The Truth Is, the Truth Hurts

Think back to the last time someone in the office proposed a truly harebrained project. Your public response was probably something like "That's interesting. We should look into it." Your private reaction was "Yeah, we'll do it when pigs fly." The truth is, it's easier to speak truthfully to strangers than to colleagues. Which means you're more likely to get the straight story from someone you don't know than from someone you've worked with for years.

There are lots of good reasons why the truth hurts. A colleague may be a friend, and no one likes to disappoint a friend. Companies that embrace a "can do" spirit often frown upon even well-intentioned criticism. There are political calculations too: Vetoing someone else's project may invite retaliation against your project.

But the more you avoid the truth, the steeper the price that you are likely to pay in terms of wasted effort, frustration, and even cynicism. It's a vicious cycle. Here are a few ways to break it.

Face the truth about the truth. Be honest with yourself about how good (or, more likely, how bad) you are at having difficult conversations. That's the first step to getting better at them.

Have sympathy for the devil. Encourage people to play devil's advocate. Even good ideas can be improved through critical, truthful give-and-take.

Don't ask for what you don't want to hear. If you invite people to offer a "warts and all" version of events, then you'd better listen. If messengers of bad news wind up stacked like cordwood outside your door, survivors will learn to censor themselves.

Honesty requires subtlety. Speaking and hearing the truth are acquired skills. Blunt questions can force people into corners where they feel compelled to shade things - even to lie. Instead of asking, "Are you in favor of this project?" you should ask, "How can we improve it?"

Michael Wheeler teaches two required first-year courses in the Harvard MBA Program - one on negotiation and one on leadership. His corporate clients include 3M, Johnson & Johnson, and Nabisco.

Debra Speight
VP of Information Technology and CIO
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
Lexington, Massachusetts
debra_speight@hphc.org

The real challenge is not whether to tell the truth but when. We are all a>icted with what I call the "MTV Syndrome": We process so much information so fast that it's easy to hear only what we want to hear. If I've learned anything about candor in business, it's that timing is everything. Even if you don't have a problem with telling the truth, the person on the receiving end of the conversation might have a problem with hearing it. So on those rare occasions when you have someone's undivided attention, be direct and honest. Get your message across - and then get out.

Also, try mixing the truth with some passion. Lots of people believe that the right way to deliver bad news is calmly, quietly, and analytically. I've never believed that. As a leader, I prefer to hear criticism from people who are assertive, who grab my attention and provoke my thoughts. Just the other day, for example, someone gave me some really tough feedback about an aspect of our organization. He was new, and did not realize how hard we'd been working on that issue. I didn't like what I heard. In fact, it made my blood boil. But precisely because of his passion, I invited him to share his criticisms with my senior staff.

One last point: It can be just as hard to deliver good news as bad news. So many leaders aren't very adept at giving positive feedback - even when it's authentic. That's why I never compliment someone unless I really mean it. I always deliver my compliments in a one-on-one setting, and I make sure that people understand the business impact of what they did. Empty praise to "keep up morale" doesn't help anyone.

Before joining Harvard Pilgrim Health Care in 1997, Debra Speight was vice president/CIO for the Zurich Insurance Group, a $3 billion insurance company. She was a silver medalist in the 1976 Summer Olympic Games.

Jack Stack
President and CEO
SRC Holdings Corp.
Springfield, Missouri

Do you want to know what I consider to be the biggest and most dangerous lie in business? Information is power. This wrongheaded cliche leads to much of the deceit that you see in companies today. It encourages people to hoard information - to use it as a weapon against colleagues rather than as a way to solve problems.