All of us have met an intimidating superior or two during our careers. However, most corporations have yet to conduct large-scale research into the interdependence of authoritarian business leaders, and the disasters caused by their single-handed, undebated decision making.
I was working with the CEO of a software services organisation, and during the diagnostic interview, He spoke worriedly about the lack of pushback when he voiced his thoughts. There was an instance where a project was delayed way beyond deadline, when he pushed his team for an explanation; very diffidently they opened up about a review meeting where the CEO had asked for a change in some marketing collateral which ended up with them going in another direction. He was perplexed because, in his mind “he had offered an opinion” and that was it. Due to the power distance that was prevalent in that organisation, no one from that project thought of reverting to the CEO for clarification whether he expected the team to follow through with his direction.
Taken to an extreme, the "macho" business leader is akin to the macho pilot who wants to see the sky as his or her own playground, a place to prove his or her skills to lesser mortals. Equally disastrous is the opposite attitude of sulking or giving up when things go wrong. In the air, this may have fatal consequences; in business it may cause employee disorientation, unfinished or failed projects and costs getting out of hand. A close relation of this kind of resignation is routine behaviour and the belief that no matter what we do nothing will ever happen anyway. Either personality type usually results from people caught in a behavioural pattern they can no longer see. The maverick on one end and a fatalist at the other –both leaders spread these attributes and cause damage in their sphere of Influence.
Unfortunately, our companies have not yet established an open system in which these attitudes or patterns can be easily discussed and further consequences prevented. In most cases, they will be noticed by colleagues and whispered about or mentioned behind closed doors. Conventionally, errors and erroneous behaviour are, after all, still stigmatized as deficits and associated with embarrassment, shame and fear. A culture where openness is stifled leads to a lot of passive aggressive behavior which does not benefit any party.
The true culture of the organisation is the communication that occurs around water coolers and not the ones in board rooms, it was said that organizational skits performed at enron spoke about the fraudulent business practices long before it came into light .stories, narratives and legends from organizational folklore speak more authentically of the truth as subjective as it may sound.
More Details: CEO coaching India,Business coaching India,Leadership coach India,Executive coaching India.
I was working with the CEO of a software services organisation, and during the diagnostic interview, He spoke worriedly about the lack of pushback when he voiced his thoughts. There was an instance where a project was delayed way beyond deadline, when he pushed his team for an explanation; very diffidently they opened up about a review meeting where the CEO had asked for a change in some marketing collateral which ended up with them going in another direction. He was perplexed because, in his mind “he had offered an opinion” and that was it. Due to the power distance that was prevalent in that organisation, no one from that project thought of reverting to the CEO for clarification whether he expected the team to follow through with his direction.
Taken to an extreme, the "macho" business leader is akin to the macho pilot who wants to see the sky as his or her own playground, a place to prove his or her skills to lesser mortals. Equally disastrous is the opposite attitude of sulking or giving up when things go wrong. In the air, this may have fatal consequences; in business it may cause employee disorientation, unfinished or failed projects and costs getting out of hand. A close relation of this kind of resignation is routine behaviour and the belief that no matter what we do nothing will ever happen anyway. Either personality type usually results from people caught in a behavioural pattern they can no longer see. The maverick on one end and a fatalist at the other –both leaders spread these attributes and cause damage in their sphere of Influence.
Unfortunately, our companies have not yet established an open system in which these attitudes or patterns can be easily discussed and further consequences prevented. In most cases, they will be noticed by colleagues and whispered about or mentioned behind closed doors. Conventionally, errors and erroneous behaviour are, after all, still stigmatized as deficits and associated with embarrassment, shame and fear. A culture where openness is stifled leads to a lot of passive aggressive behavior which does not benefit any party.
The true culture of the organisation is the communication that occurs around water coolers and not the ones in board rooms, it was said that organizational skits performed at enron spoke about the fraudulent business practices long before it came into light .stories, narratives and legends from organizational folklore speak more authentically of the truth as subjective as it may sound.
More Details: CEO coaching India,Business coaching India,Leadership coach India,Executive coaching India.
