Is deny and defend an issue of trust?

A few weeks ago, I flew to Seattle to attend the annual meeting of management and made a reservation at my favorite brand hotel chain. My flight got delayed, and I checked in at the hotel just before midnight. I did not get the type of room I reserved weeks before. I was told the hotel was sold out and only one room was available. I informed them that I had a reservation for a different room type. They insisted they were offering me the room I had reserved. I shared the confirmation email, and they continued to deny and defend. Later, they informed me that the hotel computer system did not show the type of room I reserved and that there may have been a glitch in the reservation system. At the check-in, they denied, defended, and tried to deflect the issue by blaming the computer. The hotel probably sold the room type I reserved because I was late checking in, and I was charged for the one night. As a customer, it became an issue of trust for me.

Why do businesses, groups, and individuals choose to deny and defend?

They do not want to recognize the problem, take responsibility for their actions, or face the consequences; they believe that defending themselves will solve the problem. In fact, the problem will not disappear, and defending without facts will lead to a loss of trust. Trust is key to a long-term relationship between businesses, customers, individuals, and groups. Before choosing to deny and defend, remember that it is easy to lose trust and challenging to regain it.

We witness this behavior in our personal and professional lives; it occurs in families and organizations. We need to be responsible for our actions, both the tangible and intangible ones. Denying and defending is not going to change the facts. When you deny and defend, you fail to recognize the problems of individuals, groups, or organizations. Individuals or groups participating in the denial strategy cannot grow personally and professionally. This behavior will create a trust issue for one’s family and friends. In business, the deny strategy creates internal conflicts among employees and between employees and management. It will also create trust issues between customers and the company, resulting in a loss of market share.

The figure above illustrates the deny and defend strategy and the accompanying loss of trust. As soon as the deny strategy is implemented, the level of trust begins to move from high to low. There is no scale for the level of trust for a specific strategy, but the denying strategy results in a loss of trust. Once someone begins to deny the facts, they start losing trust in the eyes of others. Most of the time, people, groups, or organizations are aware that they may lose trust, which is why they add the defend strategy, thinking it will work. If the denying strategy does not work, they may end up defending or extending to the next step by deflecting, defusing, delaying, and damaging. Sometimes, they may stop after defending, deflecting, defusing, delaying, and damaging. The bottom line is that regardless of the path of the strategy, they lose trust. The deny and defend strategy, therefore, raises serious issues of trust.

#Deny #Defend #trust