Workplace DisTRUST, thinking & maybe some sarcasm

I hear TRUST discussed by leaders frequently; there are deeper and more subtle aspects to trust many just do not get. We all agree that trust is important, and although most do not intentionally lead others astray, your/their leadership may be creating a culture of DIS-TRUST.

Just sharing a few ways managers FAIL TO TELL THE TRUTH!

 Workload & Scheduling: Words spoken: We won’t be working Saturday, (or we will not be working late tonight). A common ploy of leaders to keep people motivated until later in the day/week when we drop the surprise bomb on them and work after all. Now that was just a lie now, was it not? Teachers do this a lot also, in their leadership roles.

 Quality FIRST (or) Just say something when you see a problem: This is a BIGGEE, happens a lot in workplaces. We preach quality; print it on mission statements; put slogans about it on walls, etc. Then we fail to walk the talk: We tell people to be quiet, not to worry about it and/or tell them to just ship it! ...after they identify a problem, mistake, flaw, etc. Now again, that’s just lying to them. And here is another twist: When we get bad news or criticism we do not like to hear, we blow them away. Maybe you are shooting the messenger, and killing future suggestions. This is a great way to keep people from bothering you; to prevent information from getting to you!?! Oh well, you could always put up a Distrust Box, ...er uh I mean Suggestion Box!


 TEAMWORK – (Teams Solve Problems, Not Individuals)… and then managers time after time, make decisions, tell them what to do, and provide THE solution for them to execute. We preach it and then do not practice it; never consulted with them, asked their opinions or attempted to gain consensus/or the best solution. We subconsciously think that 2 heads are better than 1, but then just end up using the thinking of one head - yours, the manager! Oh well, who has better thoughts than you anyway?

 We want Risk-Takers! Time after time we abuse, ridicule, or in other ways, put down people for taking risks. Risk is okay as long as it does not fail or cause us any problems, right?!? If he/she had just gotten it right, it would have been a good risk. Wonder what they will do next time; yeah I really wonder!

 Promotions, Raises, Transfers… How many times do you think that someone in your organization has considered himself / herself to be the right person for the job; only to watch it go to someone else? When we do not have a system for evaluating performance, people will consider your system unfair… because it is! You will have a tough time proving them wrong! You can always just tell people not to talk about salary, pay, promotions, etc…because of privacy rationale, you know. You and I know it is just because we are not doing it right or fair huh? Oh well, they will never catch on?!?

 Let me check on it, and I will get back to you. ...Take a moment and consider how many times you have heard this said to people and subsequently no response? How many times have you taken that monkey on YOUR back and failed to return with an answer? Now I am not suggesting that you intentionally lied, but to him/her it was just that, you lied to them. Now if you had built a strong relationship up front with that person/all your team, they would not suspect this, but you did not do that either huh?

...Managers put themselves into this predicament; Leaders understand the dynamic. They not only build relations but also think ahead; they give them the right to pester until you get back to them. Thus keeping the monkey on their back huh?

Many many more examples are out there, but likely you just remembered something/someone you need to go get back to, huh?

Have a great day, and although you would never make any of these mistakes, others might. You might want to get this into their hands; maybe even your boss! Yikes….

BOOKER, ...what?...I am just saying...!