{"id":4102,"date":"2014-09-15T20:50:29","date_gmt":"2014-09-16T01:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=4102"},"modified":"2014-09-16T12:21:35","modified_gmt":"2014-09-16T17:21:35","slug":"how-to-be-a-truth-teller-in-the-trenches-of-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/15\/how-to-be-a-truth-teller-in-the-trenches-of-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"How to be a Truth-Teller in the Trenches of Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever had to speak truth from the trenches of leadership?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s there, in the trenches, that the ability of a leader to be a truth teller is put to the test.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You see, while everyone likes to be a truth-teller when everything is looking rosy, the real test of a leader’s character is found when the challenges are at their highest.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the trenches.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

The trenches of leadership are found when the going is getting tough.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s when goals are not being met, when strategies are being questioned, when decisions are being second-guessed, and when teams are struggling.<\/p>\n

If a leader can rise up and speak truth in the trenches of leadership they\u2019ll see their leadership stock continue to rise. But it will mean proving the ability to speak truth in at least three leadership trenches:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>When the truth makes you look weak<\/strong><\/p>\n

Can you stand up in front of your constituents and say, \u201cWe\u2019re missing our numbers. We\u2019re falling behind our plan. And I am responsible for this.\u201d<\/p>\n

When spoken out of genuine humility, this kind of truth-telling can project tremendous strength<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>When the truth makes you look fallible<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ability to say, \u201cI don\u2019t know how to do this; the truth is, I need your help\u201d is one of the most profound forms of truth-telling possible. And it\u2019s incredible how many leaders do not have the strength of character to be able to utter such words.<\/p>\n

The best leaders know that, in the trenches, it\u2019s necessary to openly acknowledge when it\u2019s time for a little help.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>When the truth makes you look wrong<\/strong><\/p>\n

Admitting mistakes is one of the hardest things for many leaders to do.<\/p>\n

But in the trenches of leadership, saying \u201cI was wrong\u201d is one of the most important words a leader can utter.<\/p>\n

Rather than making excuses or assigning blame effective leaders would rather be wrong and truthful, than to appear correct through deception.<\/p>\n

The ability to be a truth-teller is core to the character of a strong leader.<\/p>\n

But if you want to test your own truth-telling mettle, remember that test isn’t taken when all of the lines are going up and to the right.<\/p>\n

You can only really take this test in the trenches.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the most challenging time you\u2019ve had to be a truth-teller?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever had to speak truth from the trenches of leadership? It’s there, in the trenches, that the ability of a leader to be a truth teller is put to the test. You see, while everyone likes to be a truth-teller when everything is looking rosy, the real test of a leader’s character is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[738,478,7,777,581],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-effectiveness-2","category-featured","category-leadership","category-metrics-2","category-self-assessment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4102"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4109,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4102\/revisions\/4109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}