The Pragmatist’s Rules for Work

When To Inform on Colleagues or Keep Quiet

Do not inform about inconsequential failings. When you play this card, it must be to devastating effect such that your weakened opponent is in no position to retaliate

Behind closed doors hide secrets. Use them wisely | Picture by Author

Greetings readers! Niccolò here, writing through my trusty amanuensis James.

Success means you need more than half the formula. You need to know what tools people use in practice and why they work.

With the Pragmatist’s Rules, I am completing the picture James started in The ABCs of Work.

Here is today’s lesson.

Inform — About the failings of others

We recently talked about the primacy of perception, in the sense that reality is shaped by what people see and hear. See Hide Strategically. Our lesson there is that we can shape how others perceive us.

Today’s lesson is that we can also leverage this power to direct how others are perceived.

Our ability to shape how others are perceived is hampered by the fact that they are also actively shaping perceptions with their performance. Their self-interest and attention will almost always trump our willingness to spend time creating a competing perception.

Thus, as a matter of pragmatism, it is appropriate to let others create the basic perception about their person and performance. We can still have a dramatic impact on how a person is perceived.

This comes through patience, careful observation, and surgical precision when we do intervene. Let’s discuss how to successfully shape the perceptions of others.

Everyone is hiding something

By now you accept that everyone is creating an impression of how they wish to be perceived by others. Most people focus on highlighting positive aspects of their performance. As noted, that does not concern us today.

No, what concerns us is realizing that everyone is hiding something. Not just insecurities, weakness, and other inner torment, but poor performance. No project ever goes perfectly from start to finish. The world is unpredictable and circumstances are cruel. Consequently, we all make mistakes.

Your task is to be a diligent observer of your colleagues’ performance. Being helpful is ironically one of your best methods because they’ll happily let you into their inner sanctum if they believe you’re doing part of their work.

In the meantime, let your colleagues accentuate the positive. Just make sure that you ferret out the problems they would leave buried. The more you look, the more you will see. But only if you make it your focus.

“If a man can’t spot a problem in the making, he can’t really be a wise leader.” — Machiavelli, The Prince

The foolish person thinks they can gloss over their mistakes. There are great risks in doing so. Because when a person hides a problem, they give their opponents an invaluable opportunity to weaken them.

When you tactically point out a colleague’s omission, you may accomplish two objectives: You can create the perception that their performance is worse than advertised and you can leave the impression that they cannot be trusted to tell the truth.

Use your information tactically … and sparingly

It is a dangerous business indeed to inform about others’ failings. There are more ways for this to harm you than help you. But it is an invaluable tool in your arsenal, nonetheless.

The pitfalls you must avoid are these:

• You must not gain a reputation among colleagues as a snake in the garden. This means you must inform infrequently, in private or anonymously. A public denouncement is overly dramatic and almost never necessary unless it is the boss him- or herself you are toppling.
• Because they fear regime change, you never want bosses to feel your maneuvering is for personal gain. They’ll rightly fear you may do the same to them as opportunity permits.
• Do not inform about inconsequential failings, because you will create lasting enmity on the part of those affected and questions about your own character. When you play this card, it must be to devastating effect such that your weakened opponent is in no position to retaliate.

Note, you will not be so foolish as to gloss over your own mistakes. You will readily see the need to preempt colleagues from informing before you can by raising your failings in a way that removes their sting.

When you raise a problem correctly, you present it most favorably — perhaps as a heroic effort to successfully avoid an even bigger problem, and certainly as a lesson learned and personal growth story.

Most importantly, a colleague who brings up the topic in an attempt to harm you will be revealed as the duplicitous opportunist they are.

In summary

James’s advice in the ABCs of Work was to demonstrate Integrity at all times. In this, we are in full agreement. Done correctly, your choice to inform of a colleague’s failing is the ultimate demonstration of integrity.

That’s because you have the company’s interests at heart by wanting to ensure good business outcomes. You also have your colleague’s best interests at heart. We all know learning from mistakes makes one stronger, which requires bringing those mistakes to light.

If you can convince colleagues that you are displaying integrity when informing them about the failings of others, then you will have learned today’s lesson.

Until next time.

Work well and win.

James again: You won’t get Machiavelli every time. But the best way to be sure to see his new thoughts across time is to subscribe to read more.