Imagine yourself in the following situation …
Your company has recognised the importance of trust to effective teamwork. You have been part of numerous trust and teamwork exercises, where people have been vulnerable, and learned and grown together. It has been tough, but it has been fun, and much has improved as a result. And recently, the shared narrative has become: “We no longer need anonymity in any form of feedback, because anonymity undermines the trust and openness we now have!” What a wonderful place to be.
But you know it’s wrong.
Your boss said it, and nobody chose to challenge it. To do so seemed somehow disloyal. To break trust. And nobody seemed confident in mustering the arguments to effectively ‘oppose’ it. Or indeed, looking around the table, to count on their colleagues for support in this.
The fact is, we are all human, we all have issues and insecurities. And for some of us, those issues and insecurities can make the challenge of leadership uncomfortable – particularly within older (but still very prevalent) paradigms of leadership. And as a result, we can become defensive, and use force of reason and partial truths to cow the challenges we encounter – particularly if the challenger feels exposed and fears their honesty might be held against them.
Trust is a journey
But not all challenges are there to be beaten, and not all truths can be understood by logic alone. Let’s face it, we do not even have words for much of what we are thinking and feeling. Concepts like belonging, confidence, identity and love are key to our mental health, happiness and success but are difficult to articulate and argue (or even understand clearly). And yet these concepts are essential components of the trust we seek.
Trust is not a destination – it is far too complex for that. Trust is a journey. And nowhere along that journey is there a point where anonymity does not add value. At times, it may not be necessary, and you will be able to see this when the anonymous feedback directly mirrors the in-person feedback. But even here it acts as a bellwether: Either providing us with confidence that we are where we think we are; or highlighting where reality is drifting from the current narrative.
The paradox of anonymity and trust
Giving up all forms of anonymity is not a sign that you have achieved ‘trust’, it is rather a precursor to inevitably losing it. But losing it in a way where the ‘tyranny of trust’ pretty much blocks your ability to do anything about it.
So, if you find yourself in the hypothetical (but all too real*) situation described above, my hope is that this brief article equips you with the arguments to gently, but firmly, stand against it.
After all, if ‘trust’ is real, what is there to fear from anonymity?
*I seem to recall one actual line was: “No! We have worked hard to build trust, and we have it now, and any form of anonymous feedback would be a step backwards!” The thing is, often the people who say these things really believe them. For them it is a convenient truth – something that gives them comfort against their hidden internal dread of ‘being found out and exposed’. But the thing is, that dread is usually far worse and more damaging than the reality of what might ensue. Trust lies, not in the facts, but in having faith in your colleagues’ responses to you, after the facts.
St Augustine put it well: “The act of faith is to believe what we cannot see. The reward of faith is to see what we believe”. And this is as true of our relationships with each other as it is with the Almighty. Trust is built on faith.