Rule 45: Never cover up for anyone else

Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) Boss,  Babatunde Fowler 
Being
a Rules
Player means you are aiming for perfection, that you are setting extremely high
standards for yourself.  Others will not
have these standards – obviously they won’t be as successful as you because of
this – but they may well try to either get you to lower yours or to involve you
in their shenanigans.  What do you do?
Again be happy with a simple default setting – you don’t cover up for anyone,
ever, under any circumstances.

This
way it is simple.  You don’t have to
think about this. You have no choices or decisions to make. You know exactly
where you stand.  You have let your
colleagues know exactly where they stand. 
You have let your boss know that you won’t cover for anyone; therefore,
you are above suspicion, trustworthy, reliable, beyond reproach.
If
you do decide to cover for others it complicates your life so much that it
can’t really be worth it.  For instance,
do you only cover for close colleagues or anyone who asks?  Do you only cover for small incidents or the
big ones?  What about covering for
fraud?  Criminal negligence?  What do you say and do when you get found
out? How do you explain it to your family when you get sacked?


(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

  “Do you only cover for small incidents or the
big ones?  What about covering for
fraud?  Criminal negligence?  What do you say and do when you get found
out? How do you explain it to your family when you get sacked?”

How
do you handle it when asked to cover up for a close colleague who might well be
a friend as well?  You can be fairly
assertive and just say ‘No’ – you
don’t have to explain.  Or you can soften
the blow by saying ‘Please don’t ask me, I would have to say no if you
do’
, to give them a get-out clause and save their face.
Once
you have done this, it gets easier once you’ve established a reputation for not
covering up.  The hardest bit is ignoring
the emotional blackmail that often accompanies a request to cover up for
someone. But in reality that is quite easy to ignore in the sense that if they
think so little of you to use this technique, then why the hell shouldn’t you
turn them down?  They have already cooked
their goose by using such an approach on you.
If
they put pressure on you, adopt the stuck record technique and just keep saying
‘No, I can’t, please don’t ask.  No, I can’t, please don’t ask’.  They’ll crack before you. Always remember
that a real friend will never ask you to cover up for them.
(Excerpts from THE
RULES OF WORK by Richard Templer Read “How to Keep Records” from The
Rules
tomorrow on Asabeafrika)

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here