Steps to Help You Be More Honest in the Workplace

 

Steps to Help You Be More Honest in the
Workplace (In General)

Ashley Twehues, M.S. & Michael J.
Bradley, Ph.D.

 

            Honesty
is a trait that is ethically expected from both employees and employers;
however, often it is scarce in a work environment. According to Giacalone and
Jurkiewicz (2003), “honesty is a component of integrity, which leads to trust.
Trust is the foundation for building and maintaining human relationships, and
it is these relationships that provide the foundation for spirituality at
work.” Therefore, honesty is the creation of all foundations in a relationship
among people in the workforce. Building a relationship on honesty builds
respect among people, whether it be between employer and employee or an
organization and its target audience.

            Fear
of telling the truth and/or dealing with the repercussions have forced
employers and employees to opt out of being honest. Without honesty, the
organization will not succeed because either the organization will crumble from
within or its target audience and consumers will stop supporting them. As a
municipal recreation management organization, it is pertinent to establish
honesty in a work environment because if the team has no foundation, then it
will show in their work and eventually will directly impact consumers and event
goers. There are several steps that a municipal recreation management team can
take to help increase and improve honesty in a work environment.

Step
1: As
an employer or personnel in a management position, always react openly and calm
to news when employees share information. This will encourage workers to
approach their superiors in the future, regardless of the seriousness of the
information. If an employer reacts irrational or hastily to a discussion with
an employee, then it is expected that employees will not be willing to approach
that supervisor in the future. It is best to sit down, work through the issue,
come up with a solution together, and leave on good terms. This will help build
a long-term relationship with a foundation of trust and honesty.

Step
2: To
establish the organization as an open environment for staff members, host
bi-monthly to monthly meetings and provide food or host a pot luck dinner. Both
employers and employees are happy when being fed, so it creates an open air for
discussion, depending on the topic. This type of meeting would be a great place
for all staff members to brainstorm and work together to find the best possible
solution to a problem as well as producing a relaxed environment for open
communication. Similarly, creating honesty in the work environment does not
solely happen at work. It is up to the management team to coordinate out of
work team building activities to build relationships with staff members,
ultimately creating a comfortable environment. For example, depending on the
size of the organization, pick an activity that everybody wants to do and take
a day or weekend off to go try it together as a team building exercise.

Step
3: Not
all employees are comfortable with confronting their peers or supervisors with
an issue or problem. Therefore, it is a great idea to have an anonymous
suggestion box, such as the one EKU provides to its employees on what changes
we think EKU needs. More staff members may be open to this idea so long as it
is strictly anonymous and all suggestions are taken seriously. It is in the
best interest of the supervisors to address all concerns presented in the box
in a professional manner.

Step
4: As
the management staff, set a good example for employees to follow. Supervisors
should serve as guidance, staff will more than likely begin to follow suit as
they see what behavior is expected in the workforce. Inform staff members even
when the management crew suffers a mistake because the openness will encourage
transparency with all discrepancies. This will lead to open communication among
staff members.

Step
5: Rewarding
employees, in appropriate situations, will also encourage them to keep up
honesty. For example, if an employee admits a mistake, try creating a risk
management team to solve the problem instead of punishing them. This turns the
mistake into a learning experience as well as a chance for employees to work
together as a team.

            Overall,
it is important for an organization to host an open and honest environment. It
is the foundation for trust, and when combined with trust, they come create
transparent communication among staff members. In the long run, this will lead
to the success of the organization. But to get there, it is up to the
management team to establish appropriate behavior and office guidelines.

              

Reference

Giacalone, R. and Jurkiewicz, C. ed. (2003). Handbook of Workplace Spirituality and
Organizational Performance. M.E. Sharpe: New York.

Ashley Twehues, M.S.

Michael J. Bradley, Ph.D. @mikeisoutside (twitter, instagram, & linkedin)