A Great Business Leader Can Spot When Someone is Lying. Here Are the Top 6 Things to Look for

What happens when an employee claims to be busy on their machines getting work done when they are doing their things? Or there are allegations that another employee sabotaged your systems, yet they deny it.

According to Pamela Meyer, a certified fraud examiner, human beings are lied to about 10 to 200 times daily. The workplace can often create a fair ground for deception as it is where we spend most of our time, and for most, It is where they receive the most pressure and stress. Whether small, benign, or insidious lies, they all qualify as examples of dishonesty that could eventually lead to massive destruction.

While business leaders play a crucial role in decision-making, they often rely on upstream information. If the input is corrupted, it will likely affect the result. Therefore, executives must also work on their lie detection skills to catch the lies before they cause grievous problems.

Here are the top six ways a great business leader can spot a lie.

1. Establish the person’s baseline

A person’s baseline is how they behave or responds regularly. Baselines are often used as psychological indices during criminal investigations and usually come before the questioning. The baseline determiners can be professional or personal questions. For example, you can ask them straightforward questions about how their family is doing or what challenges they currently face in the workplace.

Therefore, it is wise for business leaders to study employee behavioral patterns before a confrontation. While at it, they should play down any problem’s existence if they want the best chance of detecting lies.

2. Analyse the way they respond to open-ended questions

The trick behind using open-ended questions is that they require more information and sometimes much explaining. For example, if you ask, “What happened last night?” you are likely to retrieve more details than asking, “Where were you last night between 9 to 10 pm? “

Direct questions often leave room for many gaps, as revealed by a study by Julia Minson of Harvard. When trying to catch a liar, you may have to carefully design the questions so they can give you factual information.

Note that general questions may not work, as there are many ways to veer off the intended subject. For example, “Can you describe the software?” may be too plain and vague compared to “What are the potential threats of using the software?”.

Liars will always look for ways to evade the topic but specifying your questions may keep them contained to the subject so that they can either make up a story or disclose more than they intended.

3. Look out for non-verbal cues.

When someone is lying, non-verbal cues may expose a shift from the baseline before, during, and after the conversation. Even for habitual liars, the act or thought of convincing others of a false truth is uncomfortable.

Nevertheless, Dr. Jenny Taitz –a clinical psychologist, acknowledged that interpreting someone through their body language can be challenging as the discomfort can be triggered by anything from an uncomfortable chair to anxiety; thus, the results are primarily based on assumptions.

Some nonverbal cues to look out for include eye movement, change in complexion, sudden change in tone, fidgeting, or rocking. Other liars will try to fake calmness which you can detect from how stiff they are or a drying throat.

4. Check If their stories add up.

The primary reason why detectives and investigators question suspects, witnesses, and acquaintances separately is to keep track of how the story flows. Liars try to fabricate truths early enough; you can expect ready answers and a perfect level.

However, with the right questions, you can hit a cognitive load that will have them fill in for the truth. Therefore, you can expect much stammering and the use of pause filters like “um’s,” “uh’s,” and “like’s.”

Additionally, some liars talk too much and end up contradicting themselves. Their baseline will tell you whether they are natural talkers or are just doing so to sell you the truth.

5. Pay attention to their attitude.

Liars are always in a hurry to leave. As Meyer says, “they often have a whiny, uncooperative attitude.” On the other hand, the honest person is ready and willing to give any information that may help keep them safe or to help you pursue the truth.

The trouble comes in when you are dealing with pathological liars, as they often perfect their skills and may offer to cooperate to shift the blame away from them. Therefore, attitude alone is certainly not enough to catch a liar.

6. Study their behavior as they exit the conversation

When someone lies, they will want to be anywhere aside from the “hot seat.” Therefore, leaders can look out for how a person behaves toward the end of the conversation. Typically, they will feel relieved or constantly look at the clock or the exit to close off the moment’s intensity.

Aside from eagerness to leave, you may notice that they suddenly or gradually resume their ‘normal’ state and try to divert the conversation to something or someone else.

Bottom line

The science behind the Psychology of lying identifies two primary reasons people lie. The first is that the deceptive person often believes that they have more from lying than telling the truth or that they have a temporary or permanent mental defect that inhibits their ability to identify facts. These parameters dictate how a liar delivers the information, from how they behave to how they respond. With that in mind, a great leader can catch anomalies faster, thus safeguarding their business.

Justin K. McFarlane, author and philosopher, once pointed out that lying paired with unaccountability can make countless liabilities. Therefore, the skill of lie detection will remain paramount for the success of any business.