Is honesty the best policy? | The new trend that sees managers 'glossing' over problems

A recent Leadership IQ poll of over 27,000 individuals revealed that only 15% of workers felt their employers were transparent about workplace and business challenges, and just 23% believed their boss responded positively when concerns were raised.

Accordingly, experts have warned against the rise of a new trend seeing managers overlooking and failing to address issues in the workplace, often leading to decreased morale in teams.

Dubbed ‘glossing’, this phenomenon is characterised by organisational leaders dealing with difficult scenarios at work through pretending everything is fine to their teams in a bid to ease anxieties. However, this approach, instead of honesty, can often end up with staff feeling discouraged at work.

“Glossing over problems usually backfires,” says Peter Wood, Chief Technical Officer at Spectrum Search. “When a manager ignores issues, the team picks up on it. They either think the problem isn't important, or worse, that they aren't important enough for it to be addressed. This can seriously damage trust and cause frustration, which eventually leads to disengagement. Productivity takes a hit, morale falls, and you end up with a toxic culture where people don't feel valued.”