# Story 3 — What happens when leaders break their word

- **Episode:** [214](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/214.md) (2025-07-15)
- **Type:** news-roundup
- **Tags:** leadership, trust, broken-promises
- **Time:** 15:08–21:03 (start 908s)
- **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/214?t=908](https://truthliesandwork.com/214?t=908)

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[15:08] Al Elliott: So, Leanne, anything else to add or should we move on to what you've seen?
[15:12] Leanne Elliott: Move on. Let's move on. I guess a similar theme really. I saw some research that basically looks at what happens when leaders say one thing and do another
[15:21] Al Elliott: Right
[15:21] Leanne Elliott: I'm loving how accidentally we're coming up with a bit of a theme in our news roundups recently. We must be just on the same—
[15:25] Al Elliott: Wavelength
[15:27] Leanne Elliott: Yeah
[15:27] Al Elliott: I want you to say it at the same time
[15:28] Leanne Elliott: I'm sorry
[15:29] Al Elliott: We finish each other's—
[15:31] Leanne Elliott: Sentences
[15:31] Al Elliott: Sandwiches
[15:31] Leanne Elliott: Yeah. I like that sandwich. Anyway, yes, what happens when leaders say one thing and do another? And what, well, it's, I guess it, what does happen, Al? You tell me
[15:45] Al Elliott: People, not good things. Not good things
[15:48] Leanne Elliott: Not good things. So this research basically looked at what happens
[15:52] Al Elliott: I like how you bought a bit of time to check your notes there. That was very clever
[15:55] Leanne Elliott: Thank you. I was, this research, I was looking forward to it. Wait, back. So yeah
[16:02] Al Elliott: Keep it together. Come on. I'm not editing this bit out
[16:05] Leanne Elliott: So what the researchers looked at is what happens when there's a gap between what leaders say and what they do. So it's things like, Like preach about inclusion, don't know anything about it, have favourites, promise flexibility, then call people back into the office, schedule meetings during like deep working time, all that type of stuff. So not stuff that's like outrageous, but irritating, frustrating
[16:25] Rameez Kaleem: Mm-hmm
[16:26] Leanne Elliott: Um, so a new study has basically found that all of this has a massive impact on trust, motivation, and performance. Um, but what is interesting is the reason behind this misalignment in terms of Saying one thing and doing another, the reason why might be more important than actually the misalignment itself
[16:45] Al Elliott: Now that's a hook
[16:46] Leanne Elliott: Yeah
[16:47] Al Elliott: Go on
[16:47] Leanne Elliott: Put that at the beginning and cut out all the crap I've just been saying
[16:50] Al Elliott: What, what is it? You can't tell me. Oh, I've just shaken my mic. Tell me
[16:56] Leanne Elliott: You wanna learn more now?
[16:57] Al Elliott: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm, I'm, I'm involved
[17:00] Leanne Elliott: So basically, some researchers ran a scenario-based experiment where 308 employees were asked to examine leader word-action misalignment. That's what they called it, that mismatch between what leaders say and what leaders do. So they tested, um, whether 2 things shaped how employees responded. One, and I'm going to explain these terms, okay, but the leader locus of causality. So what that basically means is whether the leader's misalignment was seen as their fault, like the actual fault of the leader, or is outside of their control
[17:32] Al Elliott: I'm loving that the researchers, rather than say outside of their circle of control, they go leader's locus of subclausality
[17:39] Leanne Elliott: Yeah
[17:40] Al Elliott: Yeah. Why use simple words when complicated ones will do? Number 2
[17:44] Leanne Elliott: Because we're scientists
[17:45] Al Elliott: Because you're scientists and you're clever and you want the world to know you're clever
[17:47] Leanne Elliott: Indeed. And the second one that they looked at was perceived integrity. So how honest and principled the leader seemed overall. So they then measured how these factors influence how employees felt in terms of trust, job motivation, and job performance. So 3 really important things. So these are the findings that stood out. So why it happens matters. So employees believed that this misalignment between what is said and done was due to external factors like organisational constraints, they were more forgiving
[18:18] Al Elliott: Oh, okay
[18:19] Leanne Elliott: But when they saw it as internally driven, so it's just me deciding to be a bit of an arse, then they lost trust completely
[18:26] Al Elliott: So if it's outside their locus of causality, causation
[18:29] Leanne Elliott: Indeed
[18:30] Al Elliott: Then they'll be like, oh well, it's not his fault or her fault, Yeah, exactly. But if they suspect for a second it is their fault, it's screwed
[18:38] Leanne Elliott: Yeah, premeditated. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So integrity was also important. So even when leaders were inconsistent, if they were seen as having high integrity, the damage was softer. So integrity basically acted as a buffer for its impact on trust and motivation. So if you see me as a decent human being, even if I am inconsistent in what I say I do, you're kind of like, eh, I'll let it slide
[19:02] Al Elliott: Fair
[19:02] Leanne Elliott: Yeah. Trust, which is the emotional belief that leader has your best interests at heart in this specific scenario, was kind of the real key bit. So without that trust, both motivation and performance took a hit
[19:17] Al Elliott: Well, that makes sense. If someone, if someone trusts you or you are trusted and someone genuinely seems like a good person and something happens that you feel is outside their control
[19:28] Rameez Kaleem: Yeah
[19:28] Al Elliott: Okay. That makes sense
[19:29] Leanne Elliott: Yeah, it does make sense, but it's not an excuse
[19:31] Al Elliott: No, it's not an excuse. But at the same time, I see, I see that's the reason why being a decent leader and a decent human at work, because when something does happen that is outside your control, but people have perceived you as being a bit of an asshole, then it'll go, it'll go the other way for you, won't it?
[19:48] Leanne Elliott: Yeah, yeah. But I think this is the thing is I wouldn't want anyone to listen and go, oh, well, I am integrity and my team do trust me. I don't mean to do it. It's often outside of my control. Sure, but that doesn't mean it didn't have an impact, right? So even though scenarios— the impact wasn't as big, but it was still negative on performance, on motivation, um, and on trust. So it really is consistency, um, that is really important. Um, so the research has basically concluded that employees don't need flawless leaders, they need believable ones. And the study shows that what saves the leader from losing their team's trust isn't sticking to a script, is being honest about why Oh, I love it. Yeah, nice
[20:26] Al Elliott: I have no notes
[20:27] Leanne Elliott: No notes. Nice bit of research there. I will leave the link in the show notes. There are some limitations, of course. It was based on hypothetical scenarios. The sample size was limited in size and scope, and they only focused on short-term outcomes. But that doesn't mean it's not valuable, Al
[20:41] Al Elliott: I love how that was a psychologist or researcher's version of terms and conditions apply. Your house may be at risk if you do not keep up repayments
[20:48] Leanne Elliott: Other researchers are available
[20:51] Al Elliott: Okay, right, after this very, very short break, we'll be back with another hot take. We're back with the weekly workplace surgery, and we're back with more rubbish from, from Leanne and myself. Don't go anywhere