Transparency in the land of control freaks and empire builders
Let's be clear, you may never experience such behaviour. If this is the case, you will have experienced a better employee experience than many.
A lack of transparency, normally fostered by managers who feel the need to control, will normally form a blame culture within a business.
Such a business will become risk averse, conventional in its thinking and increasingly difficult to accept change. These character traits will have a negative effect on the bottom line.
Transparency is uncomfortable for some.
There is no hiding. But in a supportive, professional outfit where making good decisions is to be encouraged, why would you want to hide?
There will be managers, who genuinely want things to be of their standard. I do like to challenge what their standard is, and whether it aligns with the needs of the business.
And then there will be leaders who take pleasure in being in control. These are the trickiest people to deal with. In the end, I like to know if they like to work for a business or if they want to enforce their own agenda onto a business. Quite often these type of leaders do not like to be confronted, yet are almost always blockers of change. They may well have been promoted or recruited outside of their skillsets.
Both lead to the same place in the end, a business performance that is limited to their abilities.
JFGI - Beware the control freak
I was listening to a podcast recently about Michael Heseltine, the former Deputy Prime Minister, under Margaret Thatcher. The presenter was talking about the letters 'jfgi' hand written by Heseltine on Government briefings. For those of a more modern era, the letters 'jfgi' stand for 'Just f****** Google it'. The gist of this podcast was that the letters 'jfgi' in the context of Michael Heseltine and the 1980s was more likely to mean 'Just f****** get on with it'.
The Empire Builder is different again. A poor leader with a desire to hoover up control of budgets and be proud of their people head count. For the Empire Builder, the business is a means to their ends. They will have no doubt placed themselves on their pedestal of power, using business speak to bedazzle the business and keep their ego well nurtured.
Sometimes I struggle to understand the hierarchy of job descriptions. You can have Directors, Heads of, Senior X, Y and Z, simply in place to make pretty boxes on an organisational chart.
Teamwork is always best.
Please have a look at what I think here:
Each member of your team will want to be dedicated to help keep tight control of costs and to drive turnover. Who does not want to be held to account for their performance?
The team will want to be asking questions such as where's the dynamism, the growth, the change?
Your team will need to have exceptional leadership. Here's what I think about this:
