Liar, liar: are untruths becoming more common in the workplace?
We’ve all told white lies or ‘stretched the truth’ to suit our needs, but are we lying more now than we used to? You might think so – or perhaps, with the rise of fake news, we have simply become more aware of the lies we are. Do the increasingly audacious lies of some politicians, and the diminished repercussions for their lying, mean we tolerate untruths like never before? President Donald Trump, for example, made 30,573 false or misleading claims in his first four years as president, finds The Washington Post.
Geoff Beattie, Professor of Psychology at Edge Hill University, and author of Lies, Lying and Liars, says: “We have a lot of people who have demonstrated right at the very top that lying seems to be more acceptable than it ever was.”
Lies versus transparency
Lying is an interesting part of human behaviour to consider, given that open, honest and transparent project team cultures are what we are all meant to be striving towards. There’s also the idea of the authentic leader, who is meant to present their true self at work. It’s a nice idea, but for most people, it’s perhaps a work in progress, especially when playing the blame game can still be common on some projects.
In our lives outside work, lying has become entertainment – witness the popularity of the BBC’s The Traitors and the ‘best lives’ that influencers present on social media.
“The incidence of lying now is so high – we’ve all been lied to successfully and that undermines our confidence in being able to differentiate the truth,” says Beattie. In fact, we only correctly guess if someone is lying to us 50% of the time.
Why we lie
Research in psychology using lie diaries tells us that people lie on average twice a day. Many are harmless white lies told for the benefit of others, but some are not so harmless and are told for the benefit of the liar. The point about lies is that they are often much more attractive and compelling than the truth, says Beattie.
But, unless you’re a psychopath or a pathological liar, argues Chris Hart, Professor of Psychology at Texas Woman’s University and author of Big Liars, in general, if there’s no incentive, people are almost 100% honest.
“They only lie when they detect some incentive, some utility – when they think that the falsehood will work better than the truth,” he explains.
Whom we lie to
So, who is most commonly on the receiving end of our lies?
“You might think it’s just strangers we lie to, but it’s our nearest and dearest as well,” Beattie explains. We lie more as the social distance grows larger, so we will easily lie to a stranger, but we are less apt to lie to someone we feel very close to.
“The cost of being detected is much lower if a stranger detects your lie,” explains Hart. “But if your coworkers that you’re close with detect you lying, that’s going to cause you some pretty severe reputational damage.”
Lying and getting found out erodes trust in a relationship, and for projects, cultivating trustworthy and strong connections between the project team, partners and stakeholders is the oil that keeps the machine moving. Telling lies can also become a worrisome burden as you try to remember the lies you’ve told and to whom. There’s also the embarrassment of being found out.
Spotting lies
At work, people will lie when they’re under time pressure and need efficient solutions – a condition of many project environments. An organisational or project culture that tolerates dishonesty can also take its toll on honest behaviour.
“We see this in a number of business cases where upper management is clearly being dishonest, which sends a signal to other people in the organisation that dishonesty is a useful tool,” says Hart.
So, how do you spot a liar? Beattie says there’s a false belief that liars don’t look you in the eye, but it’s more complicated than that. People often look away when they are thinking, and good liars know to hold a steady gaze. What’s more effective in detecting a liar is closely watching someone’s hand movement, as this is an unconscious behaviour. If someone’s gestures don’t match what they are saying or they inhibit their movements, then they might be lying.
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Emma De Vita is editor of Project, the official journal of the APM that’s available (free!) to all members.
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Ok it took me a bit of time to come up with a funny response. So enjoy the smiles and giggles. Let me know if you liked my reply Emma. The timeless art of verbal gymnastics! From innocent white lies to grandiose whoppers, we’ve turned fibbing into a veritable Olympic event in the political arena. The real question isn’t just whether we’re lying more; it’s whether we’ve made deception so mainstream that it now comes complete with a PR team and a social media strategy. Just look at our current politicians—no regrets, no remorse. Take our current Labour chancellor RR, her CV reads like a fantasy novel, filled with imaginary work dates and experiences. Yet, she lands a top job and faces zero consequences when caught. And don’t get me started on KS whose promises during the election seem to vanish faster than a magician’s rabbit once he gets in office. I’ve always been told not to trust politicians, and this Labour government has made that advice crystal clear These politicians are the true masters of their craft. Just look at DT, whose staggering 30,573 “alternative facts” in four years reads less like a résumé and more like a Guinness World Record attempt. It’s as if lying has officially become a feature of leadership, where the truth is merely optional. But let’s not just point fingers at the big players. Social media platforms have their own puppeteers. AI bots and influencers who manipulate perceptions, making it seem like everyone is on the same page while you’re the odd one out. Better start agreeing, or you might just find yourself in the crosshairs of our PM KS two-tier justice system, facing 20 months behind bars! With that kind of pressure, most people will just join the herd, even when they know it’s a smorgasbord of misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda. But watch out when it comes to a General election when these people will vote for sanity. At the heart of this lies (pun intended) a delicious paradox: we crave authenticity but reward deception. We say we want transparency, yet a juicy plot twist in a Netflix movie, is what we enjoy? Try spotting lies? Forget the myth that liars can't look you in the eye, thats old hat with polygraph. Good liars have perfected the unblinking stare, just like your cat eyeing its next snack. She will look at you with those oh so cute "I love you" eyes, but given the chance that cat you love will steel the fish-fingers off your plate and turn around and look at you as if to say "you know thats how I am don't look surprised". So why do we lie? Because sometimes the truth is just plain boring, awkward, or inconvenient, and doesn’t deliver what the liar wants. As long as there’s an incentive, whether it’s saving face, climbing the ladder, or dodging a colleague’s wrath—we’ll keep weaving those intricate webs. As Shakespeare (probably) didn’t say, “All the world’s a stage, and we’re all just adding our embellishments to the script!”