“ I will pretend to agree with you ,boss, but only because I am afraid I will lose my job if I don’t.”
Every business pretends to believe in allowing candour and transparency in its workplace. They pay lip service to the ideals of employee empowerment and engagement but have no intention of letting it, ”get out of hand”. What’s more employees realise this, they know their bosses don’t want to be contradicted, challenged or disagreed with. To do so could seriously damage your career prospects. Hence the common practice of agreeing with the boss out of self preservation whilst at the same time with holding the evidence that the boss is making mistake after mistake.
Surprisingly few senior managers want to admit that their employees are too scared or savie to speak out. They want to pretend that the consequences of disagreeing with the boss are not the explanation for employees going along with the boss’s ideas.
This state of affairs weakens the organisation, makes it less effective and explains why strategies fail to deliver the expected results. This self censorship is corporate Kryptonite.
Blair Mcpherson former Director, author and blogger www.blairmcpherson.co.uk
