Sunday, November 12, 2017

As a leader, if you have to coerce it, you don’t deserve it!


Can the entertainment industry become even more sleazy? For years, movies and television shows have gleefully created content that pointed out the foibles and hierocracy of others, especially if it involved leaders in certain faith traditions or political persuasions. Now, it has finally come out that high roller producers, “A” list actors, leading politicians, and even presidential candidates have been accused of coerced sexual contact. Equally distressing is that their allies in the media and entertainment industry have attempted to spike such stories or not address them due to some misguided allegiance to the alleged perpetrator’s because they were industry friends. This got me thinking out loud about what has we as leaders can learn from such tragic events.

First of all, regardless of gender or sexual orientation such conduct is unacceptable. Those individuals accused used their authority or ability to grant access to take advantage of others. Instead of doing so out of kindness or that it made just good business sense to advance a talented individual, these individuals threatened, manipulated, or coerced. It turns out such practices were well known but legal remedy never pursued out of fear of losing roles, access or favor. If there is any good thing to come from all of this, it is that such awareness has reached the national conversation.
Am I a perfect leader? Far from it.  But I would like to think there is a better idea. A better way to lead others. Whether we want to admit or not, if you are a leader with any level of responsibility, you can use your position in a coercive manner, even with the best of intentions. How do we guard against such unhealthy leadership?

Understand Your “Can vs Shoulds” – I have often told my own team members, just because you CAN do something, it does not necessarily mean you SHOULD. As a former Dean of Students, it was quite overwhelming the influence I had on the daily life of the students who attended the university. I had the authority to decide where students lived, the activities they could engage in and even whether or not they could remain a member of the campus community if they violated the code of conduct. Such authority required me to carefully weigh the interests of the student as compared to the interests of the institution and it was important that I shared with my own staff that such considerations applied to them as much for me.

Be Very Clear On What is Non-Negotiable – As leaders we have the responsibility to set the moral and ethical climate of our organizations. Truly, your team members do as well but if you hold a position of authority, you have to go first and set the bar and exceed it constantly. This requires you to be very clear about what your own moral threshold is and what you refuse to compromise, especially when there is an advantage to do so. The next critical step is to have a discussion with your team about such expectations. If you are not sure how to do this, feel free to contact me and I can share a process I have used. I think you will find that once others understand you are serious about leading with integrity, then they will understand you do not write blank checks on your values. You see when everything is negotiable, then everything is for sale, including your integrity!

Avoid Compartmentalization – I was having a conversation with a former supervisor who has become a trusted mentor and friend. We were discussing how normally bright and intelligent people can make such poor decisions as I have illustrated above or in past blog posts when it comes certain lapses in ethical judgement. We assumed the individuals involved came from solid backgrounds and educations, but when faced with making decisions that gained them or their organizations unfair advantage, they sold out their integrity. Where we landed was that these individuals compartmentalized their values. Whereas they were probably loyal friends, good parents, and generally nice people, they chose to sequester their poor conduct from the rest of their lives. I don’t know about you, but when I mess up, nothing in my life is right until I make it right. Now whether or not such mental compartmentalization is because of a legitimate psychological condition is another dissertation or another day but it does provide us with a cautionary tale.

The bottom line is this. If you have to coerce others to get the results you want, you are simply not doing it right and any success you gain from it will be undeserved. It is always better to accomplish things with people versus to them.

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact, especially when it comes to creating organizational values that stick! I am also pleased to announce the launch of my first book, Leading Out Loud: Strategies for Raising Your Leadership Voice! available on Amazon.com. Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership,
Bill Faulkner
Principal Consultant – Out Loud Strategies
Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

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