I’ve written recently about one of the best leader’s I ever had, Henry Kitts. Let me tell you now about one my less effective leaders. This is also a great example of how a leader’s behavior can drive behavior in followers – often with unintended consequences.
“Mary” as I’ll call her, supervised the exact same work that Henry Kitts did, in very similar circumstances. Please understand that Mary was a very pleasant person, and most of us liked her to one degree or another. But she was a lousy boss and none of us trusted her as far as we could throw her.
Like Captain Kitts, Mary would also spend time amongst us exchanging pleasantries and trying to get to know us. And eventually the conversation turned to work. Mary too would eventually ask what we were working on and if we had any problems. But when we told her the problems we were having with our work projects, she behaved entirely different than Captain Kitts.
When we told Mary our problems, she produced for us a “to-do” list of things we needed to get to work on right away to address what she in her infinite wisdom knew to be the best way to address our shortcomings. As a result of her behavior, do you know what it is Mary trained us to do?
We never told her a damn thing.
We figured out very quickly that although Mary had one of the biggest and brightest smiles of anyone in the squadron, she did not really care about either our professional or personal development. What Mary really cared about was Mary, and she so concerned that one of us might screw up and make her look bad that she was oblivious to how much talent and potential we actually had.
She put us in a box and held the lid on tight. We became everything she assumed (incorrectly) that we were.
There was a time during those years that Brenda Mangente joined our office and became a buffer between us and Mary. Working with Brenda was like finding a piece of shade from the relentless sun under a young but firmly rooted and flourishing tree.
I made the best of the situation. While working for Mary I went to school part time and earned both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees. I loved the Air Force, but they did not really have a place for a 33 year old staff sergeant with a Master’s degree, so I moved on.
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Hi Bret,
Yes, I’ve certainly known of managers in my career like Mary. Some with even more severe behaviors! One in particular was in charge of a multi-million dollar enterprise software project. It would be a perfect case study in how a leader’s behavior can impact the bottom line.
People working on the project stopped telling him anything because he was never satisfied and continually wanted his way. When he found out what was going on through other means, he would rant and rave and demand that everything be changed to his liking. The experts on the project never got a chance to use their expertise, leaving so much potential on the table.
And – perhaps no surprise here – the project costs doubled, the timeline continually stretched, and eventually the whole project ended up getting scrapped. Aside from the human costs in self-esteeem and engagement, that manager cost the company several millions of dollars on the software project alone.
I have no doubt that had their been different behavior exhibited by the project leader, in keeping with what you and I believe in (with a concern and care for the employees; a willingness to trust their judgment; and a “letting go” of having all the answers) the project would have been completed on time and within the budget.
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Excellent example, Mary Jo. Thanks so much for sharing. As you have stated so very well on your blog, good leadership is a top line and bottom line issue. Thanks! Bret
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