Have you noticed that there are always some questions or issues that people seem to ignore?  This phenomenon is relevant for businesses, individual leaders and for teams – but here I’m going to focus primarily on teams because we so quickly pick up in teams what is, and isn’t, acceptable in terms of mindset and behaviour; norms which we call ‘the culture’ or the ‘current reality’.

One way to start revealing the current reality is to use the perspective that there are two truths going on at any time – an ‘official truth’ and a ‘ground truth’. The distinction here is that the official truth is the one that’s on the web site, the one that’s on the powerpoint slides or is spoken out at the front of important meetings. Ground truth is what is known about, spoken about privately and is the perspective from which we take our bearings. Here are some examples from organizational life which illustrate the distinction and might sound familiar:

Official truth: our people are our most important asset
Ground truth: deliver the numbers or you’ll get sacked

Official truth: we have to be ready to take more risks in this organisation
Ground truth: if you screw up around here you won’t get a second chance

Official truth: we value straight speaking, openness and transparency in this team
Ground truth: the leader gets very upset if you give him/her any honest feedback

Some of these examples might be a little exaggerated but you get the point; often there is a vast gap between official and ground truth. But revealing this gap takes courage. Often it is easier to pretend that we don’t know that such a gap exists or, perhaps, that the gap doesn’t matter. But it does matter. The gap is what stifles our authenticity and depresses our energy. The gap is what has teams perform below their potential and which has people being cynical and demotivated.

So what is your official and ground truth in these areas?

Official truth                             Ground truth

The organisation’s reputation       __________________           ___________________

The leadership in our business    __________________           ___________________

The way we treat our customers __________________            ___________________

My team’s performance               __________________            ___________________

My own performance                   __________________            ___________________

Notice that it is often easier to reveal the ‘ground truth’ when you feel that nobody is listening or it feels distant from your everyday concerns. But imagine having a ‘ground truth’ chat with your boss, your best friend or the members of your team where you name the gap between official and ground truth. In those conversations there is often much more of an edge. It can feel very uncomfortable to reveal this gap – but when you do you open up conversations for possibility and breakthrough.

Learn more about Anthony Landale, the author of this article – click here