Stupid Behaviors #2 & #3: Fire Drills and The Blame Game
This is part two in our series, “11 Stupid Things That Managers Do to Mess Up Workplace Excellence.” In the previous blog entry we introduced the 11 Stupid Things and jump started the series with Stupid Behavior # 1: Inability to Control Emotions. The next two Stupid Behaviors are Impulsive Decisions and Blaming Others:
Stupid Behavior #2: Impulsive Decisions
“Fire! Fire! Fire!” Some managers are guilty of sounding the alarm and then standing back to watch the team put out the fire. It seems that no sooner has the fire been put out and people are back to working on their own priorities, when the impulsive manager sounds another alarm and the team heads off to fight another fire.
Here’s the challenge. Enlightened team members are on to you. They know that with proper prioritization and problem analysis, there would be fewer spot fires. These are the same team members who have analyzed the cause of the repeated spot fires and have identified you as the pyromaniac who keeps setting the blazes.
In our work with impulsive managers, we’ve learned that most share a common characteristic: it’s all about them personally. Meaning, although decisiveness is an admirable leadership quality, they are known for their self-centered, crisis-management leadership style. When making decisions, they fail to consider the impact on workflow or overall departmental or organizational priorities. They appear to hold little regard for the importance of someone else’s work and have a strong need to be in control.
Stupid Behavior #3: Blaming Others
When things go well, credit is claimed by the manager, typically for actions created by employees. However, when things don’t go well, managers who practice this stupid behavior never claim ownership. It’s always someone else’s fault . . . their employees, other departments, their boss, or even their customers.
These managers are famous for asking two questions: “What went wrong?” and “Who can we blame?” Some leaders take the blame game to a whole new level by delivering what we call psychological whacks. These whacks are delivered when a manager talks negatively about someone else in the organization, but never confronts the individual directly to address the concern. These undermining whacks are always shared behind someone’s back and, while disguised as objective criticism, most often are debilitating gossip.
Our years as management consultants have led us to the conclusion that managers who lay blame and criticize others are often lacking in self-esteem and confidence that they can get the job done. They compensate by looking for others to blame for their own inadequacies. Employees working for these managers spend most of their time covering their tracks to make sure they are not next on the list of who gets blamed.
To learn more about the next two Stupid Behaviors, It’s All About Me and If You Think Today is Bad, Just Wait, check back tomorrow and read the third installment in this blog series.
You may also like:
- Eleven Stupid Things Managers Do to Mess up Workplace Excellence
- Self Esteem – The Leadership Edge
- Motivating the Team During Downsizing
Filed Under: Leadership, Peter's Blog on October 29th, 2009
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