5 reasons your employees are lying to you
ewsflash #1: Your team lies to you sometimes. Maybe a lot of the time.
Newsflash #2: It’s at least partly your fault.
Newsflash #3: If you deny the possibility of #2 above, you may as well stop reading now.
If you’re still reading, I’m going to assume (yes, I know what they say about assuming) that you’re at least tentatively OK with the above assumptions. So what are those reasons? Why do folks sometimes lie to their managers and/or executives? Why might they lie to you?
At least not really.
2. They feel like you’re always talking to them, not with them.
When you talk to your team rather than with them, it’s pretty clear to them that you’re not really all that interested in their feedback. So when you ask if they agree with what you’ve said to them, don’t be surprised when they all nod and smile. And further still, don’t for a moment believe that that means they’re actually agreeing with what you’ve said.
3. They’ve learned — somehow, some way — that being candid, especially with difficult truths, can lead to them (1) being the targets of your passive-aggressive behavior, (2) being labeled or (3) maybe even something worse.