Lying at work
It’s my opinion that lying is rampant in the workplace.
5 Reasons people lie to the boss
#1. The boss can enhance or hinder your career track
#2. The boss can control your salary
#3. The boss argues with you when you tell them the truth
#4. The boss violates confidence
#5. The boss shoots the messenger and the problem you point out becomes your problem
5 ways to spot liars at work
#1. They blame others rather than take responsibility
#2. They never correct you
#3. Guilt may cause people to talk more
#4. Insecure people are more likely to lie
#5. Highly competitive people who need to win may tell more lies
If you are the boss, people lie to you unless …
#1. You honor those who disagree with you
#2. You give opportunities to those who think otherwise
#3. You stop hanging with brown nosers
#4. You keep asking questions that get to the bottom issues
#5. You point out inconsistencies that seem like lies
People tell the boss what the boss wants to hear. If you don’t aggressively address this tendency, many will lie to you. It isn’t necessarily malicious. It’s more likely self-serving.
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Why do people lie at work?
How can leaders spot liars?
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Check out:
12 True Behaviors that Expose Liars
Good morning Dan,
Honoring differences of opinion is one sure way that leaders can reduce lying and brown nosing. I would be concerned about #5 “Point out inconsistencies that seem like lies” — if it is done brashly and in front of others.
An inconsistency may not be a lie. It may truly be just an inconsistency in the leader’s eyes and but very consistent to the person speaking. Instead of “pointing it out”, I would recommend asking great questions to first understand it.
The other thing that encourages lying of the “not speaking up” variety — is unaddressed team politics. It isn’t just the leader that squelches free expression, it could well be peer pressure/politics. Leaders can do much to unravel the negative strangle of this — from teambuilding workshops to great meeting techniques.
All the best,
Kate
I believe you hit on the number one reason; insecure people tell more lies. I would agree that highly competitive people may feel the need to tell more lies, only if they are insecure. My experience with highly competitive athletics is the contrary, they are looking to win honestly, to truly savor the victory.
I also agree with Kate that on is misaddressed team politics, but I would add culture, the 800 pound gorilla in most organizations plays a huge role.
Thanks
Tony
Dear Dan,
People lie at work because they want position and power by hook or crook. Usually they are incapable and incompetent people. They know well that their survival is not possible anywhere else. So, they play tactics to create issues, distort informations, spread rumors and create gap between authority and employees. They either block informations or present in such a form that have more negative impact. The Whole intention is to shield yourself, retain and get power. These people get promotion based on relations and connections with bosses rather than performance or talent. And lying is the key success factor for them to achieve the position. Leader can spot liars by their attitudes, interactions, communications and feedbacks. Just observe their words. They will use more negative words than positive. They will usually find faults with others and their sentences are not complete. There statement have dual meaning. They make more interactions than honest person because they can play on the informations gathered by different people. But the hindsight of their career is dark future and unseen circumstances. They are not prepared to faced unexpected situations and they take guaranteed for their job. They also dont add extra skills and qualification because they dont have time to work for value additions. For them, bootlicking, lying, and blaming are the value. The other symptom of these people is that they always look busy but infact they are not. They come early, stay longer and spread work on their table when people are about to leave.
How to stop them, When leader come to know liars ? Leader should assign them specific and even more tasks with deadlines. And delegate someone else to whom they should report. Leader should make more interactions with people in all levels. He should ensure proper, accurate and timely flow of informations. Pay and promotions should be based on tangible and intangible parameters which are measurable by expert team than individual leader. Leader should also send them behavioural and attitude related training from time to time.
Politics and blame games occur when space is created between perception and reality, informations and misinformations, performance and potential. So, the key is to bridge space and isolate politics, blames and liars.
A thought and a stronger afterthought !!
Kudos !!
Ajay has said it all..
True Tony — call it culture or politics etc… it’s there in most places unless the leader really resets it.
To your other point, there are many competitive people, as you say, who only want to win honestly with courage and competence.
Kate
Hey Dan,
Why do people lie at work?
Simple, because the liars can get away with it and even when they are caught the punishment is from non-existent to insignificant.
We live in such a politically correct, narcissistic society today that leaders fear taking an employee to task when they know they are lying or, worse yet, the leader sees a reflection of himself or herself in the lying employee.
I would highly recommend Drs. Twenge and Campbell’s 2009 book “The Narcissism Epidemic – Living in the Age of Entitlement,” which recently went into paperback, and Dr. Maccoby’s 2003 book “The Productive Narcissist – The Promise and Peril of Visionary Leadership.” Both will set you back on your heals.
How can leaders spot liars?
Depends on whether the leader is a liar or not. If he/she is, they may let it pass or use the liar to their advantage. If they are not a liar, the best approach was mentioned by Kate and Ajay. Ask questions and assign difficult, deadline oriented tasks, if you want to keep them. Otherwise, terminate them, because the bond of trust has been broken.
Why? To get ahead.
Lying at work is essantially a inbuilt ingrediant in any organisation and probably in all organisation . People tend to lie because they feel by this they can fool the bosses and higher authorities and gain confidence and place which they do not deserve , there is a conflict of interest between achiever and failure which force the individual to lie to create the gap and divert the attention from the real cause and targets which ultimetly affects the organisation .
There are many reasons why people lie at work .
1. to shift focus and gain the place which they do not deserve .
2.To cover up there failure .
3.To induulge in the internal politices and and create rumours and gosips
to hide there incapability .
4.To be in the good books of bosses w.
5. last but not the least it is the upbringing of the person and background his/her family .
It is very easy to find the liers at work ,leaders need to asses their body language and living style and working style at desk /place .
they should be assigned the task and should be closly monitored , a close study of their behaviour and psychology can reveal the real person in him/her
Hello Dan :),
1.Why do people lie at work? Depending for what they are lying.
Some motives:
– they feel insecure , their manager or superior treated them too wrong when they made mistakes.
-they were educated in a bad way starting with their childhood
2.How can leaders spot liars?
– by observing their body language and behavior
Hi Dan
Liars do what they do because they (believe they) can get away with it and because of self esteem issues.
Generally speaking, no right minded person would lie unless they believed that they’d benefit in some way. Whatever the case, if it’s not in the best interest of the company then it becomes a struggle to tolerate.
Spotting liars? Body language..every time!
chairs
mg
I beg to differ on how leaders should handle liars. We should not beat around the bush by giving the guy extra tasks, extended deadlines or close monitoring!.
Just deal with the guy on his problem. If he can be helped turn him around. If not, just get rid of him. period.
Liars exist because lying is condoned by the LEADERSHIP !. There are heaps of excuses for why it happens. Nothing jutsifies the act. It happens because of ignorance and denial by the guy on the top who is too preoccupied with strategies and tactics to address what is undermining the spirit of work culture – VALUES.
My concern is not so much with liars rather the “unethical and coward” leadership that promotes it through their inaction and denial.
Dear Yuvarajah,
You have really hit the crux point. Liars exist because they get either suppprt or get environment to grow. The fact is that people on the top of the hierarchy are most interested in their promotions and positions and do whatever can be done to fulfill their needs. This shows the great example to people at bottom and becomes practice or norm. So, usually it is a topp down philosophy and permeates to all levels,
Ajay,
Thanks for agreeing.
As long as leaders we keep deluding and denying the truth on where the real problem lies in managing people. Kouzes and Posner say, “Leaders should keep focus on the future. They should exercise integrity and courage in their own behaviour in “fixing” whatever in the environment or climate that perpetuates the dysfunction.
We have to grow out of the “culture” constraints. Perhaps, the only lies with the new generation to send the message to leadership. After all, is it not “also their future” that rest in the hands of their leaders.
I shall be leaving my job soon, enriched by the memories of failures on the leadership battlefront. I am thankful to my boss and colleagues for creating a university of wisdom to have benefited from. God bless them.