Why you should always tell employees the whole truth

“They never tell us anything; we’re always the last to know.”

So many employees feel this way. They see something that they don’t understand—something that doesn’t fit with what they already believe to be true—and they feel left out. Worse, they feel all at once foolish, lost, neglected, resentful and hopeless.

No one wants to feel that way—certainly not when it comes to their livelihood. So, what do they do?

When we keep people in the dark, they end up creating “logic” out of inaccurate or incomplete data. Their perceptions and judgments are therefore inaccurate, which quickly leads to disillusionment and mistrust. That’s a great way to kill productivity and morale.

Illogical conclusions

The impact of manufactured beliefs may lead employees to take a project off course, misperceive management intent, ignore crucial data or, eventually, resign. When they go, they’ll take the company’s training and development investments with them.

To illustrate the kind of frustration and apathy many employees are wrangling with, check out the video below from Improv Everywhere. The video, titled “Seeing Eye People,” spoofs the way people text and walk, oblivious to what’s going on around them.