According to the “Global Leadership Forecast” research, which surveyed several thousand managers and HR specialists from more than 50 countries, trust in one’s direct supervisor decreased from 46% to 29% between 2022 and 2024. Trust in the organization’s leader remained unchanged, but both times it was only 32%.
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As Arvydas Būta, development partner at the training and business consulting company “Grand Partners,” states, distrust in a leader is one of the reasons why employees “betray” organizations. He discusses what is considered betrayal, possible causes, and how to avoid them.
What is considered betrayal?
According to A. Būta, betrayal can happen in any area of our lives – in family, work, or social life. There are few questions about what constitutes state betrayal or betrayal within family or among friends, but when it comes to work, understanding becomes more complicated.
“Betrayal occurs when loyalty commitments between the parties who accepted the obligations are consciously broken. Regarding work, loyalty to the organization is different than between people because we do not have a deep psychological mutual connection with the organization as we do in friendship or marriage,” explains the psychologist.
He adds that despite this, organizations seek employee engagement, and employees seek stability and security. “Employees expect timely payment, career, and professional growth opportunities. The organization provides knowledge, experience, tools, trusting its employee. Theoretically, this also creates an emotional relationship. If an employee consciously violates the usually unwritten loyalty contract to gain personal benefit or harm the organization, it is considered betrayal,” shares A. Būta.
He predicts that due to the crisis of trust in leaders, a wave of such betrayals may await in the near future.
The most common motive – resentment
According to A. Būta, there can be various reasons for organizational betrayal, but the most common is resentment.
“If an employee feels that the organization or leader has wronged them, they are likely to want to retaliate. For example, being burdened with additional duties, excessive workload, many changes, unexplained decisions by leaders, ineffective communication can cause a sense of injustice. To the employee, this may seem like a breach of the unwritten loyalty contract and provoke a destructive response – betrayal,” draws attention A. Būta.
He adds that betrayal can also be caused by the desire to profit when an employee has access to financial resources or valuable data. Also ideological motives, such as value mismatches, or other circumstances, for example, the threat of dismissal.
Betrayal can be predicted in advance
The development expert asserts that impending betrayal can be anticipated because it has certain signs. According to him, both actively “seeking justice” and quiet employees can betray. The changed behavior of the latter is harder to notice.
A. Būta shares that researchers of betrayal facts, circumstances, and consequences, who have examined various different cases, state that there was not a single betrayal that could not be predicted in advance by certain signs.
“If you notice that an employee starts complaining more often about unfair treatment, insufficient pay, or shares that they do not feel noticed or appreciated, these may be the first signs. You should also be concerned if a person who was part of the team has distanced themselves. Or conversely – started openly expressing anger towards leaders or the organization, threatening to prove their point or retaliate. A signal can also be unwillingness to work. Any of these options indicates that something is happening. Of course, it does not necessarily guarantee betrayal later, but it already requires your attention,” notes A. Būta.
He highlights another sign – unusual digital behavior: “When a person accesses internal resources from unusual places, at unusual times – at night, on weekends. Suddenly starts downloading some data or looking for information unrelated to their functions. For example, an employee with no dealings with accounting starts snooping through accounting documents. All these are signs that something is happening and needs to be investigated. Of course, we cannot rule out simple curiosity, but it is always worth talking.”
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Prevention – clear agreements
A. Būta notes that betrayal can be avoided. He points out that one commonly used measure is confidentiality and non-compete agreements with employees, but they leave much room for interpretation.
“Naturally, leaders expect loyalty from employees, but first, I recommend defining what it is and what your boundaries are. Let’s take an example from family life. A woman looks at another man on the street. Is that betrayal? The answer depends on the agreement between her and her partner. The same applies in an organization – to answer whether there was betrayal, conditions must be clear in advance because not only legal but also moral aspects are important,” compares the expert.
“Organizations talk about work, but it is important to discuss how we understand mutual commitments and agreements. Due to misunderstandings arising from different understandings, betrayal can happen unintentionally,” observes A. Būta.
He emphasizes that it is necessary to talk even when you notice possible signs of betrayal, but it is important not to attack the employee: “Attack encourages a person to defend themselves and deny everything. A friendly conversation about what you noticed and what is happening can bring more benefits.”
It is important to create a culture of openness
As A. Būta states, betrayal rarely occurs in organizations where a culture of openness prevails.
“Assess whether people in your team or organization are more inclined to keep silent or if they can freely share thoughts on any topic. If, when asked about problems they face, people say there are none, that is a very serious sign that there is no culture of openness, not that there are no problems,” notes the development expert and invites to observe not only performance indicators but also how and what people talk about.
“A simple example – a leader said some idea, presented a change, and what happens next? Are there discussions, or is the meeting over? If the discussion does not happen with the leader, it is very likely that it happens by the coffee machine or in the smoking area without the leader hearing. People gossip about the meeting content and, since they do not have the relevant information at that time, create their own ‘monsters.’ To prevent this, it is important to encourage conversations and ask,” advises A. Būta.
He continues that employees should not be punished for mistakes. Moreover, a leader’s ability to admit their own mistakes helps create a culture of openness. “Who is responsible is usually clear anyway. After making a mistake, more attention should be paid not to motives or blame but to solving the problem and looking to the future. If mistakes are punished, employees will start hiding them, and others will follow their example,” warns the expert.
Another important point, according to the psychologist, is to have a safe way to report information. “Sometimes colleagues notice the mentioned signs but remain silent because they do not want to be tattletales. However, if it is obvious that something is happening with a colleague, the employee needs to be given the opportunity to inform the company or HR manager. In other words, a psychologically safe environment must be created. On the other hand, once such an environment is created, betrayal usually does not happen,” notes A. Būta.
Antidote – shared understanding
A. Būta summarizes that the essential thing to avoid betrayal is to talk openly and build a relationship of trust.
“The same ‘Global Leadership Forecast’ study examined how trusted leaders behave. Listening and empathetic response ranked first. Second was providing growth and development opportunities to team members, and third was sharing thoughts and reasons for decisions. In other words, trusted leaders hear their employees, create opportunities for their growth, and explain why we do what we do,” names the “Grand Partners” development partner.
“Keep in mind that betrayal is fueled by unmet expectations, so both sides must be able to express them and dare to initiate a conversation, even when it is uncomfortable. At all levels – from family to state – a shared understanding of what we expect from each other can help avoid betrayal,” says A. Būta.
