Trickle-Down Organizational Behavior
09.15.2005 | Chris Bailey | Focused on Career,WorkOne of Marcus Buckingham’s central tenets of organizational management is that employees don’t leave companies, they leave bad managers. I can agree with this as I’ve been able to verify it in action. What about the other way around? What if you find yourself within a company that’s inundated by ineffective decisions, a lack of support from the top, and poor communication? Can someone work for a good leader within this type of organization and remain sane?
This was the question posed to me this week by a fellow association colleague. Turns out he revels in the challenges of his work, enjoys the camaraderie of his peers and staff, and believes in the mission of the organization. I’m familiar with his executive director and we both respect him and his leadership abilities very much. He’s definitely one of the good guys, trying to look out for his staff and supporting them as much as he can.
Here’s the problem: the association’s Board of Directors consistently undercuts his authority and undermines his staff’s ability to make decisions and work toward achieving the organization’s strategic goals. As I probed deeper, I learned that there seems to be no clear understanding of roles for either staff or Board. There doesn’t seem to be a well-defined relationship.
Across the restaurant table, I heard my friend’s growing frustration and disillusionment; his face showed signs of both sadness and anger. As he finished his story, he asked me for advice: "What should I do? What can I do?"
I was presented with an actual case to run a recent blog post through. On Monday, I wrote about the experience of A.G. Lafley, Chairman and CEO of Proctor and Gamble. It’s a question of fight or flight. Is there anything in my friend’s case that suggests there are places to make a solid difference?
I offered three steps:
- Make a short list of the areas where you think you can create a change for the better. Being as specific as possible, start with the end result and then determine actions that are within your control to enact. Also, give yourself a clear timeframe for when it will be time to make a decision to leave.
- Inspired by David St Lawrence’s ideas in Danger Quicksand – Have a Nice Day, create a list of things that you should have known or asked the organization before accepting the job. The key is to learn from the present challenges so you can make a better career decisions in the future.
- Start prepping yourself to make your next job move NOW. Get the resume in order, start networking again, work on building an attractive personal marketing package. Don’t wait until all actions have been exhausted in point 1 above. Have this next step already mapped out and ready so the next career move is not done out of frustration (which often lands us in the exact same place), but done out of a passionate desire to fulfill your professional goals.
There is a time to stand and try to generate an organizational transformation from within. And there is a point where any further efforts are clearly futile. What’s important is having a crystal clear understanding of where that line is for each of us.
4 Responses to “Trickle-Down Organizational Behavior”
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Chris – great post. It reminded me of something that I learned from Bill Hybels called 360 Degree Leadership where he taught learning to lead not only down, but also vertically AND horizontally.
We tend to focus on leading down and forget that a good leader can influence in all directions. (But of course there are exceptions in organizations that are so full of red tape and beaurocracy that one can’t get close enough to lead up.)
Absolutely right on. And as a resource to your friend if you’re not familiar with it, I’ve found John Carver’s “Boards that Make a Difference” to be a great framework and process for helping distinguish between executive director and board roles.
Chris: Your friend’s experience has such great messages in it. First of all, his devotion and passion for what he does is truly admirable. I’m always encouraged to hear about people who really are committed to making a difference with what they have where they are. Secondly, it’s so unfortunate that there do exist those “powers that be” that, often because of their own fear, hold those people back from making that difference. I remain committed in my position to supporting people like your friend in determining how long to hold on and try before making the decision to look for other opportunities. I find that the unfortunate reality seems to be that those who really can make the most difference within organizations are usually those who burn out before they get the chance. I am hopeful that there will still be opportunities for people to stay in what I’ll call “toxic” environments without getting burned up in the process – but if not, perhaps the next hope will be that those people will leave and create their own workplaces where they can lead from the top down with their passion and create new environments where creativity is the norm.
You are giving your friend good advice. He and his good manager will be making hard choices in the not-too-distant future.
If I interpret your account correctly, the corporate culture would seem to be unravelling and there is little that can be done to hold it together when upper management ignores the investment the employees and middle management have made in maintaining a workable corporate culture.
The introduction of outsiders into upper management tends to bring about a breakdown of corporate culture. The same result occurs when the original founders are replaced by those who deliberately discard the unwritten agreements that hold a company together.
These destructive newcomers are trying to increase productivity and cut costs without a clear understanding of the need to adjust corporate culture gradually.
Culture shock is hard on all concerned. It will cause a company to lose its best employees and will eventually result in the degradation of a once vital working environment.