POLITICAL GAIN IS COMPLICITY’S CAPITAL

Discovering people deceived you about their real intentions is never pleasant. This often happens when it’s not “PC” to standup for the real agenda afoot. So they camouflage it or overtly misrepresent it. Execs seeking support for what might otherwise be an unpopular agenda stoop to complicity to gain the support they need. This involves either fear of reprisal as leverage, or enticing support with the promise of political gain. Erosion of core values results, as well as a damaging loss of trust when the complicity is revealed. 

Being complicit to something that actually offends your own values to achieve hidden personal gain is dishonest, and it breeds distrust and disrespect whether it involves company policies, decisions, goals, relationships, or operations. We can do better!

How to combat complicity in the corporate environment:

1. Embed a culture where leaders are good listeners, and where speaking-up is both encouraged and protected. Make sure leaders act authentically and earn trust.

2. Revoke the legitimacy of ‘innocent bystander’ status regarding anything that threatens the core values or basic morality. Risk avoidance cannot be used as an excuse to look the other way. If you see something, say something! 

There is no upside to complicity. The only temporary and unfair advantage it offers is to those who perpetrate the deception, and who rely on the weakness of others to silently acquiesce. It causes far more and longer-lasting damage to the overall organization. 

Glaring case studies of complicity currently exist in our government, showing us just how far and fast it can spread. It provides an eye-opening example to Corporate America about just how damaging and widespread it can become if left unchecked. 

Like weeds in a lawn, you need to get rid of the first sign of it or suffer the consequences of more complicity than you ever imagined. 

Yes, complicity sucks. Anytime. Anywhere.