Your employees CANNOT tell you the truth.
This leads you to managing a distorted version of reality.
Just like you cannot tell us the truth (the unvarnished), we cannot tell you the truth (brutal honesty).
The truth being in many cases just a limbic feeling without the words to express (emotion). Hell, to be professional is to not express emotion, especially negative ones. Silence is our learned response.
How then, can we truly innovate, optimize or improve as an organization?
With lack of trust and fear, how can your company reach its potential? Are you not crushing the life out of some of us? You sign the checks. And we must preserve our livelihood. Great job boss!
Keepin’ it real:
When employees do not feel safe telling the truth, leaders end up managing a distorted version of reality instead of the real problems, risks, and opportunities.
This blinds the organization, causing poor decisions, growing waste, stalled innovation, and the quiet loss of good people.
Everybody does it, in one manner or another. Are you familiar with the stages of truth?
- Ridicule
- Violent Opposition
- Acceptance as Self-Evident
As an employee, intrapreneur, rudolph, aspiring dark horse:
You are not short on Talent. Rather, your talent (human capital/ people) are restricted from contributing. Value is lost.
(Employee) fear is omnipresent in the organization. This is bad for you. Bad for them. Bad for everyone.
How then can you accurately assess any situation, given the dynamics of both your system and your complicated as hell human capital?
Most performance problems are designed into the system.
Performance Reviews for example.
Without a psychological safety net, how can employees possibly help you fulfill your vision? How can any organization truly and masterfully innovate, optimize, or improve?
The reason I can so clearly say you are managing a
“Distorted version of Reality “
Is because I was honest during an employee appreciation survey by sending HR a gentle but stern email – and damn near got crucified. That story here. FOIA request it or just ask: It is password protected because it is both negative and emotional (unprofessional). I have nothing to hide. I lay it all out in short. It is absolutely why I say with absolute confidence:
Your employees cannot be honest with you about your company.
Chat breaks it down like this:
Why Employees Cannot Tell Employers the Truth — and How It Hurts the Organization
Why employees do not tell the truth
Even in “open-door” cultures, employees often stay silent or sugarcoat reality because:
- Fear of negative consequences
They worry about losing their job, damaging their reputation, being labeled “difficult,” or being excluded from opportunities. - Power imbalance
The employer controls pay, promotions, evaluations, and job security. That imbalance automatically suppresses candor. - Past retaliation (direct or indirect)
People remember when someone spoke up and it went badly. That memory lasts years. - Leaders unknowingly discourage honesty
Interrupting, defending, explaining, or dismissing concerns trains employees to stay quiet. - Cultural norms
“Don’t make waves,” “just do your job,” and “that’s above your pay grade” suppress upward feedback.
How this harms the organization
1. Leaders manage illusions instead of reality
When the truth is filtered, problems appear smaller, progress looks better, and risks look lower than they actually are. Result: Decisions are made on bad data.
2. Problems grow silently
Small issues that could have been fixed cheaply become expensive, urgent crises because no one wanted to “bring bad news.”
3. Waste becomes normal
Inefficiencies, broken processes, and customer complaints get hidden. Leadership thinks the system is fine while the front line knows it isn’t. This is exactly what Deming warned about:
“Management is prediction. You cannot predict without data. And you cannot get data if people cannot speak.”
4. Innovation dies
No one volunteers new ideas when it feels unsafe. Creativity collapses in environments where “don’t get in trouble” is more important than “improve the system.”
5. Good employees disengage (or leave)
High performers hate pretending everything is okay. They leave quietly, while complacent or fearful employees stay.
6. Trust erodes
Whether leaders know it or not, employees talk—to each other. When they don’t trust leadership with the truth, an “underground culture” forms.
7. Leaders lose the only perspective they cannot generate themselves
Executives can see strategy and numbers, but only employees see friction, customer pain points, workflow barriers, and daily realities. If employees will not tell the truth, the organization is blind in the most important direction—upward.
The bottom line:
When employees cannot be honest, the organization cannot learn, cannot adapt, and cannot predict the future.
This is not a “people problem.” This is a system problem, created by leadership behaviors, structures, and incentives.
Fix the system → candor increases → performance improves.
💡 What this really means:
- If employees can truly speak the truth, you’re not just improving “feel-good” culture: you’re likely unlocking a 20–25% productivity gain, based on what’s observed when communication is strong.
- Lower turnover from psychological safety (-41%) means significant savings (recruiting, onboarding, lost institutional knowledge).
- More innovation (- 45% higher odds) can accelerate improvement cycles, new ideas, and competitive advantages.
- Because motivation goes up dramatically (72% more likely to take risks), the organization becomes more adaptable and resilient.
My story:
Exemplifies the words of Robert Greene (48 Laws of Power): “Put three people together and politics and egos take over. The person with the power and leverage tends to go as far as they can with it.”
My question:
Is that best for the organization?
The person with power could, with less effort, design a superior system where the company would flourish long-term. Why not be hero?
Instead of slipping into decline, fighting the same fire over and over, stuck with people who cannot find a better job.
Short story:
CEO wanted a NPS (net promoter score) of 80% (ish) It was currently 59%. During the mapping session when AR facilitator brought this up, everyone busted out laughing. The real number was less than 20%. Why?
Because he financially incentivized his people… he married his entire staff to this KPI. All the employees have to do to ensure their livelihood is overlook weaker scores. If you are shaming the employees, Why? Do they really have any control over the system? You know who does, right?
I heard years ago that only 4% of dissatisfied customers bother complaining. How does that translate to employee complaints? Does it really matter? The entire index is a meaningless Average of certain people who respond in a certain way to a certain prompt. Better to control how the data collected than be reminded that the Average person has one testicle. Meaning: most data is Average. Meaningless. Study Deming. Is it possible you have programmed your people to bring you only good news? Pompous much? No wonder. Take a Gemba walk.
I wish I could tell you how the lack of trust in the workplace is affecting you. I cannot. All I can do, is assure you the condition is real. Its full effect unknown and unknowable. This is not yet a national crisis. Give it four (4) years.
As an employee of 35 years, I know with certainty your employees will not be completely honest with you. They simply cannot. Not because of you. Because it has been beaten out of them by every other employer. The process begins as early as age 3.
I am not suggesting or referring to little white lies either. I am talking about what lies downstream of Shit’s creek: Chaos theory, compounded!
Employees are ignored, overlooked, treated like garbage, programmed not to complain.
Where employees cannot be honest;
Improvement, innovation, optimization are virtually impossible.
No need to prove me wrong. Why wait for the right crisis?
94/6 Rule:
94% of workplace problems and performance variations are caused by the system or management processes, while only 6% are attributable to individual employee error. This is peer reviewed science:
Employees have little to no say or authority in anything. 0-6% I & I say 1%:
Make that a 6% choice say: Certainly no decision making capability relating to tools, equipment, when to show up, what to wear, what to do, how to talk, when to eat, and as I found out: WHERE TO SIT.
Don’t be an Anti-American Autocrat.
Stay curious my friend,
I Provide: System Clarity, Lasting Change
- Make the invisible system visible
- Identify the true constraint limiting performance
- Surface non-obvious sources of waste and friction
- Clarify where improvement will (and won’t) pay off
Reducing uncertainty so you can invest time, money, and leadership attention where it actually matters.
Who This Work Is (and Isn’t) For:
For:
- CEOs of complex organizations: 10-200 people
- Leaders facing cross-functional friction
- Owners preparing for growth, acquisition, or change
Not for:
- Posers: Leaders seeking quick fixes
- Teams wanting tactical optimization
- Organizations unwilling to examine management design
My method for improving this condition:
M4:
- Mapping your process,
- Measuring how long it takes, helping you
- Managing more effectively by
- Mobilizing your people:
Let’s get started! Discover how this log and snail will transform your company into the 21st century excellence:
