Mouth of Truth
As Chief Relationship Officer for CEO Connection I have the privilege and pleasure of participating in the CEO Boot Camps we hold six times per year. At the most recent event in New York City, the conversation at one point turned to the question, “How do you get the truth from your people?”
You see, one of our member CEOs had commented that the day prior he’d received very bad news from an employee which he should have received much sooner. His quote, “No one likes surprises, especially Chief Executives.”
So how do you get the truth from your people? Thoughts shared by the CEOs during the conversation included:
- You have to give your employees permission, through words and actions, to tell you the honest truth.
- You must give people permission to make mistakes and have a conversation with you about it.
- Watch how you respond to what an employee tells you when it’s not what you want to hear. That sets the tone for everything.
- Be clear with your teams about how important it is to share bad news in a timely manner, and how this helps minimize “damage.”
- Reward people who take a risk, even if they fail. If you can’t bring yourself to do this, then the truth is you are the impediment.
- Make it clear that you don’t have all the answers either.
- Be tough on the issues but not on the people.
- Let go of team members who are resistant to your vision, to change, or to your priorities. They will hold back the company. The rest of the team will see this as a sign of your truthful commitment to what you say is important. This is where aligning actions and words becomes critical.
My Perspective on Truth:
I believe, as a leader, it starts with showing up in your leadership role as your True Self. I realize many of you may roll your eyes at that, but I believe Truth starts within us.
If, as you step into your leadership role each morning, you morph into someone else or begin acting in a way you believe you need to act in order to be successful, then you’re not being true to yourself. If you are not even going to honor yourself with the truth, why should anyone else?
But by honoring who you are in every moment, and by showing up to work fully-expressed as your True Self – vulnerabilities, faults and all – you begin in truth. I don’t believe this makes you weak, I believe it makes you strong. I believe it’s empowering. I believe it makes you trustworthy and engenders honesty from others. I believe it empowers great success.
What do you believe?
~
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Photo of The Mouth of Truth by Shadowgate.
16 Response Comments
I have found telling employees at any level, early on that it’s OK to make mistakes BUT it’s not OK to cover them up, fail to find them etc….. and best of all find mistakes before they happen:-) Mistakes happen, we all make mistakes. This message said approximately this way gets “its OK to tell the truth” across early on in our relationship. This is an important post and a subject often missed. Thank you Lisa.
I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you sharing your own approach here, Caroline! I agree with you that it’s a subject that we don’t discuss often – which is one reason I was thrilled it came up in that meeting. I appreciate your very kind words!
Lisa – would that this post could be sent to every manager, every single one. I like all 8 of your rules, but especially #3 “watch how you respond…” Actions indeed speak louder than words. I recall one CEO during a leadership teleconference, who, after insisting there were no stupid questions, no topic off-limits, listening to a question and responding, “Well, that’s the last time we let ‘Joe’ ask a question.” He said it with a big grin, and the people in the room with him laughed heartily. I know, however, that ‘Joe’ was embarrassed in front of his peers, especially when the CEO essentially refused to answer the question as too tactical: “we can take these operational issues offline.” The next time they asked for questions, what do you think happened?
The CEO wanted a simulation of interactivity, not the real thing. “Joe” left the company a few months later.
I’m also reminded of Dilbert — the pointy-haired boss says, “teamwork is a lot of people doing what I say,” which is I fear to common an outlook.
Number 5 can be a real challenge, too – it seems like the tech companies do a good job of that, but the older the company, the more difficult pursuing that strategy becomes.
Thanks again Lisa –
Sean
P.s., HT to @jgombita for alerting me to the post!
Sean, thank you so much for sharing this brilliant example! How sad for the employees of this organization – they are likely unable to trust this CEO at all. And yes, #5 can be a challenge but it was interesting to hear how committed one of the CEOs was to this approach – even providing financial rewards for taking the risk. I sincerely appreciate you sharing so many of your insights here, Sean! All the best to you!
Hi Lisa – really interesting post about a fascinating topic. I find that it’s really up to the CEO to create a culture where exploration is encouraged and risks are managed. The biggest risk out there is that the CEO doesn’t have line-of-sight into what’s going on in the organization and who’s working on what. And of course, the larger the company the more serious this this problem becomes.
And how the CEO treats their direct reports will get magnified as it goes down the chain. So accountability, openness and willingness to seek the truth become really important.
Thanks again!
Very eloquently said, Alex! I think your insight about the risk from the CEO’s perspective is very accurate, as is your thought about actions being magnified as you go down the chain. Thank you for sharing such honest insights with this Community – I sincerely appreciate it!
Lisa,
I agree with what I feel are the two most prominent points in your post. First, employees have to be permission to have voice. I think this speaks to the entire culture of the organization, not just my lens of the work-life merge. With the economic recovery still in the unknown zone, there is still a prevalent idea that employees are “lucky” to have a job and should be prepared to just bow to senior leadership. But as our friend @SeanMcGinnis said on my FB page the other day and in a coming post:
“No employee will ever give you their best acting out of fear. Ever.”
So true as is the “truth” of who we are at the core whether rank or file. It’s about character and walking the talk whether in life or at work. When we operate from that truth as leaders that’s when the 3 Cs emerge.. a co-creation of a conscious conversation.
Enjoyed your wisdom as always. @JudyMartin8
Judy, I love your phrase “permission to have a voice.” We all do, and yet in so many organizations we feel it’s suppressed. Isn’t it sad that we have to actually feel we have permission to use it? And yet, we often do have this need because we don’t feel it intrinsically within the culture of the organization. And I love your “3 Cs!” Thank you for such a beautiful comment, my friend!
A key to this is for leaders and managers of all levels to avoid taking the feedback personally.
I can’t tell you how often I hear “my door is always open” or “it’s critical that we understand how employees feel about things” to only then see management hold a grudge, or worse yet, retaliate against employees that tell them what everything isn’t sunshine and roses.
This, IMO, is even worse in start-ups or smaller companies where the CEO or company leaders have little real-world experience in senior management.
Sean – what a great point! When the truth actually comes in the form of “feedback” it gets more complex and sometimes taps into emotions. Thank you for reminding us of this, I sincerely appreciate it!
Excellent Post!
To expand on your theme, I would like to add the element of “transparency”.
All of us, but especially business leaders, need to demonstrate a high level of transparency. It is not wise to be unnecessarily secretive. As a leader, you do not want your staff to think that you are hiding something. When you have nothing to hide, and when you are transparent, you gain people’s trust. As a leader, you have the responsibility to certain people to be transparent. Being transparent encourages others to be the same and feel they have the space to tell the truth. This is such a vital element in real communication.
Leaders know how important it is to have a cohesive or harmonious team and as such should be mindful of the level of communication and transparency which prevents misunderstanding, disruptions, conflict…. anything which could unbalance the team.
Best regards.
Hi Renata – My two cents is that transparency has to be viewed through the prism of business objectives, and the law. Ideally, for example, any media announcement should be shared with employees first, and many organizations do that when possible. There are many examples, though, of times when transparency isn’t possible — financial disclosures, matters related to not-for-profit fundraising, labor negotiations and even normal personnel situations. What is critical is that there emerges a spirit of free exchange of ideas, an encouragement on the part of leaders to get people to speak out and listen to one another, to share. That’s a big part of effective internal use of social media — it won’t work if the culture doesn’t support free exchange.
Thank you Sean for clarifying that and your input is appropriate and quite correct…
I could not agree with you more as, for the benefit of the company and the people employed, there are certain areas where transparency is not possible. The right mindfulness to the sensitivity of the situation needs to be considered all the time… I was referring to the “transparency” at the micro level as brought to light in the original post… the kind of transparency where, for example, executive is going out for midweek lunch with a friend. Tell the receptionist what you are doing and not just “I am popping out for a while”… This small and perhaps insignificant situation will gain people’s trust and promote the culture that support free exchange.
Lisa,
As a leader, it is very important to get the truth so that you can make good decisions. I have seen far too many leaders that convey through their actions that they are not going to listen to you but then they ask for your feedback. They tell you that they want it but when they receive it they completely shut you down as if your idea is the worst idea they have ever heard. As I lead people, I try really hard to be consistent between my words and actions. If I tell someone I want feedback or the truth, it is because I want to hear it like it is.
This is a critical point, Brandon. Thank you for being so honest and straightforward about it and reminding us how important it is to align our actions with our words! I appreciate you taking the time to share your own experience here!