Managing when the Truth will always come out.

Management, for so long in many companies, was bullying and lying, perhaps even today. But I believe that shortly after the dawn of the web, there was a major change: it became much truer, that the truth of anything would eventually come (leak) out. 

This was illustrated to me in the early 1990s when Alec Baldwin’s ex-wife, in a fit of pique, put a voicemail he had left for his daughter on YouTube. In the voicemail he is berating his young daughter and calling her uncomplimentary names. This was not unprecedented, people had outed celebrities before, but it became clear to me that now it could happen to just about anyone and would then be in the public domain forever! This gave rise to me thinking that we were entering an age where the truth was likely to come out (or be leaked out). Certainly nothing since then has given me doubts about this and in just the past month we have seen major financial document leaks covering both the big and small. The hacker organization Anonymous see nefarious secrets as a prize to be displayed to the entire world!

Bullying also has had to adapt, in some cases even disappearing, but unfortunately all too often just become a bit more subtle. But again, if the truth always comes out, the bully also gets outed.

The #MeToo movement gave sexual bullying a real kick to the head, and the most recent generation to go to work, is kicking bullying's ass, with a get-up-and-quit attitude.

The enabling technology for much of this surge of truth and anti-bullying is the personal cell phone’s camera and recorder. It has become very easy to surreptitiously record other people's behavior and upload it before you leave the scene! Because of these changes in what management could get away with, I began asking myself the question “How would you manage in a world where the truth was always going to come out?”

How would you manage if the truth always came out?

My answer was that you had to speak in a manner that was unambiguous: you might choose to not discuss, or answer, but what you did say was the honest truth (unlike massaged truth!) and most importantly, that your actions and decisions were, without fail, fair. 

Truth and Fairness in both word and deed.

Only if these two traits, speaking truth and behaving fairly, are present, can you possibly manage on a long term basis, and even more importantly, have your employees be willing to hear your decisions, the reasons for them, and accept when the answer to them must be "No".

For many, this truth and fairness management, will require a change in their very demeanor. If you are prone to speaking freely, now you must consider your words, carefully, to meet the standards of truth and fairness. If you make quick judgements and decisions, perhaps you will need to become more circumspect, as you examine your decisions, before any announcements, for fairness.

While it is always difficult to say no to an employee request, it becomes a festering sore if the employee feels as if the reasons given were false or that they were treated unfairly. The only way they can accept your ‘no’ with some equanimity is if you give them the truth why the answer is no, and if you have always been fair with them and others.

It is has been a common workplace, where management is doing things that have people feel like they aren’t being respected with the truth, from salaries being inequivalent, to unfair actions on hours or scheduling, from nepotism to favoritism. Some employers are even taking advantage of the pandemic as an excuse to keep staffing short and overworked.

Today’s environment of employees throwing in the towel and quitting, fed up with the circumstances of the job, is indicative of a management culture that is at fault.

If you manage under the banner of Truth and Fairness, employees often respond by giving their all. Regardless, think about your own honor and self-respect. You are a manager; you get things done. Your role is that of leader and servant of the company, and your assigned employees.

It becomes much easier to manage using Truth and Fairness if you use the old trick of imagining your actions being on the front page of tomorrow’s Wall Street Journal.

And it becomes more and more likely, that if you don’t acquire and manage with these traits, you probably will end up on that front page!