Stand Up or Shrivel
Why Leaders Need To Go Into Bat
As leaders, we all have a responsibility to Stand Up to these injustices. Otherwise, all our hard work to gain and increase trust is diminished. In my experience, whenever a business is struggling with the performance there are cliques and political manoeuvres happening all over the place.
When I was involved in a toxic corporate culture there were people getting publicly berated. A theme of favouritism came from the General Manager and every time there was a senior management meeting everyone was thinking of one thing - CYOA (Cover Your Own Arse!) It was a matter of saving your own skin and trying to get out of the full day or two unscathed with minimal professional and emotional bruising. In the process, departments needed to turn on each other and professional friendships were broken to the point of being unrepairable. Looking back on this there is no wonder our results went from bad to worse.
On reflection, I ask myself why I didn’t Stand Up. I offer up excuses like…
“I did my best…”
“I did all I could…”
“If I stuck my neck out I would have made things worse…”
Or, my favourite, “What could little old me have done!?!”
Deep down, I know I could have done a lot. When I didn’t do much at all to Stand Up, it meant that my team did not feel protected, safe, or engaged in the business. They were constantly distracted and probably spending half their time looking for another job. The worst part of this is that other people were getting seriously affected. More than I was. Like being back at the schoolyard I was thankful that it wasn’t me being bullied, but deep down I felt sick about it. Demotivated doesn’t start to cover how I felt at the time.
Even in small ways, whenever there is an injustice in our organisations it is a calling to all leaders to Stand Up. No matter how scary or intimidating a situation is. Or, how small and insignificant it seems. It may be a matter of Standing Up for yourself when someone is mistreating you. It may be a case of Standing Up for a principle, the company, a client, or one of your teammates. Like fronting up to a bully, there is confidence and respect that we can obtain by taking this action. We realise that overcoming the injustice is not so difficult and that future challenges can be approached with more speed and vigour than we have before. Most importantly, the people around us feel safer because we are there.
Doctor Gregory Walton, an Associate Professor at Stanford University researches motivation and achievement. He speaks of our human need to seek out danger, as a section in our brain called the Amygdala is “obsessed with sensing danger”. This is why a leader needs to constantly make people feel safe.
There is no point in doing anything just once. Knowing this we can keep an eye out for inequities (which make people feel unsafe) and Stand Up to them. Not only to snuff out the poor behaviour (which is good for everyone) but to show the people around you that they are in trusted hands with you and that their future is secure with you. It also role models the standard of behaviour you expect from everyone in the team.
When you see others Standing Up for themselves or Standing Up for each other you know that you are doing something right. When the team are confident enough to Stand Up to you when you inadvertently create an injustice, you know you are Consolidating a rhythmic team and on the way to a team of synchronisation.
