Comments on: 11 Behaviors Most Disliked by IT Leaders

By: simonstapleton

simonstapleton — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 11:52:13 +0000

@Mark - that’s a great point and not enough managers give praise in the right way. I think the worst situation is when a manager feels threatened by his/her subordinates (e.g. through competence, influence, etc) and creates no energy for people to succeed. This is a massive source of procrastination.

By: Mark McClure Coaching

Mark McClure Coaching — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 05:11:54 +0000

@Simon - I commented on Chris’s blog (but he doesn’t pay out yet haha!) re procrastination as an employee survival mechanism.

Heck, I know many bosses do it all the time because I once attended a “being politically savvy” course, when I was employed in the collective beehive, all about the pros and cons of such tactics. A very Darwinian and behaviourist approach to “climbing the greasy pole”.
I was mildly disgusted but with enough gray hairs not to be too surprised any more at the ways of the world

Re “procrastination”: My favourite management hairball is “take ownership of the problem”. However, such problems worthy of their attention are by then often big, risky and radioactive - judging by the geiger counters of reactive “oin the blame” management.

On the positive side, I know some firms get it (almost) right because if multiple people step up to fix a problem (and their ordinary work gets delayed because of that), many managers are very supportive and the behaviour is reinforced by praise (and over the longer term, by promotion or special public bonuses) for the watching others. That’s the key, I think.

By: simonstapleton

simonstapleton — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:49:11 +0000

@Jason - I think the victim mentality can start with the worker, who most likely enters the job that way (probably because of childhood worries and fears). Then there are people who become that way in their jobs because of poor leadership and management. This creates other behaviors like over-use of process, as it’s easier to hide behind a provess. BS - well - some people talk BS as a sport but others spout BS because they don’t like to feel they don’t know something - again out of fear!

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:15:26 +0000

I really liked this article. I understand far too well the points you made on “victim mentality”, defensiveness (since i’m usually the consultant), overuse of process (I hate that SO much), and BS. (I can smell BS even on subjects i’m not that familiar with, and it’s gotten to the point in my work that most of my job is figuring out what’s BS and what’s not)

Keep those nice articles coming !

By: simonstapleton

simonstapleton — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:11:11 +0000

@Chris - and I’ll look out for that book! Thanks for the tip

By: simonstapleton

simonstapleton — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:10:27 +0000

@Chris - indeed. Innovation is an aspect of culture. Innovation isn’t about gadgets and technology, it is about challenging the status quo, and as you say if the organization and the people within it don’t listen and defend their position, the status quo prevails. Receiving feedback that might classically be defined as ‘bad news’ is a gift - not an attack! Pushing a gift back in someones face is bad leadership. See this post: ‘Communicating Bad News’

By: Chris Mahan

Chris Mahan — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:59:33 +0000

Having thought about it some, I’m going to add some more.

You write:
Defensiveness - leaders hated people being defensive instead of listening. This behavior is one of the greatest impediments to continuous improvement and innovation.

You should read Matthew May’s “The Elegant Solution: Toyota’s Formula for Mastering Innovation” (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743290178/)

Essentially: you have to REWARD people for coming forward with ideas on how to make things better, and you CANNOT penalize people when things go wrong.

By: simonstapleton

simonstapleton — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 10:43:38 +0000

Hi Chris - you have some clear and interesting views! Your points on fear are well made as I think you’ve cut right to the bone of the root causes in a lot of cases. Paul Piotrowski writes a great post on fear, which compliments your points (14 Most Common Fears in Life and What To Do About Them).
Chris I think there is quite a difference between being a victim and having a victim mentality, where the former is how you are subjected by others, and the latter is how you subject yourself.
You make a really good point at the end that leaders are culpable in these behaviors, as they create the environment where they form and grow. Thanks for initiating that discussion Chris!

By: Chris Mahan

Chris Mahan — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:08:33 +0000

My response at http://chrismahan.blogspot.com/2008/07/response-to-11-behaviors-most-disliked.html

I couldn’t post it here, unfortunately.