The straw that breaks the camel’s back

I once delivered a keynote at an annual meeting. When I arrived, two assistant managers were sharing the news that due to the behavior of one employee, everyone was now required to document their actions. As the staff started to ask questions, tensions mounted. I felt bad for the messengers and for the employees. Talk about a lose-lose situation.

If you’ve ever experienced being punished or burdened with additional work because of the actions of others, you know it is extremely frustrating and demoralizing. Equally destructive is the boss who ignores problems in the hopes they will go away. As Dr. Brenda Freeman says, “Bad behavior left unchecked grows.” Unaddressed problems spread and eventually spill over onto your entire team.

Like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, there is a middle ground for leaders that is just right. Leaders can hit the sweet spot by:

1. Addressing personnel problems individually. Instead of sending group messages that problematic employees either don’t hear or care about, wise leaders address problem behaviors with the involved individuals.

For example, if you have a Chatty Cathy on your staff, avoid addressing the problem as a group. If you say, or even worse, put out a memo that reads, “We’ve got people who are talking too much in meetings, please refrain from doing so,” astute employees wired to please you are going to hear that they are the problem. Trust me, you’ll have two problems: people who still talk too much, and your most responsive workers shutting down in an effort to be better employees.

2. Refraining from laying down the law in response to the behavior of one or more individuals. It’s easy to be a reactionary leader. In fact, it takes discipline, courage and wisdom to not overreact and overcorrect. Before you institute a new policy, ask yourself if it’s a group problem that needs a group fix. You’ll find most problems are with the behaviors or attitudes of individual employees. Address individual problems with individuals.

Research indicates that since the recession hit, the workload of the average job has grown more than 30 percent. If that isn’t enough reason to keep from adding one more hoop for your employees to jump through, assess the time and emotional cost of adding a new policy. It truly can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

3. Personally delivering any bad news, especially if you’re going to implement a system wide change. As is usually the case, the messengers got shot at that annual meeting, and their jobs got harder. If there is a tough new policy that isn’t reactionary and truly needs to be implemented, step up as the leader. It’s one of the myriad reasons you get paid the big bucks.

I was a lifeguard in college and greatly enjoyed my job, right up until the day the director told me I needed to fire someone. I was appalled and extremely upset, but I did his dirty work. Shortly thereafter, I found a new job. I wish I had had the courage to say no. His lack of leadership integrity left a horrible taste in my mouth. Part of being an owner or manager is delivering bad news and letting underperformers go if they aren’t willing to step it up.

High IQ leaders recognize that today’s stressful, get-it-done-yesterday-with-fewer-resources jobs have enough tasks without adding additional layers. Protect your people and they will flourish. And for heaven’s sake, make sure you’re the one who steps up when it matters and changes are truly warranted.

Sherene works with organizations that want to boost their leadership IQ so they can enhance effectiveness, increase engagement, and raise productivity. Ask Sherene a question for a future column at sherene@sherenemchenry.com.