One of the most common forms of secrecy in the modern
workplace is the concealing of mistakes – it is this small and unnecessary
crime that results in more dismissals than any other kind of misconduct. People
make mistakes; it’s a natural part of being human. Immediate acknowledgement,
combined with ideas for fixing the problem, will always be the best course.
There is a crucial tipping point when honesty becomes
dishonesty.
In this instant, if you choose the wrong path, your
integrity flies out the window along with most of your chances of walking back
your mistake. There’s always a point where you get to make a call on what
you’re going to do: either pull over,
admit you've got a flat tire and ask for help; or keep driving, hoping nobody
notices and guaranteeing reduced performance and damage to the car. You won’t
be able to drive forever, but every yard you drive is foolishness, and you’re
undermining your credibility every minute.
Long ago, at another company in the UK, a colleague of mine chose the wrong path.
In a moment of carelessness, an otherwise capable and valued employee, failed
to inform his customer about an additional cost for which they would be liable
under the terms of the contract they were signing. He missed it; He just got
the math wrong on a busy day - something to do with the overheads on raw materials. Later on, when the customer good naturedly
refused to pay the cost, assuming it was an invoicing mistake, my colleague
agreed and just assumed on a multi-billion dollar project that the mistake would be lost. The contract was
immediately rendered unprofitable. In a moment of foolishness, my colleague
buried the mistake. He was trusted, He owned all contact with the customer –
who remained happy with arrangements, ignorant of the whole problem which they
assumed to be an error made in good faith on the first invoice. He was able to
hide the mistake for weeks. Nobody
noticed until further down the line that the arrangement was actually burning
money.
At that point, the right questions were asked and the
details emerged. Angry exchanges, apologies and packed boxes followed. And why? Because He didn't walk into the Project Director’s office five minutes after realizing the mistake,
face the embarrassing truth, and get the support he needed to fix the problem
– which in this instance would almost certainly have been a frank conversation
between his boss and the customer, a compromise, and a reduced - but still
profitable - margin. No big deal. All will
be forgiven within a week, maybe there’ll be some closer oversight next time.
We write frequently about how seemingly trivial events can
dramatically affect your career. These
stories include careless
texting mistakes that corrupt vital data security, career
moves that seem to happen by accident, and here, the little white lie of
omission.
The last few years have provided no end of evidence to
support the notion that fessing up now will save a lot more trouble later. It
is true on a corporate level; it’s true on a personal level. The tangled web
begins with a very simple individual decision, taken at the tipping point where
incompetence becomes malice. It ends with a global financial crisis, a Ponzi
scheme, the collapse of a great career, or more likely – just the loss of a
job.
Disgraced Olympic sprinter Marion Jones was shown a small
vile of liquid and asked if she had ever seen it before. This was her tipping
point. The truth would have been painful, but a lot less painful than the
eventual prison term, which resulted entirely from her lie to federal
investigators in answer to that very specific question. The truth – as she must
have known then in her heart of hearts, was coming out all the same.
Ironically, it is Lance Armstrong who appears to have made a
far more sensible decision. Perhaps, having seen the writing on the wall, he
chose a path that will leave whatever he has done in the realm of athletics,
where Marion Jones must surely wish she had left hers. The criminal
investigation into Armstrong remains closed.
Ultimately, the question that fascinates a great many people
when it comes to the cyclist is simply this: How could he possibly have thought
that those hidden things would remain hidden? If the conspiracy touches as many
people as the USADA’s
200 page report claims, it’s incredible to believe that anyone involved in
the alleged activities could possibly have thought they would remain secret.
The only way three
people can keep a secret, says the Chinese proverb, is if two of them are
dead. When the time comes for you to
face that fork in the road, plan on a full disclosure approach. Take responsibility;
start moving past it there and then.
Richard Spragg writes on various subjects including global engineering jobs, staffing and marketing in the technical sector.
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