🐟 Gaslichting Confuses. Honesty Builds.

Many leaders think gaslighting doesn’t happen in their company. But it often does, in different ways. Gaslighting is when the truth gets twisted until people doubt what they see or feel. It’s not just in personal relationships. It happens at work too. It often looks like:

- Avoiding real problems

- Giving vague feedback

- Staying silent in meetings

- Hiding confusion behind smiles

This leads to bad decisions and weakens your company and its culture.

The fix? Honest communication.

Not rudeness, just clear, direct (and brutal) truth. But most people and teams don’t feel safe enough to speak honestly. That’s the real issue. Create a culture where brutal honesty is the norm. To create trust and performance, by being brutal honest, you need more than good intentions, you need a culture with rituals:

- Make honest feedback normal, f.i. ask everyone complement a colleague during the week closure

- Create habits that reward truth, f.i. ask everyone to share a personal learning and complement the person for sharing

- Respect people for speaking up, don’t make a fool of them

Because if no one speaks the truth, you’re not leading a team, you’re managing the façade…

Ben@andthebigfish.com

www.andthebigfish.com