Political Dilemmas at Work: How to Maintain Your Integrity and Further Your Career

Be Clear about What Can and Cannot Be Shared

One rule of thumb is to share as much information as you can, without breaking your agreements with others. It is common sense to help people by sharing information that affects them; however, it can be easy to lose sight of this simple idea.

This principle gets tested the moment that someone shares confidential, sensitive information with you. At this moment, an implied, fuzzy contract is often created, and it should be made more explicit if you are to succeed.

First, you need to pressure test the reason for secrecy. Often the information is commercially sensitive, or perhaps there are legal processes in motion, which makes confidentiality understandable. But there are times when information is withheld—and secrets created—without good reason.

Often, the fear is that employees will not be able to handle the bad news or that morale will be so badly affected that the information must not be revealed. It is tempting to behave as a well-intentioned parent, protecting the child from a difficult truth. While it is probable that bad news will affect morale, remember that people would rather be in the loop than outside—even if the news is bad. There is a very good chance that at some stage the news will need to be communicated—or it might leak out. When information is revealed belatedly, your credibility can be damaged if you have withheld information that could have been shared. It might even appear to others that a cover up has been ...