Losing Trust in Leadership? Part 2 of 3

When people or “followers” start losing or simply never trust their leadership or leaders, it creates and fosters a tenuous situation which can lead to a series of significantly undesirable outcomes for both parties. In Part 1 of this 3-part blog series, I started outlining three (3) simple reasons as to why it is so hard for some people to trust their leadership. This post covers reason #2.

Reason #2: Leaders Spin Too Much

Let’s be honest, everyone spins or practices the art of doublespeak in some form or fashion when they communicate. Coaches spin. Managers spin. Executives spin. Politicians spin (actually politicians have a PHD in it!). Just a quick note for those that don’t know what doublespeak means, it is defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary as “language used to deceive usually through concealment or misrepresentation of truth”. Now that may be a harsh definition, but it does practically describe what happens.

So, the question is why all the spinning? In my observations, conversations, experiences, etc… I have heard a myriad of reasons and a lot of them fall into the category of either “This is not spin” or “We don’t want to create a panic”. Let’s briefly dive into each.

In the minds and thought processes of most leaders they are absolutely right in saying and feeling that what they are communicating (whether it is a vision, strategy, progress, results, etc…) is not spin. Given the fact most people believe that being positive and a motivator are common attributes of great leaders which inevitably results in their “calculated guidance” to their followers, one should expect the positive spin. To leaders this is how they rally the troops, let their followers know that is exactly what they expected to happen, our glass is half full, there is light at the end of our tunnel, blah, blah, blah. To them, this is just who they are and how they are wired which again ties back to the very human element of leadership.

The problem with it is when that is always the message given, regardless of how good or bad a situation is. To me, this causes leaders and leadership to plunge into the clairvoyance trap. What I mean by this is that leaders start to believe that their followers automatically understand the intent when they themselves aren’t sure what it is. When they aren’t sure themselves they simply conceal their uncertainty with ambiguous communication or spin. This simply should not happen and there is an easy solution: Know your audience, tailor your communications to your audience, and BE HONEST!

As for the other school of thought that leaders don’t want to create a panic, this obviously only applies when communications or news is not positive. The thought is if leaders communicate things that are perceived as negative or performance is not what was envisioned or planned, then the followers are simply going to make a mass exodus. This is simply not true. Obviously, there are always going to be those that go follow someone else and there is nothing that can be done in that scenario. But the more and more leaders consistently communicate the positive or spin even the negative into a positive followers quickly know something is not right and will draw their own conclusions. Usually these are not positive. Do leaders really want this outcome?

Again leaders need to be honest, tell both sides of the story, and simply state the facts as they are. Followers need to know what their leaders really are thinking, but more importantly they want to know that leaders have a plan (without a personal agenda) and associated actions to match the “words” of that plan (i.e. Walk the Walk). This becomes even more paramount when dealing in difficult times like the ones we are experiencing today.

Ben Horowitz, who is the cofounder and General Partner of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, wrote a recent blog post on “CEOs Should Tell It Like It Is”. The post is geared toward CEOs, but upon reading it I found a lot of what he said can easily be abstracted to the concepts and theories of leadership. If you have the time, I highly recommend reading it.

In the end it comes down to leaders instilling confidence, keeping people relaxed, and being aware of the personalities amongst those that follow them. What leaders a lot times forget is that reality resides in what followers perceive and what they are experiencing / feeling. Spinning doesn’t remedy these perceptions or feelings, only honesty does.

Thoughts?

Next Week: Leaders Don’t Admit Their Mistakes