Why You Shouldn’t Shoot the Messenger

The Conservative government’s bullying of whistle-blowing diplomat Richard Colvin holds an important lesson for what not to do in business.

Last week, Canada’s Conservative government undertook a “shoot the messenger” strategy when a senior diplomat testified that he had repeatedly warned his superiors that prisoners handed over to the Afghan police by the Canadian military were being tortured. Knowingly sending prisoners to be tortured is a war crime under international law.

Senior cabinet ministers and MPs on a Parliamentary Committee exploring the allegations attacked the diplomat’s credibility, despite the fact that he has since been promoted from a dangerous region of Afghanistan to a senior intelligence position in Canada’s Washington embassy.

I do not comment on political matters, and I know very little about the facts on the ground. But I can tell you from experience that whenever leaders stonewall or attack employees who raise difficult issues or problems in their organization, the long-term consequences are bad. Here’s why:

1. The problem won’t go away, it will just get bigger. In one of our client organizations, the CEO decided to make major changes in the location, layout and organization of the company’s main manufacturing plant, taking only a handful of senior people into his confidence. Employees who expressed their concerns were dismissed. By the time the actual move was imminent, senior management was confronted with a major crisis that added several million dollars to the cost of the move and shattered its credibility. In the end, the senior managers had to undertake a consultation exercise in a poisonous atmosphere. The accumulated baggage of resentment reduced productivity for a long time, and senior management is still struggling to rebuild its credibility.
2. David always wins the image war against Goliath. Leaders who are seen to beat up subordinates who have the courage to speak up, address issues and say out loud that the emperor has no clothes are perceived as bullies with something to hide. Not only do bullies not inspire loyalty – they make people want to jump ship as soon as they can.
3. Shooting the messenger sends a strong message – the wrong one. It says don’t rock the boat, don’t take risks, don’t try to improve what the organization is doing because you’ll only be punished and it’s not worth it. Organizations with this kind of risk-averse, CYA culture will find it increasingly difficult to compete in the marketplace – both for their products, and for top talent.

Leading courageously means having the courage to face reality. If there is something seriously wrong, and an employee has the courage to raise the problem openly, that is an opportunity to show your people that you are a strong, competent leader unafraid to confront problems and to deal with them with integrity. One of our clients even calls this “celebrating the problem.”

Great people want to work for leaders like this, and they are far more likely to drive great organizations and extraordinary results.