There are so many opportunities today for people to put out information online and in other media, which on its face to you is a lie. However, to someone else, it is the truth. Many people believe information, no matter how baseless it may be, if it is consistent with their world view. Every time you turn on the TV, read a newspaper, or blog, you are making decisions on what is the truth. How do you determine if you are lied to?
As a manager, you will often be called upon to decide whether an employee is telling you the truth. Employees also must decide if a manager is telling them the truth. There is no magic wand that can be waved which accurately tells you if something is the truth.
A major element of truth is trust. You are more likely to believe someone is telling you the truth if you trust them. However, people whom you do not trust can be telling you the truth. The question is, how do you know it is the truth?
When we are assessing whether someone is being truthful, we are assessing their credibility. Credibility is the quality of being trusted and believed in. Determining credibility is the job of a jury in criminal cases.
However, determining credibility is the job of a supervisor or employee in the workplace. How do you determine credibility? Some people will say, “ I always know when someone is lying and when they are telling the truth.” Unfortunately, this “gift” is fallible. Your hunch can be terribly wrong. There are a lot of skillful liars out there.
To increase your ability to make the right decision, consider the following list of things when determining if your employee or manager is credible and therefore should be believed:
- The story changes (in substantive ways) from the first rendition of the story to the last; the story you are told changes in significant ways.
- Does the employee or supervisor consistently pause before providing answers, searching for an answer you will believe?
- Is the person carefully picking and choosing his or her words and not spontaneously answering?
- Does the person add information that is not requested as a way of trying to self-bolster the information they are giving you?
- Very general responses without any specifics could be a lack of recall, a lack of knowledge, or an attempt not to make harmful admissions. General responses should lead to asking more in-depth questions.
- A person who becomes defensive can be hiding something or afraid of the consequences of what you are asking.
- Direct answers versus lengthy, circuitous responses that circle around the question may be a sign of a credible response.
- A person with hidden agendas: Does the person have anything to gain if the outcome goes a certain way?
- A person who makes substantial changes to his or her written statement versus changes for clarification.
- An explanation or version of events that seems implausible.
None of these things taken individually will lead to an easy determination of credibility. They are merely a means of not just relying on your “gut” to make what can be a career-ending or altering decision for an employee. These suggested questions are a means of gathering more information to make a more reasoned decision.
While on active duty as an Air Force JAG, I tried court-martial cases. It always came down to who the jury believed.
In special court-martials, there were at least five jurors. These five had to agree amongst themselves who was telling the truth.
There was a heavy bias to believe law enforcement back then. Nowadays, there is a significant element of society that does not believe law enforcement officers, which makes their credibility much more of an issue.
As our societal norms erode as to what institutions people trust, there will be more pressure placed on proving credibility. Unfortunately, some people now won’t believe something is true if it doesn’t accord with their predetermined decision or outlook. In this post-truth world where every institution of society is suspect and often no longer trusted, it becomes more difficult to determine where the truth lies. And even if the truth is clearly evident, a sizable number of people still will not believe it.
