Facts matter
Facts are the foundation of effective workplace culture. They cut through opinions, biases, and assumptions that derail teams. When leaders embrace facts, they make decisions based on reality, not perception. This builds trust, enhances credibility and ultimately drives improved performance across the board. Facts aren't just important, they have the potential to be transformative.
When fiction replaces facts in workplace culture, the consequences are profound and far-reaching. Trust erodes rapidly as decisions based on falsehoods inevitably lead to disconnection, rancour and failure. Teams become fragmented, with some embracing convenient narratives linked to the fiction (often to curry favour with senior business leaders) whilst others cling to reality in the hope that common sense will prevail.
This division creates a cultural chasm that's difficult to bridge. Performance suffers dramatically as resources are misdirected towards solving imaginary problems rather than addressing genuine challenges. Strategic decisions built on fiction lead organisations down costly blind alleys and have the potential to generate toxicity and cause irreparable harm to the organisation.
The sanctity of facts isn't maintained through rigid policing but through cultural norms from courageous people that celebrate evidence over opinion, substance over spin, and reality over convenient narratives or ego. Organisations that honour this principle create an environment where teams can flourish and ultimately build sustainable success on the bedrock of a shared truth.