The case for the occasional white lie at work

Let’s say you and your team are struggling with an assignment for a client who’s notoriously difficult to work with. Even though your team is doing great work, the client lodges an unfair complaint against your star team member. At the end of the assignment, the team member asks for feedback, and you respond, “The client was satisfied with the end product.” There it is. You told a white lie to protect your star player. The frustrated grumblings of this client, you decided, weren’t a fair evaluation of their work and wouldn’t help your team grow. In fact, the feedback may do the opposite, distracting your team from important work and leading your top talent to wonder if they’ve been doing something wrong all along. Dealing with office gossip is another good example. What if one of your teammates has become the subject of water-cooler chat? You’ve overheard the gossip and know it’s nothing serious, just a distraction from work. The teammate comes into your office to ask what’s being said, and you respond, “I don’t know, and I’m not worried. Keep doing good work.” Afterward, you speak to the gossipers privately. When is a White Lie Right? In both of these situations, the white lie was an understandable move. As a leader, you need to keep your team motivated and maintain top-tier output. Figuring out what is and isn’t worth their attention is part of the job. Yet, more often than not, a white lie isn’t the answer, and if you become known for telling many white lies, especially in improper circumstances, you could even lose brand equity and the halo of an outstanding leader. So, when is it okay to tell a white lie? When you’re shielding a team member from non-essential or dubious information that will only demoralize or distract them When the white lie or the withholding of information won’t damage relationships, mess up the work, or thwart professional and self-development (after all, some tough truths need to be hea