maximum performance a practical guide to leading and managing people phần 6 pot

behaviour which, as history has shown, have all too often been used for truly monstrous reasons (adapted from French and Raven, 1959; Carlopio, 2001: 260–80). Which forms of power are the most effective ones to use? One of the best-known large-scale studies of the way 750 managers use power revealed that they typically used seven influencing strategies when dealing with their bosses, subordinates and co-workers. In order of popularity, these were (adapted from Kipnis, 1984): • using reason, data or logic (‘expert’), • friendliness and assertiveness (‘referent’), • forming coalitions with others (‘referent’), • bargaining and/or negotiation (‘expert’, ‘rewards’ and ‘referent’), • ordering compliance (‘legitimate’, ‘coercive’ and ‘rewards’), • gaining the support of a higher authority (‘legitimate’), • sanctions or punishments (‘legitimate’ and ‘coercive’). In a similar vein, Hughes and colleagues (1999) cite the example of the fictional but iconic leader, Jean-Luc Picard. Captain Picard normally used referent and expert power to influence his subordinates. However, during crises or emergencies, he did occasionally use legiti- mate and coercive power. On very rare occasions, he used reward power to get his own way with a recalcitrant member of his crew. There is considerable evidence to support the view that logic and reason are the most effective power strategies. Leader/managers who use information, facts and data to support their decisions are rated far more highly by their subordinates, when compared to those who use either coercive or legitimate power to force through their ideas. Those who consistently use these two strategies have less motivated, more stressed and poorer performing employees. Those who habitually use force, coercion or Machiavellian strategies to drive through their deci- sions also end up making more bad decisions than good ones (Schmidt and Kipnis, 1987; Kipnis and Schmidt, 1983). Coercive and legitimate power strategies also act as extrinsic motiva- tors. We saw in Chapter 4 that these are the least effective ways of motivating people because, over time, they diminish the capacity of individuals to change, improve and develop themselves. High intrinsic motivation is one of the primary drivers of both individual and orga- nizational excellence. Further support for this position can be found in numerous research experiments on small work groups. For example, in one study by Kipnis, work groups were divided into two sub-groups. The first were given the freedom to make influential decisions about their work tasks, and the other group were prohibited from doing this. MANAGING POWER, POLITICS AND CONFLICT 285 The managers of the powerless groups reported that their employees were not motivated to work hard, were unsuitable for promotion, and evaluated their overall work performance less favourably than the leaders of the empowered work groups (Kipnis and Schmidt, 1983). Hence, while coercive or Machievellian power may have to be used in emergency or life-threatening situations, in most organizational contexts its use must be the last resort for a leader/manager because it is the most ineffective way of influencing others. Effective leader/managers use referent and expert power as much as possible, but will occasionally draw on the other three if the situation demands it. You do not lead by hitting people over the head – that’s assault, not leader- ship. (General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander during World War II) In summary, leaders and managers have a simple choice to make. Either they can hoard and use power for their own ends, or they can give it away to their followers in pursuit of collective goals and objectives. This choice will be governed to some extent by their beliefs about their employees, and whether they have a Theory X or a Theory Y view of human nature (described in Chapter 4). If they have a positive and altru- istic view of human nature, they will trust their employees with more power and more responsibility to take charge of their jobs and work tasks. Granting power to others is one way of turning passive ‘workers’ into self-managing employees, and enabling them to exercise power, choice and discretion in the things they do. If leaders and managers have a more negative and cynical Theory X view of their employees, they can look forward to spending much of their valuable work time issuing orders, sorting out mistakes, putting out fires and managing passive, underperforming and demotivated employees. Ultimately, we all have to make personal choices about how we exercise the power we have been granted, but it is worth asking yourself these questions: in your heart, which approach do you believe is likely to produce the most bene- ficial results, for you, the people you lead and the organization you work for? Do you believe that your employees will perform better if they are (a) involved in decision making and truly empowered, or (b) simply exhibiting robotic compliance to your authority? Dealing with toxic employees and politicized organizations One ought to be both feared and loved, but as it is difficult for the two to go together, it is much safer to be feared than loved . . . for love is held by a 286 MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE chain of obligation which, men being selfish, is broken whenever it serves their purpose: but fear is maintained by a dread of punishment that never fails. (Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince) In the preceding section and Chapter 1 it was suggested that most managers and professionals have great respect for leaders who do not engage in ‘Machiavellian’ politics and who exude professional trust, integrity, empathy and reliability. As a general rule this is true, but, at some point in our working lives, we will come across truly toxic indi- viduals whose only mission in life is to impose their overbearing egos on everyone around them, bully their staff and treat their subordinates badly. At other times, we may also find ourselves working in highly politicized organizations. How can we deal with these situations? First, recall what we discovered about toxic personalities and bullies in Chapter 1: [Bullies] exhibit most of the following traits: impatience, arrogance, perfec- tionism, defensiveness, rigidity, bluntness and a keen ability to hold grudges. People who are tyrants and bullies in adulthood became little tyrants and bullies during their formative years [and] many childhood bullies do then evolve into cunning and manipulative managers. They are likely to be intelligent, but use this entirely for their own ends and their own self-aggrandizement. They have no empathy with other people and any decisions they make are driven by one consideration, ‘What’s in this for me?’ They will utilize an autocratic management style on their subordinates but behave compliantly towards their superiors. They will often lack a sense of humour and take themselves and their own opinions very seriously. Some toxic personalities may become fully-fledged psychopaths. To be labelled psychopathic, an individual needs to display 10 out of 16 psychopathological tendencies. These are selfishness, callousness, remorse- less use of others, lying, cunning, failure to accept responsibility for actions, extreme egotism, extreme sense of self-worth, emotional instability, anti- social tendencies, need for constant stimulation, behavioural and emotional problems in childhood, juvenile delinquency, irresponsibility, unrealistic long-term goals and a sexually deviant or promiscuous lifestyle. There are several practical insights that can be drawn from this extract. First, we are better people than the bully or domineering boss. Second, we do not have to accept their abuse of power and we must not acqui- esce to it. If we do, this will only encourage repetitions of this kind of behaviour. Third, we can be assertive and stand up to it, because most bullies are revealed to be cowards when they are challenged. We can tell the person in question how we feel about their behaviour, why it is unacceptable and why we expect their behaviour to change. This should be done calmly and without aggression, because they thrive on the emotional anxiety and discomfort of others. If this approach does not produce the desired change, and there are no other options (such as resigning and moving to another organization), it may be time to employ some Machiavellian techniques. Several books appeared in the MANAGING POWER, POLITICS AND CONFLICT 287 1990s and early 2000s with the stated intention of ‘putting Machiavelli back into business’. These include Grifin‘s Machiavelli on Management: Playing and Winning the Corporate Power Game, McAlpine’s The New Machiavelli: The Art of Politics in Business, The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene, and some tongue-in-cheek advice from a real-life coup leader, André de Guillaume, in How to Rule the World: A Handbook for the Aspiring Dictator. These authors suggest a number of more devious and underhand strategies that employees can use to achieve their ambi- tions within political organizational cultures. It has to be said that some of their suggestions are rather nebulous or vague, and a few may even be illegal in some countries. However, an abridged selection of the best of these and a few of mine are presented below. Power is a social game The word ‘game’ is often used synonymously with power and poli- tics, and for a very good reason. Like chess, this is a game which must be played with a clear idea of your personal strategies (and alterna- tive strategies) and a good understanding of what your opponent’s strategies are likely to be (and where their strong and weak points are). Your energy must be focused at all times on the best strategies to use, as well as the personality of your opponents. To use power well, we have to be both master players and master psychologists, recognizing the needs and motivations of others, while at the same time not becoming emotionally involved with them. An understand- ing of these hidden needs and motives is the greatest power-tool that we can ever possess, because we will then be able to appeal to, and make use of, the self-interests of others while pursuing our own goals and objectives. Guard your reputation Your personal reputation (how others see you) is the keystone of your power. Once this slips, you are vulnerable. Make your reputation unassailable. Maintain a professional (but friendly) space between yourself and work colleagues. As a former mentor of mine once observed, ‘I look at it this way. You don’t have to make love with these people, you don’t have to socialize with them after work or be their lifelong buddies. I deliberately maintain a space between myself and everyone else who works here. What you have to try to do is develop good working relationships and maintain a professional, impartial approach with everyone, even if they do sometimes behave like ******s.’ 288 MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE Praise your leaders Or, at least, do not criticize them by name in public. Sooner or later, someone will report back to them what you have said. Act as the perfect courtier; yield to superiors and flatter them when the opportu- nity arises. Don’t ever upstage them in public. Learn about their private interests and personal goals. Support their ideas in public, but offer critical advice, tactfully, in private. Your power and influence will also increase if you are willing ‘to go the extra mile’ for them, and help them out with problems and difficulties they may encounter at work. Make people dependent on you To maintain your independence, you must be needed by other people. The more you are relied on, the more freedom, influence and power you will have. Cultivate relationships at every opportunity – with your peers, your bosses and with your clients. Act as a mentor for junior staff. Be a team player and share in your colleagues’ accomplishments. Support their ideas and suggestions and be responsive to their prob- lems, without endangering your own interests. Be seen as someone whom people can chat with confidentially about work issues. Be honest with the people who do rely on you, but keep your cards close to your chest. Don’t reveal more than you need to. Find allies and mingle – isolation is dangerous. Work on people’s hearts and minds. If you have to ask other people for help, appeal to their self-interest. Try to find or uncover something that will benefit them if they help you. Professional politicians know this as the ‘reciprocity strategy’. Avoid people who are negative, self-obsessed, unhappy or unlucky Associate with people who make you feel good and valued, or whose positive reputation will reflect well on you. Avoid people who are always negative, self-obsessed or just interested in their own agendas. But try to deal professionally and calmly with second-rate, difficult or toxic employees at all times. Be calm and objective Power is amoral. Your focus must always be on your opponent’s actions and strategies, and what these mean. Anger and emotion are counterproductive because, as we saw in Chapter 3, they cloud reason and clarity of thought. Try to remain calm and objective at all times. MANAGING POWER, POLITICS AND CONFLICT 289 Make use of the stress diffusion techniques described in Chapter 2. Remember that other people cannot make you angry, only you can allow yourself to become angry. Learn from previous occasions when you have allowed emotions to damage your case and don’t repeat them. Train yourself to take nothing personally and never show defen- siveness or vulnerability. If you do, you might expose an Achilles heel that your opponent can strike at. But, if you can make your opponent lose control of his temper, you will gain an enormous advantage over him. Don’t say more than you have to (and don’t be a smartarse) The more you talk, or seek to hog the limelight, the less effective you will be. Only talk when you have to and when you really have some- thing valuable, insightful or pertinent to contribute to discussions or decision-making processes at work. Use logic, data and facts to support your position, not bluster, polemic or personal opinions. Whenever you can, let your actions persuade others, because they will often speak louder than any words you use or any arguments that you win. Nobody likes to feel less intelligent than another person. The trick is to make other people feel smarter than you. Once convinced of this, they will not suspect that you may have ulterior motives or be a threat to them. Never say or do anything that could be held against you. Control how you use valuable information. If you can act on information before an opponent knows about it, you can often gain an advantage. Conceal your intentions and don’t take sides in haste If you are going to create a stir, keep people in the dark. Do not reveal your intentions in advance. Don’t be predictable all the time and, occa- sionally, surprise and confound your colleagues. The only cause you should concentrate on is your own. If you have to choose sides, take your time to evaluate carefully which will be the winning one. In this context, recall the age-old adage cited earlier, ‘Fools rush in to take sides’. Don’t fight battles you can’t win and ensure that you crush your enemies Surrender the occasional battle if you have to, but stay focused on winning the war. Concentrate your energies and resources on impor- tant victories, not the pyrrhic ones. Life is short, opportunities are few 290 MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE and you only have so much energy to expend in locking horns with people at work. If you want to neutralize an opponent, you must know as much as possible about them. Everyone has weaknesses or skeletons in the cupboard: find out what these are, but only use them when the time is right. Timing is everything and support is vital. Make sure that you have enough supporters to support the removal or deposition of your enemy before this is proposed. Make sure that you crush them completely, or they may come back to get you at some point in the future. As the master of political skulduggery Machievelli once observed, ‘when he seizes power, the new ruler must determine all the injuries he will need to inflict. He must inflict them once and for all.’ Summary Having described some Machiavellian power strategies it’s important to emphasize that most people would feel very uncomfortable being involved in these kinds of power plays and political mind-games, if they were routine features of their daily working lives (professional politicians excepted). While there may be times when your survival, or the survival of a project you are involved in, forces you to make use of the ‘dark side’ of power and politics, they are ultimately self-destruc- tive. Such behaviour and strategies will, sooner or later, involve cheat- ing and lying, as well as deceitful and malicious behaviour towards others. In time, these will eventually lead to personal or corporate self- destruction (an issue we will return to in Chapter 12, in the context of the collapse of companies like Enron and Worldcom). Furthermore, engagement with the dark side of power and politics uses up a tremen- dous amount of time, energy and resources, be this at the individual, group or organizational level. These are precious commodities in most organizations these days, and highly politicized working cultures are characterized by time wasting, infighting, backbiting and cheap point scoring, rather than active engagement with the productive and creative aspects of organizational leadership and management. Managing conflict Many managers seem to think it is impossible to tackle anything or anyone head-on, even in business. By contrast, we at Intel believe that it is the essence of corporate health to bring a problem out into the open as soon as possible, even if this entails a confrontation. Dealing with conflicts lies at the heart of managing any business. As a result, facing issues about which there is disagreement can be avoided only at the manager’s peril. Workplace poli- ticking grows quietly in the dark; like mushrooms, neither can stand the light of day. (Andy Grove, High Output Management, 1984) MANAGING POWER, POLITICS AND CONFLICT 291 We’ve seen that power and politics are natural and inevitable facts of organizational life, as individuals and groups seek to acquire influence and gain resources in order to achieve their objectives. The same prin- ciple applies to conflict, which is often the natural outcome of personal, factional or departmental power battles in organizations. It too can be regarded as a normal feature of life in all organizations. In some circumstances, it may even be essential for groups to function effec- tively and to remain energetic and creative because, without some degree of conflict, nothing would ever change in organizations. What leaders and managers have to strive for is an optimum level of conflict, where there is ‘enough conflict to prevent stagnation, stimulate creativ- ity, allow tensions to be released, and initiate the seeds for change, yet not so much as to be disruptive or to deter the coordination of activi- ties’ (Robbins et al., 2001: 510). 2 In the same way that conflict (‘compe- tition’) between firms promotes innovation and change, it can also be a useful management strategy within organizations, so long as it is managed in the right way. In the context of innovation in companies, this has been described as managing the process of ‘creative abrasion’ (Leonard and Strauss, 1999). As Nonaka has also suggested, Employee dialogues can – indeed should – involve considerable conflict and disagreement. It is precisely such conflict that pushes employees to question existing premises and make sense of their experiences in a new way. ‘When people’s rhythms are out of sync, quarrels occur and it’s hard to bring them together,’ acknowledges a deputy manager for advanced technology development at Canon. ‘Yet if the group’s rhythms are completely in unison from the beginning, it’s also difficult to achieve good results’. (Nonaka, 1991: 104) The former CEO of Nissan, Carlos Gohn, who was instrumental in turning the company’s fortunes around during the 1990s, shared this approach to conflict. He was widely regarded as a good listener and someone who was able to get traditionally compliant staff at all levels to look critically at every aspect of the company’s performance (opera- tional, organizational, strategic and interdepartmental) even if this created conflict between junior and senior staff who had been long accustomed to the hierarchical and top-down power relationships of Japanese corporations. The consequence of this approach was the creation of hundreds of new ideas and innovations to improve the company’s performance, and a fundamental shift in the company’s mind-set during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Hence, while some conflict may be useful in organizations, there are many potential sources of destructive conflict in organizations. These include interpersonal differences, group conflicts, poor communica- tion, task and process conflicts, gender and cultural clashes, status 292 MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE distinctions (for example, between line-workers and management), interdepartmental rivalries, power differentials between groups of employees, discrimination, inequitable reward systems and so forth. So what strategies can be employed in order to maintain a manageable or optimum level of conflict or competition, while ensuring that exces- sive or toxic levels of these do not disrupt the workflow of a group or department? There are a number of conflict management and resolution styles that can be used at work. More importantly, you already possess a number of other skills that are useful for dealing with conflict. The most potent of these are the communication skills covered in Chapter 3, although the leadership skills described in Chapter 1 also play an important role in conflict management, as do the team management skills identified in Chapter 5. The communication skills that can be employed when deal- ing with conflict include active listening, not interrupting other people while they are talking, summarizing others’ contributions, looking for win–win rather than win/lose solutions, focusing on issues rather than personalities, being aware of hostile non-verbal behaviour, coping with and diffusing emotional outbursts and anger and, most importantly, not behaving in a domineering or hectoring manner. There are a few other techniques that can also be used in situations that are characterized by a disagreement or conflict. Invariably, these are accompanied by a lot of emotional baggage, including resentment, fear, passion and anger. This means that we should all remember to think before acting, particularly if we are going to be involved in a conflict between individuals or groups. Do you fully understand what the underlying issues and facts are? How did the conflict arise? What resolutions to the conflict might there be? We then have to get people’s adult minds refocused on the task at hand and to diffuse tensions as quickly as possible. This can be achieved through the effective use of questions, a technique I’ve come to think of as the ‘Captain Angry and Captain Zen’ approach to dealing with situations that have the poten- tial to degenerate into open conflict. Here are some examples of this technique in action: Captain Angry Captain Zen It would cost too much Why? Compared to what? If we could afford it, would you support this proposal? Is there a cheaper option? MANAGING POWER, POLITICS AND CONFLICT 293 Captain Angry Captain Zen It will never work Why? What would it take to make it work? Can you suggest an alternative solution that could work? You can’t do it that way What would happen if we did? How could we do it that way if we had to? We’ve tried that already What was the outcome? (. . . it didn’t work) (. . . why did it go wrong?) This is the only way to do it It may be – but are there any other options that we should consider, before making this decision? It should be done this way Why? Is that the best option? Are there any other options? I don’t understand this proposal Can you be more specific? Which parts aren’t you clear about? I can’t/won’t do that What would make you willing to do it? What would you do instead? Your idea is stupid What, specifically, don’t you like about this idea? What alternatives to this idea could you suggest? This is a disaster What caused it? What will make it better? This is my position and I’m Well, I’m sorry you feel that not budging way, but we’ll now have to put this to a vote* *Only if you know you have enough votes to carry your decision through. If you are going to be involved in negotiations that have the potential to become heated, you’ll need to assess the situation calmly and objec- tively, collect as much accurate information as you can about the prob- lem or issue, identify what you want and what your objectives are. Decide early on where you can compromise (concessions that do not destroy your position) and look for compromise (win–win) solutions. This means that you must look at the problem or issue from your own 294 MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE [...]... challenges of perpetual change in the future quite a good understanding of change management, but you may need to continue to work on your personal adaptability to change, and develop a greater awareness of the human dimension of leading and managing change some understanding of the dynamics of leading and managing change, but you will need to learn more about your own attitudes to change and leading/ managing. .. 2001) 314 MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE Resistance is futile (The Borg, in Star Trek) With a team of change leaders in place, and a clear and articulate vision to act as a guiding star, the third issue to get to grips with is why people resist change It was suggested earlier that leading organizational and cultural change’ should be reframed as ‘changing people s behaviours and attitudes’ Changing behaviours... well-articulated goals and objectives for the company to travel towards (it doesn’t matter which); • an appreciation among organizational leaders of why there is always resistance to change, at the individual, group and organizational level, and an understanding of strategies that could be used to overcome this; • integrating strategic macro change with the organization’s operational culture and the daily... resistant to upheavals and dislocations in our lives, unless we have embraced a mind-set that accepts perpetual change and unlearning as the natural and normal way to live and grow Broadly speaking, the same is true of organizations When they have just been born, or are growing rapidly, they have an inbuilt, organic capacity for change In fact, they relish change and thrive on it As they mature and get... idea has parallels with the satisfaction/dissatisfaction process, described in Chapter 3 8 Leading organizational and cultural change Objectives To define change, vision and mission To describe why the ability to manage organizational and cultural change is a key leadership/management competency To examine the principal elements of successful change management strategies To revisit the main qualities... ‘vision’ at all This may come as a surprise to those organizational leaders who have spent large sums of money employing consultants and PR companies to craft their vision and mission statements But the reality is that organizations that manage change successfully attach little importance to vision and mission statements These merely represent the starting point of a LEADING ORGANIZATIONAL AND CULTURAL CHANGE... why all change management programmes must first focus on how individuals habitually interpret and react to the prospect of change in their organizational contexts Leading organizational and cultural change: the theory People talk a lot about ‘the management of change’ these days The reality is that much of this ‘change’ is so badly ‘managed’ that it often produces demoralisation, fear and resistance amongst... literature, although many of these echo each other and/ or overlap to a large extent Despite this voluminous output, and more than 30 years’ research on change in organizations, very few people would agree that there is a widely accepted and foolproof formula for leading and managing organizational and cultural change However, there are very clear indications of the components that do need to be in place... success They are very self-confident and believe that they can truly make a difference to the world People usually do what these leaders ask them because they understand something about human behaviour and how to motivate or, if required, manipulate people to do their bidding They are often regarded as good communicators and storytellers Transformational leaders are also able to adapt their leadership... be an integral part of organizational cultures and operational thinking Hence the ability to lead organizational and cultural change is one of the most important skills that leaders and managers must possess However, many don’t receive any formal education or guidance in the complexities of managing change Almost all of the MBAs and other professionals I’ve been involved with over the last decade have . working. Secondly, managing change (particularly from a standing start and/ or in large, bureaucratic organizations) is time-consuming, complex and LEADING ORGANIZATIONAL AND CULTURAL CHANGE 301 difficult than 30 years’ research on change in organizations, very few people would agree that there is a widely accepted and foolproof formula for leading and managing organizational and cultural change USA; UMP, LEADING ORGANIZATIONAL AND CULTURAL CHANGE 299 Ansett, HIH, One.Tel, New Tel and The Mayne Group in Australia, Boo.com and several other companies in the UK, and Parmalat in Italy during