Throughout my coaching career, I’ve come across many leadership styles, some enroll, some inspire, some rule by fear, some rule by carrot, some by stick, etc…
Today, I want to touch a bit on leaders who are dominant and feared by their team members. Their team fears them because they know their boss have low tolerance for mistakes, usually bad tempered and impatient with their team who may need more guidance and clearer instructions.
More often than not, the aggressive leadership style is masking their insecurities as leaders… they believe they are ‘okay’ so long as they are obeyed.
In such organizations…
1. No one wants to own up to making mistakes because they know the boss will scream at them, so they try to hide and/or make excuses. The boss gets angrier as they make more excuses while the team gets more scared and offer even more excuses, a vicious cycle.
2. The team is often scared to ask questions when they don’t understand instructions so they try to fill in the blanks themselves, making more mistakes in the process. On the other hand, the boss confuses lack of questions as independence, so he is happy because ‘no one bothers him’. Sadly for him, he always finds out too late when something goes wrong.
3. The culture is usually a ‘yes-men’ culture, and yes-men here can include managers, staff and even external consultants who want their businesses. If that is what the owner want, great, but if he has a vision of a business of independent leaders running without him, then the OWNER has to adapt his style to be more conducive.
4. Good people leave as they feel they don’t get to fully express their talents.
5. Turnover of staff is consistently high and often, staffs resign in batches or one after another in quick succession.
Unfortunately, the leaders in this scenario are often living in denial as well, saying to themselves…
1. Staffs are lazy, incompetent and refuse to take ownership.
(It’s never about them as leaders not allowing team members to learn from mistakes and grow.)
2. I trusted my team but they don’t ask when they don’t understand, they make excuses and are dishonest.
(Conveniently forgetting that good leaders tailor their communication according to each team member’s level of delegation freedom.)
3. Everyone is yes-men, where can I get good people?!
(They get yes-men because they secretly wanted yes-men. They view difference of opinions/ideas as disloyalty to ‘the cause’ or personal attacks on their ability/prestige as business owner.)
4. Staffs nowadays only want money, they have no loyalty!
(The staffs go on to become top performers in other companies, or start competing businesses which are more successful.)
5. My team is conspiring to sabotage my business; they planned it together to make things bad for me!
(If the performing majority stay and non-performing minority leave, you are okay… if however, the performing majority leave and non-performing minority stay, time to re-evaluate whether it is them sabotaging your business or you are sabotaging your own business.)
Leading by fear only have one outcome in the long run – a high turnover team lacking in fresh ideas and consistency.
If you recognize some of these symptoms in your business, it’s time to take stock of your leadership style and make some changes…
Have a good weekend!
The Familybiz Works Team.
ps: If you own a business in Malaysia, register NOW for our FREE Business Optimization Clinic, valued at RM699. We guarantee you will get at least 1-2 ideas you can implement immediately, even if you do not engage our services.
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