Top Tier Leadership

TRUTH

“Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.”

Biblical Reference: Colossians 3:9
“Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices.”

Soon after joining TVA, I sought to find a way my employees might know more about me. I developed an idea of writing an online “Blog” from the Executive Vice President. The idea was to share current issues and ideas with anyone who had access to our internal system. Built into the blog was a question-and-answer forum. I intended to write about current issues, then address a question or two.
But things did not turn out that way. After the very first writing, I received dozens of questions. All the questions were difficult, probing, and challenging. I answered each one and found a great gap in knowledge between management and employees. Because employees could ask pretty much anything anonymously, submitting questions online became a popular way to ask exactly what was on their minds. I tried to answer each question openly and clearly, but I found it was challenging to do so and stay within policy and procedures. I would pull in HR and Legal and have long discussions before posting an answer. Often the answer would make management representatives uncomfortable. Within a few days, the blog was no more, but the question-and-answer forum stayed open, and the questions kept coming.
I tried to share as much information as I knew. I found that employees welcomed my being open and transparent, but I did not see the same response from management. At the time I had about 600 employees with online access. There were weeks the Q & A was tracking thousands of hits, because employees from all over TVA were reading my answers, not just my 600 employees. Plain answers were in great demand.
Soon my answers led to an invitation from the local union hall. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) represented TVA line workers as well as the Duke Energy line workers. They asked if I would meet them at the hall in Nashville and talk about several concerning issues. TVA’s Director of Union Affairs insisted he join me, and we traveled to meet with about fifty union stewards from across the Tennessee Valley. We listened mostly, although from time to time I would answer their questions. Many times, my response was not the answer the stewards wanted to hear. Often, I just said, no we cannot do that. However, anytime I shared a no, I tried to explain why my response was no. The union stewards usually disagreed, but they appreciated my insight.
I took more than fifty action items from the meeting and eventually dealt with all of them. At least half were rejecting their requests but sharing the truth. These stewards loved it. They had never had such a frank conversation with management. All previous conversations had been careful and conservative with the objective to walk away with as few action items as possible. Turns out we had been doing a great job managing our union workers but a terrible job leading them.
Speaking the truth should be simple. Most people tell the truth, at least most of the time. Yet leadership and truthfulness seem to compete at times. Often this comes from company policy or procedure. A carefully thought-out plan or set of rules determines both the timing and specific information for sharing. It is unusual to find leaders who overtly lie to their people, though this happens. However, it is not all that unusual to find leaders who share partial truths with people, or maybe shades of truth. Leaders shy away from sharing too much, just in case people aren’t ready for the full truth.
Most leaders have accepted the partial truth approach in some fashion. Our communications training specifically guides us to layer truth in components that might be more acceptable. We should guide people to the truth with care and ease. In other words, we spin it.
It’s not a layoff, it is a “right-sizing.”
It’s not a shutdown, it’s a “temporary pause in operations.”
It’s not losing money, it’s a “temporary reduction of revenue.”
We condition ourselves to think if the message doesn’t sound too bad, then the reality of the circumstances must not be as bad. Our employees find this to be ridiculous. They are frustrated by their inability to get real answers about their futures. They look to their leaders for answers and instead get messages crafted to say as little as possible.
Shading the truth is epidemic among corporations. Leaders should push back, find a way to go beyond the current practice. When you go the extra mile, you will demonstrate to your employees that they are valuable enough to understand the circumstances that lie ahead. They see this as leadership. Not everyone will agree. Look at Jesus, many times even His disciples didn’t agree with His blunt style. Your management will likely feel threatened if you push the truth envelope. Rather than bully your way through, finesse your way through. Find allies. Find policy loopholes. Share your plans. Be as open with your own management as you are with your employees.
As a Christian leader, look to Jesus for how to share the truth. When Jesus shares living water with the Samaritan woman at the well, He calls her out with a direct truth. “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” Jesus does not shade the truth. He does not divide the truth into comfortable increments. Consider Jesus as the Pharisees seek a sign and instead, He says, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign.” He goes on to pronounce “woes” on the Pharisees in Mathew 23. Yet as Jesus faces the Pharisees on trial, He truthfully acknowledges that He is the Son of God, knowing this will lead to His death. Jesus never turns away from the full truth.
The result of being truthful is joy. After all, “the truth will set you free.” How much more joy can you find in your work if you are sharing the truth? Certainly, the converse is also true. How difficult is it to be joyous when you are hiding the truth or sharing lies or shades of truth?
Love the truth. Share the truth. And enjoy the results.