Honesty Really is the Best Policy

Adero Miwo Davis’ blurb on the state of communication between people

As I grow and experience different people in different places, from different upbringings I continue to notice the lack of honest communication between individuals, groups, businesses etc. Basically, through every facet of society, there is this irritating layer of disingenuousness that accompanies transactions, deals, and communication overall. This irksome layer of drama is termed “politically correct”. Politically correct is associated with politicians and the institution of politics. It is generally known and understood that politicians habitually lie to the public, sometimes justifiably as all information should not be given to all 300 million Americans for security reasons, therefore the public is spoon fed information. From a strategy standpoint, and to manage countries, curated information may be necessary, however, this post will not be addressing the efficacy of state management. My issue is between individuals in the workplace, home, social media i.e. the micro-level where there is this dishonest and ultimately cumbersome level of communication. Recently, I experienced an interaction whereby person A who worked for an organization made an honest mistake yet management at the organization did not openly and honestly communicate their issue with the mistake or seek to rectify the situation. Instead, they simply ignored person A. Upon hearing of this interaction my initial thought was “that’s just dumb”. For the following reasons:

1. Ignoring questions and correspondence from an individual that you had/have a solid relationship with for 4+ years is simply rude.

2. It shows poor management and leadership skills

3. You have now made the communication process that much more inefficient as there is an additional layer that has to be addressed before the real issue can be handled.

4. You can possibly put your organization in a position to receive bad reviews, which may lead to a loss of customers and ultimately revenue.

All of these unintended variables may occur simply because one party did not want to address the issue and instead opt for “political correctness”. This correction yields a host of wrongs, therefore, there is nothing correct about it.

I was raised with a saying by my grandmother that you can say anything to anyone it just depends on how you say it. I have observed that when a person is honest or promotes honesty, it often gets categorized into the “rude” box possibly due to honest communication often occurring when people are inebriated, or angry? However, that does not have to be the case, instead, life and the world would be a much simpler and better place without the additional drama layer of political correctness plastered all over the place. Let us reimagine the aforementioned scenario with an honest dialogue. Here it goes: Person A makes a mistake, the organization contacts person A about the mistake. Person A explains and responds to the concerns of management. Management then renders a decision and/or consensus back to person A. Person A is ok with it or not but ultimately has a clear idea of what their next step will be. Issue handled. See how much easier that is? No fog, assumptions, or bs. Honest and clear communication so no one’s time is wasted, rudeness does not prevail, and the idea of political correctness is left with the politicians of the world because that is where it belongs.