Digital Library: Honesty (Politeness)

Honesty (Politeness)

When you are honest, you speak the truth. More broadly, you present yourself in a genuine and sincere way, without pretence, and taking responsibility for your feelings and actions.

Working together with you colleagues in a more honest way will get you much further. The idea that people should work perfectly is a misconception. Being honest doesn’t mean being perfect. For people, it simply means truthfully communicating the challenges being faced, and then putting in the legwork to address those challenges. When you presented with honesty, people or co-workers become your loyal enthusiasts. Person that has a heart and stand by his/her values and intentions form relationships with colleagues based on truth. No amount of showiness can replicate this.

At one end of the spectrum, if you are always completely honest with people, telling them exactly what you think, you will probably be considered rude and be deemed to have poor social skills. As with many things in life we all have to manage a balance between politeness and honesty.

“You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time - but you can never please all of the people all of the time.” -  Abraham Lincoln

Being polite means being aware of and respecting the feelings of other people and being tactful. All social situations are different, and in each situation, you need to use common-sense and good judgement and also take into account cultural differences. Common-sense and good judgement come with experience. Experience, in turn, comes from observing others and from making mistakes, learning what does and doesn't work, what is acceptable and what is not.

Honesty is often linked to self-concordance - the extent to which your goals accurately represent your implicit interests and values. Honesty allows people to take responsibility for their feelings and behaviours, owning them, and reaping benefits by doing so.

Significance in Times of Crisis (e.g. pandemic)

In times of Crisis is enourmosly important to be honest. It is a building block for creating trust, which is important in times of the challenges. Leaders should be secure enough to say when they are not sure, not as a way out, but to be open and honest. In doing that, in maintaining honesty and openness, their trustworthiness is demonstrated and modelled in their practice. In crisis, the need for regular and honest communication is important. Researches shown that employees trust managers who demonstrate an’ employee-centric’ leadership style, supporting the employee both personally and professionally. Right now, during the crisis, it is exceptionally important to show such care and concern.