5 ways to spot & deal with a liar at work

It is important to know what is a lie and put a stop at the outset. Rica Bhattacharyya asks HR experts on how to spot and deal with liars at work:

1 IDENTIFYING A LIE
It is important to understand what is a lie. For instance, one lands up late for a meeting and blames it on traffic rather than accepting failure to plan the travel properly.

“This is an example of a lower order lie. Unless the stakes are high, others don’t dig deep and move on,” says Aditya Narayan Mishra, director, CIEL HR Services.

2 THE CUES
Look for non-verbal and verbal cues, says Sudhir Dhar, executive director-HR, Motilal Oswal Financial Services. The non-verbal cues could include lack of eye contact, hand and leg movements. Verbal cues include fumbling with words, tone or voice, etc.

3 PROBE DEEPER
“Check for consistency in the messages or excuses shared by the employee,” says Dhar.

4 DISCUSSION
“If we find a stress, we need to go deeper by asking questions with a sense of curiosity rather than with a presumption that the person is guilty of lying,” says Mishra.

5 SOLUTION
“Liars need to realise that continuing with this pattern will only cause others to lose trust in them and not believe in their commitments,” says Dhar.