OpenAgile Primer on Truthfulness

What is Truthfulness?
Truthfulness is a foundation of OpenAgile. In order to develop the capability of truthfulness, individuals must be dedicated to the following:
 * expanding their conceptual framework of truthfulness,
 * continually deepening their knowledge of truthfulness, and
 * developing qualities, skills and habits necessary for conducting their affairs according to the standards of truthfulness.

You are welcome to contribute your insights to help expand our conceptual and practical understanding of truthfulness.

Concepts and information about Truthfulness

 * Truthfulness is a basic human capacity.
 * Truthfulness is an essential foundation of OpenAgile.
 * Truthfulness is needed to build trust.
 * Trust is needed to build a safe and secure learning environment.
 * Quality is closely related to Truthfulness
 * required for developing effectiveness in consultative decision-making
 * Truthfulness is the root of transparency, trust, safety, higher performance

Quotes
"Truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtues" - `Abdu'l-Bahá

"A commitment to truth creates a moral imperative that forces you to acknowledge the data and to take the important first step of recognizing reality." - M. K. Gandhi

"Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom." - Thomas Jefferson

"There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting." - Buddha

"He who knows best knows how little he knows." - Thomas Jefferson

"He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors." - Thomas Jefferson

"To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man." - William Shakespeare

"There's a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure the truth." - Maya Angelou

Axiom, story or example
Imagine you are on a team with five other people. Your manager has given you all a clear goal, and as a team you are all excited about reaching this goal. After six months of working hard towards this goal your team is nearly done. Out of the blue, you get a call from your manager's boss. She tells you that the goal you have been working towards is not actually the real goal. She says that it's just been to keep you all busy so that upper management doesn't lay you off. She wants you to leave the team before the work is done, and go work with her on something “real”. How would you feel about this? At the very least you would be disappointed. You might also lose trust in your management. You might even be inclined to start looking for a job at another organization, hoping for a little more sanity. This lack of truthfulness has harmed the organization, and it's harmed you – you've wasted six months of your life and are probably more cynical than you were before the phone call.

Processes and Truthfulness

No process can force people to be truthful. Nevertheless, many processes are built around the idea that through checks and balances, through procedures, through policies and reviews, we can avoid the problems of people not being truthful. In some work environments we have inspectors or testers separated from the people building or creating so that there is someone to check up on the work. This sort of policy which shows up in construction, software development, project management, accounting and many other disciplines is there to prevent people from getting away with dishonest activities. Unfortunately, these policies also have the effect of adding bureaucratic overhead. And ultimately, people will find new ways to work around the policy!

Draft for Publication
“Truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtues” - `Abdu'l-Bahá

Imagine you are on a team with five other people. Your manager has given you all a clear goal, and as a team you are all excited about reaching this goal. After six months of working hard towards this goal your team is nearly done. Out of the blue, you get a call from your manager's boss. She tells you that the goal you have been working towards is not actually the real goal. She says that it's just been to keep you all busy so that upper management doesn't lay you off. She wants you to leave the team before the work is done, and go work with her on something “real”. How would you feel about this? At the very least you would be disappointed. You might also lose trust in your management. You might even be inclined to start looking for a job at another organization, hoping for a little more sanity. This lack of truthfulness has harmed the organization, and it's harmed you – you've wasted six months of your life and are probably more cynical than you were before the phone call.

We are all familiar with what the lack of truthful behaviour does to us or our environment. The good news is that truthfulness is a basic human capacity, and everyone can develop their capability to be truthful. Truthfulness has many aspects including transparency and visibility, speaking honestly and being honest with ourselves, harmony of our deeds and words, and seeking the underlying truth in any given situation.

Processes and Truthfulness

No process can force people to be truthful. Nevertheless, many processes are built around the idea that through checks and balances, through procedures, through policies and reviews, we can avoid the problems of people not being truthful. In some work environments we have inspectors or testers separated from the people building or creating so that there is someone to check up on the work. This sort of policy which shows up in construction, software development, project management, accounting and many other disciplines is there to prevent people from getting away with dishonest activities. Unfortunately, these policies also have the effect of adding bureaucratic overhead. And ultimately, people will find new ways to work around the policy!

Truthfulness is more than an ethical standard. It implies not lying, stealing, cheating, cutting corners or hiding the truth in any way. In order to develop the capability of truthfulness, individuals must be dedicated to the following: expanding their conceptual framework of truthfulness, continually deepening their knowledge of truthfulness, and developing qualities, skills and habits necessary for conducting their affairs according to the standards of truthfulness. OpenAgile relies on people developing the capability to be more truthful. Truthfulness is necessary to learn from mistakes, be creative, and to find an effective approach to doing work. Ultimately, truthfulness builds trust and leads to reducing excessive bureaucracy and chaos.

Perception and Prejudice


You may know the story of the six blind men and the elephant. Each blind man is touching a different part of the elephant. One is touching the tusk and thinks that it is a spear. Another is touching the leg and thinks it is a tree trunk. If you tell them that they are all touching the same thing, it is very likely that they will argue about what it is. Unless they are also truthful about their own limitations, it will be difficult for them to come to a unified vision about what they are touching. This is the deepest kind of truthfulness: knowing your own limitations.

The filters we have as we perceive the world are important: they reflect our beliefs and help us sort the world efficiently. However, these filters can also hinder us and become blind spots or prejudices that prevent us from being open to the truth. In an OpenAgile environment, we strive to be open to the way other people perceive the world so that we can learn from them.