Great Leaders May Need Translators

Scientific American published an article on the science of why people dislike really smart leaders. It turns out - they may need translators.

Here is a link to the article:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-people-dislike-really-smart-leaders/

It turns out that people with IQs higher than 120 are often rated as ineffective leaders by their teams. The problem is high IQ people - are REALLY valuable because they are often really good at problem solving and organizing and juggling lots of things simultaneously. Their brains are simply - really agile.

As with all leadership, if people don't like or don't understand the leader, then they won't follow and there will be problems.   Part of the problem may be that staff and teams may not understand what the solution is that the leader is proposing because - they can't follow the thinking of the leader - because they think so differently than people with IQs in the normal range.

Another problem may be that someone with a high IQ is so busy thinking, they aren't really concerned with the social aspects of leading. But it's the social aspects that help people trust the leader.

So what is the solution?  It may be that high IQ leaders need a translator. Someone who can explain the thinking of the high IQ person in a way that normal people understand so that they can follow it and understand why it will work.

Another reason for the translator is to help fill in the gaps in the social skills. My niece was recently hired to work at a hospital where she is - essentially - the social skills translator for her boss. Her boss can focus on the stuff she's good at. And my niece's job is to get to know people on staff, and support them so  that the staff feel valued and like they matter.

Great thinkers may not be great at the social aspects of a leadership job - but we still need their problem solving abilities to be recognized. Understanding our limitations as leaders can help us hire support people to manage the interpersonal relationships critical to creating successful teams.

Bullying isn’t leadership

Why bullying managers are crappy managers.

Most of us have worked for a bullying manager at some point.  And it’s unfortunate because it’s really counterproductive.  Management by bullying isn’t management at all.

A manager is supposed to organize and coordinate the activities that must be done to run a business. That puts them “in control.”  But the term “control: is a very poor word choice. When it comes to “controlling” other humans, it can’t be done.

We humans are autonomous individuals.  You can ask us to do things. You can beg us to do things. You can threaten us if we don’t do things. But at the end of the day, you can’t force us to do anything. You simply cannot control another human being. Heck, most people can’t even control themselves all that well.

The challenge of a manager is not only how to best coordinate the things that need to be done, but also how to get the people who are supposed to get things done to do their jobs.

Some managers, who have no idea how to get people to do their jobs, resort to bullying. They threaten their staff and demean them as a way to exercise some amount of social control. They do this because that’s what has always worked for them. And while they may gain compliance, they cause all sorts of other problems, including diminished problem solving ability and initiative as very few of their employees are going to risk sticking their neck out to solve a problem.

Other managers may bully accidentally because they aren’t good at handling anxiety. When they get stressed, they express their stress through abusive behavior towards their staff.  And again, while they may gain some compliance as a result of these “outbursts” the quality of the problem solving their team does is diminished because most people don’t do good problem solving when they are being yelled at.

If you want an effective team that is good at solving problems, you can’t afford to let a bully manage them. Because what a bully boss is doing isn’t management: its harassment.

In order to manage people well, you have to understand and recognize the inherent autonomy of the individuals on your staff. You have to consider yourself part of the team and not the controller of the team. Your job is to coordinate the work and to motivate the staff to work. A good manager helps their staff want to do the work that is required of them.  When things go wrong, they work collaborative with their staff to solve the problem. No bullying required.

If you currently work for a bullying boss – consider taking “Ending Harassment & Retaliation in the Workplace” https://humanistlearning.com/retaliation1/  

If you are an HR Professional or are in a position of executive leadership and want to learn how to eliminate bullying in your workplace – take: Workplace Bullying for HR professionals: https://humanistlearning.com/workplacebullying1/

Values as a Valid Management Technique

Why appealing to our higher selves is so appealing.

The NY Times had a great article about how to raise a moral child. See: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/12/opinion/sunday/raising-a-moral-child.html?_r=0 

In a nutshell, the research shows that when you ask a kid to help, they mostly will. But, they will be more excited about helping and do a better job, when you encourage them to be a helper.   And, you can apparently cut cheating in half if you say, “don’t be a cheater” instead of “don’t cheat.”

What’s the difference?  Well, in the first case, you are giving a direction for a specific action at a specific time. In the 2nd, you are encouraging moral behavior for the sake of moral behavior.

Don’t be a cheater is a reflection on someone’s character. Don’t cheat is direction that only applies to this specific instance. If you want to raise a moral child, you have to praise and value moral character, not moral behavior.  Seems counter intuitive, but there you go.

The converse is true of getting rid of bad behavior. You want to encourage guilt about the specific situation, but encourage doing better in the future - via praise of good character.   It’s the difference between guilt and shame.

The question is - DO these tactics work with adults?  And can they translate into management techniques?  And the answer is yes.

You can’t just focus on good behavior – you have to instill a sense of character excellence in your employees, not just by word, by through action.  The places that are judged the best places to work are routinely those where the employee feels respected and valued.  How does a company manifest that – by actually respecting the autonomy of the worker!

They focus on ideals of excellence and they don’t worry too much about how something gets done. They trust their employees to get their work done without having a task master at a drum telling them when and how to row that boat.  I’m talking to you Amazon and your incessant data tracking so that your employees don’t steal minutes from you while they take a bathroom break!

Anyway – Focusing on the values and ideals you want your employees to manifest as opposed to specific behaviors and you should end up with really wonderful employees for the most part.

What are your thoughts?  Are values a valid management technique?