FC Experts Blogs
December 19, 2007
Leadership: Stubborn Leadership
You have the job….the job of a lifetime…the job of a leader. Your heart is in the right place. You want to take your organization to the next level and you know the potential is there but you’re losing the support of your people.
One by one they’re leaving the leadership camp hoping an intelligent, well-meaning leader will see he is the main reason standing in the way of success. As one of that camp...someone about to bail, what do you do? How do you make him see the best thing he could do is step aside? Or is it the best thing he can do?
A dilemma for sure but one that is happening in too many places right now, mostly because the leader got the job for all the wrong reasons.
Do you leave? Have a heart to heart with him? How do you resolve a problem that could potentially bring the organization down?
I’d love to hear…
Donna Karlin • Executive and Political Shadow Coach™ • Ottawa, Canada • •www.abetterperspective.com
Posted by Donna Karlin at December 19, 2007 8:39 PM | Topic: leadership |
9 Comments
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If someone has to listen to you, you either have to be exceptionally famous in your organization or you have to have a strong back up. Either way, you have to earn that reputation, and that can happen only with the results that you can produce in your organization. once you are through with that, You have to voice out your opinion and believe me , things will fall into place.
I would tell him and I would couch in the best professional terms while being completely authentic.
In my opinion avoiding the issue cheats two people; 1. It cheats the leader out of the chance of being a better leader and 2. It cheats me out of being a better employee.
If you're not afraid of ending up out in the market, then the answer to this dilemma is straightforward -- have the heart-to-heart talk. The worst thing s/he can do to you is fire you, which might be the best thing that ever happened to you, anyway. The best thing that can happen is that the person recognizes the truth and value of what you are saying and, in the end, gives you the kudos for the turnaround, which puts you in line for the raise you always wanted.
Fear of doing the right thing is a terrible way to live. Living, while doing the right thing, means you never have to regret what you do.
Leo, Janice and Mike...
Strangely enough, in this situation, the leader is famous and has earned a reputation as an effective and dynamic leader. However for some reason, with the new executive he's chosen to support him in this new leadership role, he's struggling, losing his allies and supporters and slowly but surely the organization is sinking.
It's hard to pinpoint the whys other than the fact that the world around him has changed, not dramatically but significantly enough that his style of leadership is no longer effective. That's one of the catch-22's.
People around him are expressing their disillusionment and discontent but it's falling on deaf ears. So they're leaving. And everyone is suffering because of it. That's the dilemma.
I'm interested in seeing what'll happen in the new year and I'm hoping the right people have that tete a tete or authentic heart to heart as Janice and Mike say so he gets it and they figure out something that works better...something they hadn't considered before perhaps which will change the face of the leadership while at the same time, help this individual save face.
The first conversation of the person who sees this happening should be with the head of HR. HR usually has the will and purpose to discreetly communicate issues such as these for the betterment of the organization. After that the question is: who does that person actually listen to at the personal as well as professional level. At the exec level it is sometimes another exec or a chairman or a specific member of the board (directors or advisors). This is not to go 'over their head' in the authority structure (sometimes that is needed too) but to find the person who can come along side them, and who probably sees or knows their foibles from past experience, and who can provide insights that they will take to heart. The solutions that could result may involve a general bull session where everything is aired, or a series of one/one meetings with the direct reports where the task of the exec is to LISTEN.
Michael...in most cases you're right. This approach would work beautifully. For this specific case there is no one above this person. He's it. That's the dilemma.
As for listening....it all depends on how an executive listens. If it's to generate something better, that's great. If, however it's to 'download' information that only, in some way, validates what he's already thinking then that won't solve anything nor will it help evolve him and the organization.
Any ideas of what to do when it's the very top of the leadership chain?
I have been in this situation, and it did not end pretty. In my particular context I had the heart to heart, and went to the board with my concerns. The concensus was that the problem existed, and that the leader was the cause, but there was no desire to fix the problem.
The result? I and others left, and people are continuing to leave... and it was one of the better decisions I have made in this life.
All of these comments seem hypothetical. Who in their right mind is going into the boss' office to tell them that they're not a good leader? Get real. Not happening. None of you would do it. The reality is that you have to leave. You need to bail and not say anything. If a blind 360 were made available then that could help this person but most people who are given leadership positions believe that they deserve it and that they are entitled and competent. As an employee when you are working for someone who you cannot learn from; or someone who cannot motivate you or inspire you; you need to move on.
One other option is for the next closest person to this leader, such as their #1 or if an opportunity for a 1:1 surfaces is to express concern to the leader that people are leaving and ask him what his opinion is about that or if he knows why and somehow get the conversation to open his mind up to possibilities, somehow drive him to the right conclusion. Another option is that assuming he has leaders that report to him, these leaders can collect information from exit interviews (form letter) and provide the top leader with the raw information such that he has no escape from the truth (whether he accepts it is another question). This way he is confronted by the written words of those that have left.
Other than that, this is a real nasty situation indeed.