Leadership with Manners

I didn’t know what else to title this, because it’s so very basic. I heard a story today that reminds me of the importance of just not being rude.  The story goes something like this: A hard-working college student has been told that he’s a candidate for a very sought-after internship in a leading global company. Recommended by his professors, he was contacted by the company a few months ago to be interviewed by the regional director from the West Coast. To make a long story short, every scheduled phone call and visit has been postponed, delayed, and even missed by the executive, and this morning’s face-to-face breakfast (for which the student was instructed to pick him up at his hotel) was cancelled -- last minute via email -- as the student waited in the car downstairs. Really?

 

I’m not sure why people like this are chosen to lead organizations. Being the eternal optimist, I always hope that with every generation of leaders, better ones emerge based on leadership they have experienced or observed. But somehow jerks like this slip through the cracks all the time, and are put in positions where they not only make important decisions, but actually represent the firm to people on the outside.  Promoting rude leaders occurs when organizational culture places importance only on WHAT gets done, and not HOW it happens. Over time, these organizations become havens for egotistical managers who thrive on making people pay their dues, stifle innovation, and in the end, become uncompetitive in attracting the best people.

 

So if you’re a leader, how do you figure out if you have jerks working in your organization?  If you run a company of 10 people, it’s easy. You can watch and evaluate every day, know who is treating the customer well, and who isn’t. But if your company scale is so large that you can’t physically visit sites on a regular basis or meet with all of your leaders in one time zone, you need to develop a few mechanisms that can help you weed out the wrong kinds of people.  Here are some simple suggestions for how to evaluate the behavior of your team:

 

Ask your employees

Both formal and informal processes should be developed for people to speak out about how they’re treated. Employee surveys, whistleblower programs, 360 evaluations, and monitoring of social media are all great ways to capture how people really feel about your leadership. If you do it right, it’ll be clear where jerks are being tolerated.

 

Institute a mentoring program in your firm

Encouraging your senior leadership to mentor junior staff serves two purposes. It provides an opportunity for new employees to learn how the company works, and gives you insight into who on your team is willing to spend time with those who are starting out. It’ll be clear who values taking time to invest in future leadership, and who thinks that spending time with newer staff is a waste of time. Jerks forget they once were new employees, too.

 

Pay attention to who takes/gives credit

Jerks don’t like to share the stage when things go well.  They are also quick to blame when something goes wrong. This is an easy one.

 

Ask your clients

At the end of a project, in addition to going through measurable results, ask your clients how they felt working with your firm. Was everyone on the team well prepared and always helpful? When things went wrong how did they get resolved?  Ask them if they could hire away any of your staff, who would it be, and who would they not want on their team? Clients all know who the jerks are.

 

Going back to the story, it will undoubtedly have a happy ending.  This hard-working student already has other options that will likely prove more rewarding. The entire ordeal has been a learning experience for a young professional entering a competitive industry. He will land on his feet at another firm and provide his contributions to one of this jerk’s competitors. Most importantly, this optimist knows that the student will know exactly how to treat a young student 25 years from now, when he’s in the position to hire an intern.

 

 

 

Comments

[Alan Landry]

Anna, thanks for posting this! It in part explains why there is such an appetite for REAL mentorship that unmasks poor leadership for what it is. Being in a key corporate leadership position does not make you a good leader or a good person or a good mentor. You bring your whole self to the position. If you were a jerk before the appointment, the odds are you are still a jerk. Just ask those who work for you. These folks are usually the last to know, blinded by their own glitz!

[Anna Catalano]

Glad you agree, Alan!! Thanks for the comment!!

[Dawna Jarvis]

Thank you Anna. I'm so tired of corporations keeping jerk leaders because they get results. I wish those organizations would consider who is actually getting the results. The bad leader or his/her staff?