De-escalate and defuse Bullshit: Further thoughts on the Bullshit Early Warning System and 4 Tactics to combat BS
The BEWS (Bullshit Early Warning System)
Do you navigate an organizational world of countless meetings, ticking boxes, planning for plans, and watching consultant powerpoints that leave you wondering WTF?!
Are you hearing a steady flow of quasi-religious leadership talk, commitments to sacred vision, holy values and sanctified team-building? How about the new vows to justice, equity and diversity, knowledge management, and evidence-informed decision-making?
Some might refer to this as noisy ignorance. We might think that when faced with uncertainty, some of us might simply remain silent. But, oh no, in the world of organizational blather – especially the public sector – this is an arena ripe for empty talk, misleading bumph, and blaring bullshit.
Ignorance and uncertainty is a breeding ground for bullshit merchants. Why would I say such a thing? Been there. I’m in active recovery from peddling bullshit; wading through bullshit; and calling bullshit. Over 15 years in ‘public service’. Seen more bullshit than a dung beetle and a cattle farmer put together.
As a result, I’ve summarized 4 tactics for de-escalating bullshit.
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Bullshit begets bullshit, which means it is distributed, absorbed and re-produced by individuals, organizations and structures. It is a social practice. Calling out bullshit is challenging, as it means speaking up against the community/organization in which one is a part of, and most likely earn income from. However, these four tactics may assist in limiting bullshit – spoken and absorbed.
Tactic #1: Don’t suspend disbelief.
You are in a meeting and the Powerpoint bullets are whizzing by, full of buzzwords and management-speak. Don’t duck into conformity; ask for clarification. Ask why something is called ‘strategic importance’, when that simply means “important important”.
Ask why an institution of higher learning has to “strategically enrol” students – rather than simply ‘enrol’ them, like they have been for decades…
Why does an institution of higher learning require an “Academic Plan”… to position itself for ‘sustainable success’ upon imaginary pillars of integrity, commitment, and excellence. #stopbullshit
Tactic #2: Put on protection. Vaccinate.
In medical terminology, put on a prophylactic. These are intended to protect from the spread of disease – in this case Bullshit-itis. Individuals can do this, and organizations can too. For example, in the media world, fact-checkers have become standard after various scandals because of journalists publishing bullshit stories.
If you are in a leadership position (in other words a Manager), weed bullshit out of your lingo and presentations, as well as those of your team(s). #stopbullshit
We live in a society of persuasion. Marketing is everything and everything is marketing. Bullshit is everywhere, and it is intended to be persuasive. We know the car ads during hockey games are pervasive bullshit and we say so. Yet, many will sit through a committee meeting or the latest webinar nodding and note-taking, expounding about more bullshit.
Just like a ref says to boxers right before they start punching each other: “Protect yourself at all times.” #deaftobullshit
Tactic #3: Wring out the routine bullshit and bullshit routines.
Organizations, especially those in the public sector, are swimming in bullshit. Squeeze it out through self-reflection and sanitizer. Question bullshit, including bullshit job titles. Some of the worst offenders are human resources departments (e.g. Learning Development Manager in a post-secondary institution…why? Aren’t all the faculty in a post-secondary institution learning development experts?).
Higher education is touted as the great leveller of the economic playing field. Is this because a 21-year old is unable to get loan approval on $60,000 vehicle, but will easily get approved for $60,000+ in student loans, and payment terms equivalent to some on new travel trailers… “pay down over 244 months, only prime +2% on your loan”. #morebullshit
Post-secondary institutions expounding about equity and justice agendas, yet charging International students 3x, 4x, even 5x the tuition of a domestic student taking the same class, same program, same instructors. #equitybullshit
Bullshit is communication; it’s a core characteristic of the fecal form. Its key purpose is evasiveness and not being held to account. It’s empty talk; misleading. It parades as substance, yet is pseudo-substance by design.
In various social and organizational settings, ‘bullshit’ is expected, warmly embraced, and silently tolerated and affirmed. Wring it out, weed it out, call it out.
Tactic #4: Smack down sacred bullshit.
Bullshit evolves and scales up quicker than COVID variants. It becomes sanctified at the highest levels of the public sector (and other organizations). However, the impetus for bullshit is generally ignorance and uncertainty. The more uncertainty and potential discomfort, the exponential rise in bullshit. Smack that down, embrace the uncomfortable uncertainty.
When an organization is not sure what to do; they hire a consultant, often the one with the best bullshit. That will give an air of certainty, mimicry of other bullshit, and plans to peddle more bullshit. The driver of persistent bullshit is surface-level acceptance, and worse, regurgitated in the next PowerPoint. Being bullshit agnostic creates openness and curiousity; room for dialogue; actual analysis; exploration.
Hiring a consultant creates an air of expertise, why question? they must know better than I…. bullshit.
Post-secondary in Canada loves to hire experts out of the U.S. - why focus on quality programs and delivery; when instead we can focus on ‘strategic enrolment’? Why focus on a website that actually communicates clearly and simply what we do, what we offer, and what it costs - when we can hire consultants to develop a ‘strategic plan’; an ‘academic plan’; a library plan… oh wait.. sorry, they’re now called Learning Commons? Everyone’s doing it, so must not be bullshit…
When ‘everyone’ is doing it and institutional FOMO kicks in - smack down the bullshit.
Organize a monday afternoon smackdown on bullshit.
It doesn’t need to be rude or disrespectful - just ask ‘why?’ Why all this wording on paper that states “student-centred”, but policies and processes that cause students to turn into ping-ponging whirling dervishes to get simple questions answered?
Calling bullshit out, smacking it down, or, at least stopping to examine potential bullshit, opens up opportunities for dialogue and respectful communication. It opens up opportunities for critical analysis and thinking, such as “what are we really doing here?” “what’s going on here?” “what is our most basic purpose?”
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Faced with pseudo-plans, pseudo-structures, pseudo strategies - try a few of these tactics. Let me know how it goes. If you get push-back - try this information for a response:
A regular workplace buzz-phrase these days is “psychological safety”. The tenets of psychological safety suggest that employees ‘should’ be able to speak up without risk of punishment or humiliation. I believe that in a psychological safe workplace I should be supported and encouraged to ask “why?”; to ask for clarification; to explore possibilities.
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Psychological safety is a very nice sounding phrase, and yet managers, staff and whomever else are peddling, absorbing, and digesting Bullshit on a daily basis. Long-term exposure to bullshit; being a bullshit merchant, is highly harmful to the soul.
Yet, not all bullshit is bad; and not all organizational communication is bullshit. Plus, sometimes it can be difficult to make a clear distinction between bullshit, jargon, and truth or fact; there is a lot of room for interpretation. Thus, the power of Bullshit to grow exponentially. Keep in mind, it is also far easier to call bullshit on someone else, than one’s self.
Exploring and utilizing some tactics as part of the Bullshit Early Warning System can assist in ensuring that the ‘evidence’ that apparently ‘informs’ decision-making is not bullshit evidence; convenient evidence; single-sourced Executive bullshit; regurgitated consultant Bullshit. Be a part of stopping the collective routines of Bullshit. Try leaning into the discomfort of uncertainty and navigating through dialogue and open thinking - not close-minded, empty-minded strategies and tactics of bullshit peddling.
[*with thanks to scholars Mats Alvesson and André Spicer for books and scholarly articles on Bullshit]