Escort the Truth means creating the conditions where facts—especially the uncomfortable ones—move quickly to the people who need them. Leaders acknowledge issues without judgment, ask for specifics, and make it safe for teams to reveal what’s actually happening on the ground. When truth flows freely, the organization can adjust before problems calcify into expensive failures.
Teams begin to treat transparency as a contribution, not a risk. That shift accelerates improvement, strengthens trust, and keeps change efforts grounded in reality rather than narrative.
Hidden issues grow until they explode. Teams stay silent, stakeholders lose trust, and change efforts stall under the weight of unspoken problems. Customers feel slow progress and inconsistent quality.
Incremental innovation increases. Teams speak up sooner, ideas surface more quickly, and KPIs improve—higher improvement rates, more ideas submitted, and faster time-to-innovation. Progress becomes steadier and less costly.
A team was missing incremental improvement targets but no one would say why. The leader introduced “truth rounds” in weekly meetings, asking for specifics without judgment. Issues surfaced immediately—tooling gaps, unclear ownership, and hidden rework. Within a month, throughput improved and blockers dropped.
See Learning 100: Follow Your Confusion to sharpen early detection, Integrity 300: Say It Plain for clearer communication, and Alignment 100: Model the Mess to normalize transparency.
