How to gain confidence in fighting office lies

By Goretti Kimani

Building a remarkable career requires many outstanding characters, with honesty taking top priority.

 Some people are however, averse to the truth.  They will rather lie with the hope that no one will find out, rather than stand up to the truth.

Take the case of Nick. Until recently, he had a flourishing career as a field supervisor. Of late, however, he started taking too much time off work and making false reports to cover up for his absence.

 His manager, concerned with the decline in sales for his region covertly had the entire field supervisor telephone sets fitted with tracking devices. It did not take long for his wayward habits to be discovered.

Sadly, he has now lost his job and four years of work experience. Cases such as Nick’s are quite common. People lie during job interviews, at work, at home, in the social circles.

Exaggerated impression

They lie just about everything in life and for many reasons. For instance, people lie during interviews to create an exaggerated impression, in the hope of clinching the job. They forget that most experienced interviewers can see through the dishonesty. In the end the lies and misrepresentations end up working against them. Those with jobs are not spared either. People lie to hide their weaknesses, real or imagined, or simply to cover up for real misdeeds at work.

Others like Nick do it for selfish reasons in the hope of reaping where they have not sown. Yet some do so to create some vantage point and get ahead of others.

 Other cases are driven by sadism, the desire to ruin others and get a kick out of it.

Yet others do so to hide their professional incompetence, while others lie simply out of habit. It doesn’t really matter the reason for the lies. The bottom line is that every liar always ends up a victim of the habit.

Riding on dishonesty

Like with every bad habit, what starts as a small problem can degenerate into chronic one.

 It’s like a noose around your neck that gets tighter every time you tell a lie. Eventually, it will choke the life out of you. You can never get far riding on dishonesty. Lying can get you to a certain level. But you will have difficulties maintaining this status.  As such, it is important for people to shed off this habit. Doing away with the habit requires one to re-examine career, life goals and ensure they are clear and challenging.

Clear and challenging goals will keep you focused, leaving little room for mischief. You should also have a clear programme of personal development. Good self-education keeps one enlightened on the dangers of these bad habits.

You should also ensure that your professional acumen is up to the standard required of the job. This provides the necessary confidence to stand for the truth.

Ensure you associate with the right people. Also strive to uplift your standards and practice being truthful and positive at all times. Whatever you do remember the good old saying that only the truth can set you free.

—The writer is a human resource specialist with Peoplelink Consultants Ltd. Email: [email protected]