Boss Tip #7 - Uncross Your Fingers

Dr. Phil said it best: “Don’t let your mouth write checks that your ass can’t cash.”

That’s a more straightforward way of saying if you’re going to make a promise you’d better be prepared to keep it. But the problem here is that although we all know that in a supervisory position, your word must be golden, still one in four bosses today don’t keep the promises they make.

I know you’re thinking, that isn’t possible that a quarter of all bosses openly lie to their people, but a survey from the University of Florida Business School says it’s true. One in four bosses on the job today don’t keep their promises. Jeez, there are politicians with better records than that.

“Relationships based on lies never last.” That’s my quote and it’s absolutely accurate 100% of the time. If you start a relationship based on a lie, then you have to tell more lies to keep the first lie going. Pretty soon you’re into your own lies so deep you can’t remember where you left off. That’s when the lie comes back and bites you on the butt. Everybody eventually gets caught in a lie. And it’s always ugly when the lie is discovered.

Bosses, you can’t afford to tell lies, even little white lies (I’m not sure what constitutes a white lie and what constitutes a big whopper of a black lie. A lie is a lie right?) If you tell that new hire today that in three months they’ll have an increase in salary, then in three months it better be an increase and not just a review to increase. There’s a huge difference between the two. Keeping your word brings trust from the employee. Bending the truth creates mistrust and you know how volatile people can be when there’s mistrust from management on down.

Also, you get what you give. If you’ve attended any of my instigational keynote sessions, you know I present that notion. If you’re surrounded by employees who don’t keep their word, then it’s likely you don’t keep your word. You get what you give.

If your people openly lie to you, likely you openly lie to your people. You get what you give.

If your people don’t tell you the full truth, likely you don’t tell them the full truth. You get what you give.

If you ever want your people to openly accept you as their leader, then you have got to lead by example. Keep your word and they’ll keep theirs. You get what you give.

Stop standing in front of them and promising while secretly holding a hand behind your back with your fingers crossed. We’re not in Grade School anymore. We’re in the real world where bosses need to keep their promises if they ever have any chance of keeping the trust of their employees.

C’mon. Really. It’s not that hard. Stop trying so hard to be liked by your staff and instead start trying to be respected.