ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

James A. Autrey, the former president of the Magazine Group, writes in Love & Profit: The Art of Caring Leadership (William Morrow & Co., New York, 1991) about commonly accepted and sometimes seemingly positive approaches that managers may also use to hide behind. He notes these six hiding places:

• Democracy, usually considered a positive, doesn’t always lend itself to the mission of an organization. While consultative management, in which employees are kept informed and are consulted, and consensus are appropriate goals, businesses don’t always run well based on a majority vote. Sometimes managers avoid decision-making and use democratic procedures as a refuge from the hard work of leading and managing. Also the contributions of the minority that may be the most innovative ideas can be stifled.

• Autocracy. While the manager must make the decisions, the employees deserve to be consulted even if they will not get their way, and they deserve to have the decisions explained.

• The Big Picture. These managers can be aloof and what they look at seems to always be beyond the understanding of others. Details are not important. But the big picture is like a jigsaw puzzle and the manager must become familiar with all the pieces to see how they fit.

• The Details. The details and extreme paperwork can be a place where the manager can bury their head and they can be used to disengage from the key component of the organization, the people.

• They. “They” are any scapegoat that managers can use to mask their own ineffectiveness. “They” can include the board, government regulators, or other branches of larger organizations.

• Personal Style. These managers can be the “Mr./Ms. Nice Guy” who becomes ineffective because they want to please everyone. Conversely they can be “Mr./Ms. Tough Guy” the manager who has many opinions and listens very little to others.

ExchangeEveryDay

Delivered five days a week containing news, success stories, solutions, trend reports, and much more.