The Subtleties of Obstruction
You don’t intend to sabotage your team, but good intentions aren’t the only factor in successful leadership.
It’s self-defeating to punch yourself in the face and expect high-performance at the same time.
How sincere leaders obstruct progress:
#1. Using curiosity to nitpick:
Obstructionists ask questions to block progress. One employee said, “When I don’t want to do something, I start asking lots of questions.”
I’m a huge fan of curiosity, but obstructionists nitpick definitions and details to wear you down and get their way.
Control freaks drag you into the weeds with questions when they aren’t getting their way.
- Agree on shared goals before nitpicking the path forward.
- When unconvinced, state your concerns before asking questions. Anything less is disingenuous and manipulative.
#2. Hard work toward ambiguous goals:
It’s surprising how many leaders improvise when asked, “How do you know you’re winning?” Or they limit their goals to numbers and exclude culture and relationships.
You’re a gerbil on an exercise wheel until you define wins.
- Ask your team if they’re winning.
- Ask your team to define this week’s wins. Better yet, what are today’s wins?
Winning is a matter of definition.
Every day needs a win. You can survive without wins, but you can’t thrive.
#3. Too many suggestions:
Dreamers have ten suggestions before Doers finish considering one.
It’s frustrating and overwhelming to bombard people with ideas. Chill out. Give people time to reflect. Just stop talking.
#4. Seeking input after you’ve already begun:
Save time and frustration by seeking input before you begin.
- Declare goals.
- How might we begin?
- What issues need to be explored?
#5. Neglecting relationships:
Relationships – not results – are the strength of organizations.
Choose results AND relationships, not results OR relationships.
- Build relationships and community in meetings.
- Share food.
- Schedule regular 1:1’s.
How do leaders subtly obstruct progress?
What might you do today to enhance progress?
Bonus material:
Why Bad Bosses Sabotage Their Teams (Kellogg School of Management)
Four ways managers subconsciously sabotage their own teams (Fast Company)
Five Ways Sneaky Managers Sabotage Top Performers (Forbes)
Sincerity
(to badly paraphrase Oscar Wilde)
itself is the most flagrant form of b.s.
(especially when wielded by authority/power/influence);
And is thus a major impediment to collective progress.
The amount of energy, time and resources required to “work around” a leader’s personal blindspots to get to the best solution (e.g. the largest market) can be phenomenal, and almost always personally dangerous.
“Old Charlie stole the handle,
And the train it kept on going,
Headlong to his death,
No it won’t stop going,
No it won’t slow down.”
“Woke” people start “jumping off at stations one by one.” (To badly paraphrase Jethro Tull)
The best internal check on a leader’s sincerity is a cultural and ethical imperative that,
” … nothing can permanently please
Which does not contain in itself
The REASON it is so,
AND NOT otherwise.” – ST Coleridge
On some things, nitpicking (considered discernment) is called for.
I think the advice is something that should be seriously taken. Being curious about concepts at work is not bad but depending on the context and venue, it may not be the right time and place. I believe nitpicking on the minor things in a presentation is unnecessary as it does not address the actual content which is the meat of the work. Relationship building is a given! So much understanding can happen from continued partnership with your employees.