

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Experts say team-building exercises can be very successful when done right. They foster trust, promote communication and increase collaboration among employees.

Problem is, they’re seldom done right. And they become team-breaking exercises.

Just the mere mention of those three little words – team-building exercises – can make some people cringe and call out sick.

Can’t blame them. Too often the activities are humiliating or just downright stupid.

Don’t believe me?

Check out these examples of team-breaking, er, team-building exercises gone wrong:

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