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Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Grounded Leadership - Making a Difference in the Tough Times
You may be familiar with the children's verse: "Weebles wobble but they don't fall down", with the weeble being a doll that has all it's weight at the bottom. And come what may, the doll will always return to a centered position no matter how hard it is pushed over. Imagine this in the form of a leader. Imagine what it would be like to be able to remain steadfast as a leader in the face of huge challenges. What does it take to remain grounded so that your team can perform at its best...even through the tough times?
The last decade has seen unprecedented economic success with year after year of continued growth. Leading others in organisations can be both rewarding and challenging in the good times...but what about when the going gets tough? How do you motivate, even inspire others in your organisation when recession hits, when downsizing begins. And how do you do that when your job could be on the line too? Now the time has come for coping with an economic environment where things aren't automatically going well - something we've termed as 'Grounded Leadership'.
The news headlines are pretty stark. Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England recently said "...the nice decade is behind us". Predictions abound of a global slowdown in the economy. Some organisations such as high street retailers in the UK are already beginning to cut back. It could be only a matter of time before many organisations begin to tighten their belts, to ride the rough waters of a slow-down in a bid for future success.
Resilient organisations need rugged leaders, so how can leaders continue to bring the best out in their teams, to achieve more with less with a backdrop of threatened cutbacks and downsizing? Even more challenging, how do you do all of this when you know deep down that your job could be on the line too?
First ask: Who am I being?
Imagine you're an actor in a long-standing TV soap. Your character is loved by millions of viewers and you have settled into the role...it's now become your life. And then, out of the blue, the producers decide that your character is going to meet an untimely end. How do you think you would react as a professional actor? Would it be to become 'victim' to the circumstances and let your feeling affect your performance? Would you be happy with the rest of the cast and your avid fans seeing you at your worst in the final stages? Definitely not! We know of course that true professionals would put their own feelings to one side and deliver the performance of their lives. They would be guided by the thought of the cast, crew and their loving public thinking of them for years to come in glowing admiration....their 'performance of a lifetime'. So the first place to start in being a 'grounded leader' is to ask yourself, "Who am I being, victim or the complete professional"?
Second reflect: How is the team responding?
There is no doubt that change creates emotion. What's more change in difficult times can create anxiety, even stress. Of course stress in small doses is a positive thing. For example some of the world's best presenters rely on the nerves beforehand to help them perform at their peak. There is a point however when stress and anxiety become debilitating. Once this point is reached, the effects can be all consuming and are likely to effect performance negatively, something an organisation is desperate to avoid when the tough times arrive. So how can we recognise the difference between 'healthy' levels of stress and levels that need handling?
The answer is to be on the look out for defense mechanisms. A defense mechanism is the human being's built in behaviour that provides protection against anxiety and our self-esteem. They also help us vent our feelings of angst about the situation we find ourselves in. Literally dozens of defense mechanisms have been hypothesized over the years. The help that we can get from observing defense mechanisms is that if we notice a significant increase in them in those around us, they act as an advanced warning system that tells us how people are responding to change.
Defense mechanisms work by protecting our own sense of self-esteem and well being by minimizing the incongruities between the external world and ourselves. For example, denial is one of the most common defense mechanisms we can see in ourselves. Imagine, hearing the following conversation around the coffee machine at the office in when the company experiencing tough economic conditions: "But our organisation will be OK, we've got plenty of cash assets and the management team wouldn't dream of laying people off any of their loyal staff."
It's a fair assumption that the group could be stressed or anxious and coping with it through denial. Here are some more common defense mechanisms a grounded leader will be on the lookout for when things become more challenging and anxiety creeps in. Which ones do you notice happening more often in those around you in a time of crisis? Here's the five we come across most frequently: Repression or "I'm doing everything to pretend it's not happening" Repression is the fundamental mechanism of defense. Repression is the process of keeping things out of our consciousness. If you did something last week you are utterly ashamed of, you try not to think about it and eventually may even be unable to recall doing it. Everyone uses repression, but excessive repression has a cost. That is, repression requires large amounts of psychic energy and energy tied up in this fashion is then unavailable for other, more adaptive uses. But remember that there is only so much psychic energy to go around. Sigmund Freud called these suppressing energies 'anticathexes'. As more and more anticathexes are put into place, behaviour becomes more and more constrained, controlled, and inhibited. With too many anticathexes, there's little energy left for anything else.
Denial or "Yeah, but this won't effect me"
When people are overwhelmed by a threatening reality, they often turn to denial: refusal to believe that the event took place or that something is the way it is. Consider the mother who refuses to believe that her son has been killed in an accident and acts as though he's still alive. Denial also is implicit when a child assumes a role of power while playing, thereby hiding feelings of inferiority. Denial complements repression. Both keep from awareness things that the person feels unable to cope with. The two differ in the source of the threat. Denial keeps from awareness something from the outer world, whereas repression keeps from awareness something from the inner world. What they have in common is a defense against coming to terms with change and therefore preventing the ability to embrace it and move on.
Reaction Formation or "This is the best thing ever...honest!"
One way to guard against the release of an unacceptable impulse is to make a point of emphasizing its opposite - a process termed reaction formation. For example, a team member may deal with hostile feelings towards impending changes in the organisation by repressing their true hostile feelings and replacing them with effusive, 'over the top' positive displays. Reaction formation is usually detected on the basis of the intensity of the reaction and on the basis of its appropriateness. If the person seems to "go overboard" with the behavior, or seems "driven" to engage in it at any cost, then you may be seeing reaction formation.
Projection or "They've been waiting for this opportunity"
In projection, anxiety is reduced by attributing your own unacceptable impulses, wishes and desires to someone else. We all have a tendency to assume that other people are much like we are - a kind of benign projection. But if we see something unacceptable in ourselves, projection provides a way to hide from it, while still expressing it in a distorted form. For example, if you have feelings of hostility and resentment toward others, you may deal with them by developing the belief that others are "out to get you.' Projection serves to disengage oneself from aspects of one's own feelings and actions, but it also can cause problems. It can make people behave in ways that increase the likelihood of confirming their distorted view. If a person projects his hostile feelings onto others, he may act aggressively in order to defend himself. If the victim of this aggression retaliates, the person has confirmed his faulty view that others are hostile toward him. What gets lost, of course, is the fact that he induced the hostility through his own actions.
Rationalisation or "Well under the circumstances how do you expect me to feel?"
In rationalisation the person reduces anxiety by finding a rational explanation (cause, or excuse) for doing what otherwise would be unacceptable. Rationalisation often occurs along with projection because the target of the projection often provides a basis for the rationalisation. Consider the example we just used: the person who defends himself against aggression by acting aggressively. If others are hostile (the projection), it makes perfectly good sense to act aggressively in self-defense (the rationalisation). Rationalisation can also occur in the absence of projection. After a failure, for example, rationalisation maintains your self-esteem. If you've been told that your role will no longer be needed, you may convince yourself that you were thinking of moving on from this 'dead-end' role anyway. The man who is snubbed when asking for a date may convince himself that the woman really wasn't that attractive or interesting after all!
Third share: What I'm Noticing?
Roger Schwarz's ground breaking work on transparency gives us some great advice on how to begin communicating with those around us in a way that encourages mutual learning - something that Grounded Leaders always seek to encourage. Here's a simple framework you could use to share your observations with a team member when you feel they are using defense mechanisms. It follows a simple structure:
1 Behaviour
2 Feeling
3 Consequences
4 Check
And it would sound something like this: "John, I've noticed that on a number of occasions you've said that this won't effect us in the team..." (Behaviour) "...and I'm feeling that this might be some form of denial".... (Feeling) "...the consequences of denying this situation may be that we don't recognise what it's true impact might be and work through it..." (Consequences) "...so why don't we share our thoughts on what could happen and how we could handle it in a good way, what do you think?" (Check)
One trap we've seen many leaders fall into is to treat team members in the same way irrespective of their temperament and the behaviours they are exhibiting. In fact we've also come across some models of 'reactions to change' that generalise on how people respond to changing circumstances.
Our overall guidance is that reactions to difficult times will vary hugely and the grounded leader will use self-reflection, careful observation and transparency with individuals to help them achieve reduced anxiety and higher levels of performance that starts from where each individual is.
The last decade has seen unprecedented economic success with year after year of continued growth. Leading others in organisations can be both rewarding and challenging in the good times...but what about when the going gets tough? How do you motivate, even inspire others in your organisation when recession hits, when downsizing begins. And how do you do that when your job could be on the line too? Now the time has come for coping with an economic environment where things aren't automatically going well - something we've termed as 'Grounded Leadership'.
The news headlines are pretty stark. Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England recently said "...the nice decade is behind us". Predictions abound of a global slowdown in the economy. Some organisations such as high street retailers in the UK are already beginning to cut back. It could be only a matter of time before many organisations begin to tighten their belts, to ride the rough waters of a slow-down in a bid for future success.
Resilient organisations need rugged leaders, so how can leaders continue to bring the best out in their teams, to achieve more with less with a backdrop of threatened cutbacks and downsizing? Even more challenging, how do you do all of this when you know deep down that your job could be on the line too?
First ask: Who am I being?
Imagine you're an actor in a long-standing TV soap. Your character is loved by millions of viewers and you have settled into the role...it's now become your life. And then, out of the blue, the producers decide that your character is going to meet an untimely end. How do you think you would react as a professional actor? Would it be to become 'victim' to the circumstances and let your feeling affect your performance? Would you be happy with the rest of the cast and your avid fans seeing you at your worst in the final stages? Definitely not! We know of course that true professionals would put their own feelings to one side and deliver the performance of their lives. They would be guided by the thought of the cast, crew and their loving public thinking of them for years to come in glowing admiration....their 'performance of a lifetime'. So the first place to start in being a 'grounded leader' is to ask yourself, "Who am I being, victim or the complete professional"?
Second reflect: How is the team responding?
There is no doubt that change creates emotion. What's more change in difficult times can create anxiety, even stress. Of course stress in small doses is a positive thing. For example some of the world's best presenters rely on the nerves beforehand to help them perform at their peak. There is a point however when stress and anxiety become debilitating. Once this point is reached, the effects can be all consuming and are likely to effect performance negatively, something an organisation is desperate to avoid when the tough times arrive. So how can we recognise the difference between 'healthy' levels of stress and levels that need handling?
The answer is to be on the look out for defense mechanisms. A defense mechanism is the human being's built in behaviour that provides protection against anxiety and our self-esteem. They also help us vent our feelings of angst about the situation we find ourselves in. Literally dozens of defense mechanisms have been hypothesized over the years. The help that we can get from observing defense mechanisms is that if we notice a significant increase in them in those around us, they act as an advanced warning system that tells us how people are responding to change.
Defense mechanisms work by protecting our own sense of self-esteem and well being by minimizing the incongruities between the external world and ourselves. For example, denial is one of the most common defense mechanisms we can see in ourselves. Imagine, hearing the following conversation around the coffee machine at the office in when the company experiencing tough economic conditions: "But our organisation will be OK, we've got plenty of cash assets and the management team wouldn't dream of laying people off any of their loyal staff."
It's a fair assumption that the group could be stressed or anxious and coping with it through denial. Here are some more common defense mechanisms a grounded leader will be on the lookout for when things become more challenging and anxiety creeps in. Which ones do you notice happening more often in those around you in a time of crisis? Here's the five we come across most frequently: Repression or "I'm doing everything to pretend it's not happening" Repression is the fundamental mechanism of defense. Repression is the process of keeping things out of our consciousness. If you did something last week you are utterly ashamed of, you try not to think about it and eventually may even be unable to recall doing it. Everyone uses repression, but excessive repression has a cost. That is, repression requires large amounts of psychic energy and energy tied up in this fashion is then unavailable for other, more adaptive uses. But remember that there is only so much psychic energy to go around. Sigmund Freud called these suppressing energies 'anticathexes'. As more and more anticathexes are put into place, behaviour becomes more and more constrained, controlled, and inhibited. With too many anticathexes, there's little energy left for anything else.
Denial or "Yeah, but this won't effect me"
When people are overwhelmed by a threatening reality, they often turn to denial: refusal to believe that the event took place or that something is the way it is. Consider the mother who refuses to believe that her son has been killed in an accident and acts as though he's still alive. Denial also is implicit when a child assumes a role of power while playing, thereby hiding feelings of inferiority. Denial complements repression. Both keep from awareness things that the person feels unable to cope with. The two differ in the source of the threat. Denial keeps from awareness something from the outer world, whereas repression keeps from awareness something from the inner world. What they have in common is a defense against coming to terms with change and therefore preventing the ability to embrace it and move on.
Reaction Formation or "This is the best thing ever...honest!"
One way to guard against the release of an unacceptable impulse is to make a point of emphasizing its opposite - a process termed reaction formation. For example, a team member may deal with hostile feelings towards impending changes in the organisation by repressing their true hostile feelings and replacing them with effusive, 'over the top' positive displays. Reaction formation is usually detected on the basis of the intensity of the reaction and on the basis of its appropriateness. If the person seems to "go overboard" with the behavior, or seems "driven" to engage in it at any cost, then you may be seeing reaction formation.
Projection or "They've been waiting for this opportunity"
In projection, anxiety is reduced by attributing your own unacceptable impulses, wishes and desires to someone else. We all have a tendency to assume that other people are much like we are - a kind of benign projection. But if we see something unacceptable in ourselves, projection provides a way to hide from it, while still expressing it in a distorted form. For example, if you have feelings of hostility and resentment toward others, you may deal with them by developing the belief that others are "out to get you.' Projection serves to disengage oneself from aspects of one's own feelings and actions, but it also can cause problems. It can make people behave in ways that increase the likelihood of confirming their distorted view. If a person projects his hostile feelings onto others, he may act aggressively in order to defend himself. If the victim of this aggression retaliates, the person has confirmed his faulty view that others are hostile toward him. What gets lost, of course, is the fact that he induced the hostility through his own actions.
Rationalisation or "Well under the circumstances how do you expect me to feel?"
In rationalisation the person reduces anxiety by finding a rational explanation (cause, or excuse) for doing what otherwise would be unacceptable. Rationalisation often occurs along with projection because the target of the projection often provides a basis for the rationalisation. Consider the example we just used: the person who defends himself against aggression by acting aggressively. If others are hostile (the projection), it makes perfectly good sense to act aggressively in self-defense (the rationalisation). Rationalisation can also occur in the absence of projection. After a failure, for example, rationalisation maintains your self-esteem. If you've been told that your role will no longer be needed, you may convince yourself that you were thinking of moving on from this 'dead-end' role anyway. The man who is snubbed when asking for a date may convince himself that the woman really wasn't that attractive or interesting after all!
Third share: What I'm Noticing?
Roger Schwarz's ground breaking work on transparency gives us some great advice on how to begin communicating with those around us in a way that encourages mutual learning - something that Grounded Leaders always seek to encourage. Here's a simple framework you could use to share your observations with a team member when you feel they are using defense mechanisms. It follows a simple structure:
1 Behaviour
2 Feeling
3 Consequences
4 Check
And it would sound something like this: "John, I've noticed that on a number of occasions you've said that this won't effect us in the team..." (Behaviour) "...and I'm feeling that this might be some form of denial".... (Feeling) "...the consequences of denying this situation may be that we don't recognise what it's true impact might be and work through it..." (Consequences) "...so why don't we share our thoughts on what could happen and how we could handle it in a good way, what do you think?" (Check)
One trap we've seen many leaders fall into is to treat team members in the same way irrespective of their temperament and the behaviours they are exhibiting. In fact we've also come across some models of 'reactions to change' that generalise on how people respond to changing circumstances.
Our overall guidance is that reactions to difficult times will vary hugely and the grounded leader will use self-reflection, careful observation and transparency with individuals to help them achieve reduced anxiety and higher levels of performance that starts from where each individual is.
# posted by gopi @ 7:39 PM 
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