Buddy or Bossy? Don't Oversimplify the Dynamics of Leadership

Some managers lead by dominating employees; others try to win them over. But the most effective leaders deploy the style best suited to the situation. This piece oversimplifies the dynamics of leadership, and as the title suggests a choice between being bossy vs buddy. What I advocate for all leading through respect. With respect a manager and leader can be very demanding and tough and people will positively respond. By being "bossy" people usually respond out of fear and by being "buddy" people respond only when the leader or manager is consistent with this style through good times and bad. I have witnessed a number of buddy leaders turn into barbaric monsters when times get tough. From the New York Times: Bossy vs. Buddy: Two Leadership Styles, Each with Its Place.

Credit: BIGSTOCK

How Do You Feel? Make Your Voice Be Heard

Now that we know the results of what has been the most divisive election in our lifetime we must reflect on how the political establishment, the pundits and the media totally misread how people feel and more importantly—why they feel the way they do. Emotions, good and bad, drive behaviors. The people have made their decision in a highly charged emotional environment. While we must respect the will of the people, we must work to protect the checks and balances in place so that history does not repeat itself in normalizing the abnormal, and protecting the hard won rights that may be in jeopardy. 

There is no question that most people distrust the political system and establishment. Unfortunately this has exposed the ugliness, bigotry and intolerance that have been simmering below the surface long before the election cycle started. It also appears that many of us have forgotten what we all learned in kindergarten, the ethic of reciprocity: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Organizational leaders must understand that the level of distrust extends beyond the political establishment. Rarely a day goes by when we are not exposed to the atrocities committed in every segment of our society: in politics, in government, in business, in religion, in sports, in entertainment and in media. The recent scandals at Wells Fargo, Volkswagen, Fox News and Veterans Affairs have highlighted how pervasive this is. Based on research I have done on bullying and psychologically safe, healthy and fair workplaces, employees are afraid and angry. 

The election revealed a great divide that will continue to exist. It also revealed how fragile democracy is. Unless the political parties and the government totally reinvent themselves in a positive way the divide will widen and democracy will fail. The first step in this reformation is to come to grips with how people feel and more importantly why people feel the way they do. 

To come to grips with this in the workplace the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and the Faas Foundation are initiating the Emotion Revolution in the Workplace to help organizations create psychologically safe, healthy and fair workplaces. Currently, we are conducting a North American survey to determine how employees feel about the work they do, the relationships they have at work and how they feel about the organizations they work for. Most importantly, we will determine why employees feel the way they do. Our initiative will identify the unnecessary stress factors employees face and provide evidence-based solutions, unleashing the power of emotional intelligence coupled with the ethic of reciprocity. 

I encourage everyone to complete the survey and ask you to encourage everyone you know to do so as well.

Credit: Emotion Revolution in the Workplace

America, What Have You Become?

Some recent articles reinforced my pride in being a Canadian. In the October 29- November 4 edition of The Economist the cover story “Liberty Moves North: Canada's Example to the World” outlined how “Canada is uniquely fortunate in many ways—but its liberalism and tolerance hold lessons for other Western countries.” 

USA Today reported, “The Georgia Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that a law that prohibits insulting or verbally abusing a public school employee in front of students violates the First Amendment.” This perplexing ruling makes it OK to bully and abuse employees, and—worse yet—do it in front of students during their most impressionable years.

Then there was the piece in The New York Times about Hamdi Ulukaya who employs resettled refugees in his Chobani yogurt factories. He’s now being targeted on social media by right-wing websites.

When you compound these examples with all of the bullying and hate mongering we are witnessing in the media in real time on prime time, Americans appear to want to normalize the abnormal. Again: thank God I am a Canadian!

Photo: BIGSTOCK

Has Walmart Discovered the Key to Happier Employees and Higher Sales?

Can the answer to what ails the global economy be found in the people in blue vests at your neighborhood Walmart? When sales went down for the first time in Walmart history they tried something new—paying workers a better wage, giving them better training and more opportunities for advancement. And guess what happened? Being valued and given opportunities are part of creating a psychologically healthy, safe and fair workplace. Looks like Walmart is getting it! Neil Irwin reports in The New York Times: How Did Walmart Get Cleaner Stores and Higher Sales? 

Photo: Melissa Lukenbaugh for The New York Times

How Will Facebook's New Workplace Platform Affect Work-Life Balance?

Today’s workplaces are in a constant state of evolution in terms of technology. I’m not breaking new ground by declaring that the Internet is changing everything, but it truly is. Facebook’s new Workplace platform sounds modern, efficient and maybe even a little fun for employees used to spending a lot of time on social media. However, I have one question about this and other work communication apps like Slack: how will they affect work-life balance? Work-life balance can be a buzz-phrase for human resources types, but there’s obviously a lot to be said for having time away from work. People today spend so much time on their various social media profiles that I can foresee potential issues with an app designed to be similar – or nearly identical to – to the ones most people use just for fun. Anna Wiener discusses in this article in The New Yorker: Workplace by Facebook, or A Party in the Office.

Photo: BIGSTOCK

The Unsayable Can Now Be Said Thanks to Trump

Thanks to Trump the unsayable can now be said. “Go back to where you came from,” is the phrase of the moment. Something I have been warning about for a while.  While Trump fiddles with the inflamed rhetoric of the extreme right and fires up his supporters’ hatred the rest of us are facing more prejudice than ever. While comparisons to Hitler may seem overblown, there are frightening echoes of what took place in pre-World War II Germany. Roger Cohen explores the language of hate in this New York Times piece, How Dictatorships are Born.

Credit: Damon Winter/The New York Times

Trump Bullying of Clinton Reaches New Low at Final Debate

One of the most important parts of creating psychologically healthy, safe and fair workplaces is learning how to identify and deal with bullies. Last night’s final presidential debate featured a man whose bullying tactics I’ve been writing about for months. In fact, Donald Trump inspired what might well be the shortest chapter in any work of non-fiction in North America—in my new book From Bully to Bull’s-Eye (RCJ Press; January 10, 2017) all I needed was one word in my chapter, “Definition of a Bully” to illustrate what I wanted to get across; that word is: Trump. I’m glad to see women refusing to be intimidated and embracing his latest bullying comment to Secretary Hillary Clinton and making it their own, but calling her “a nasty woman” is classic bullying behavior. 

Photo: KGO-TV

Accountability Counts: Holding Grant Recipients Responsible for How They Use Funds

What do you do when a significant donation to a charitable organization is not being used in accordance with prior agreement? Earlier this year the Faas Foundation was faced with that dilemma, which forced us to make an unprecedented decision. For the first time since the foundation was created in 2005 we lost confidence in a grantee and rescinded our donation of $1 million. This story in the Toronto Star outlines what happened when the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) didn’t implement its initiative to provide Canadian workplaces with training to identify risks of mental illness and support employees living with the diagnosis.  CAMH Loses $1 Million Donation Due to Issues of Accountability  The money was given in good faith to be part of a multi-pronged initiative between the Canadian CAMH and the American organization Mental Health America and the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence to explore ways to better understand and implement psychologically healthy, safe and fair workplaces. Sadly, CAMH’s elitist attitude, failure to implement and lack of transparency made us reconsider this donation. Philanthropist Questioned the Credibility of CAMH Before Rescinding Donation  Since this news has broken, another donor has considered removing his contribution to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) due to a lack of transparency and communication. The one error in this article is the assertion that the funds were to create a psychologically healthy workplace solely at CAMH. They were actually donated to fund research into evidence-based solutions for dealing with mental health issues in the workplace. It’s time for grant recipients to be accountable for the monies they receive.  CAMH Donor Says More Transparency Needed About Money

Photo: Brian B. Bettencourt/The Toronto Star 

Being Wells-Fargoed Should Keep Top Executives and Boards of Directors Up at Night

The news broke this morning that Wells Fargo’s board has decided to revoke compensation valued at $41 million from the company’s CEO, John Stumpf, in relation to the sham customer accounts created by employees to fluff sales numbers. Additionally, Wells Fargo’s former head of the community banking division that is the source of the scandal, Carrie Tolstedt, has also been financially penalized. I was surprised to hear that these two were being reprimanded for the scandal by Wells Fargo – but then, it occurred to me just how similar this was to the Volkswagen scandal. As I’ve written about before in Directors & Boards Magazine, both companies initially found that a swath of employees were to blame, before moving up the chain to management-level employees who were turned out only after it became increasingly clear to the public just who was to blame for their respective breaches with the public trust. In short, Wells Fargo is scrambling, just the way VW did when the emissions scandal broke.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – CEOs need to be aware of what is going on in their businesses. Transparency is the name of the game here – not just with handling scandals in the public eye, but in managing employees in every sector of business. Firing scapegoated lower-level employees and revoking the huge payouts to executives is fundamentally a band-aid approach to fixing the problems that lead to scandals. Firstly, Tolstedt should not have been allowed to retire peacefully with a few penalties imposed on her severance package – Wells Fargo should have made a point of firing her. Additionally, if it is revealed that Stumpf was fully aware of the sham accounts and covered up for them, he should also be dismissed publically. However, before either of those two steps could be taken, the most important course of action for Wells Fargo (and any similarly scandalized corporation) is to conduce a full, comprehensive and objective investigation into the root causes of the wrongdoing that occurred. Having a complete picture is essential to actually curing the problems present in any organization – and it makes a more convincing argument to the public whose trust those organizations are trying to regain.

At the end of the day, Wells Fargo’s behavior is yet another stain on the already-tainted US banking industry. The pervasive nature of short-term goal oriented cultures will almost always result in similar scandals that further erode the public’s trust in those institutions they have no choice but to invest in. It’ll be a long time before those 5,300 employees let go for their “rogue” behavior will be able to get a job again, just like it will be a long time before the employees let go for whistleblowing will feel comfortable standing up for their principles again. Depending on how far this particular scandal goes, perhaps the entire board will need to be replaced before anyone is willing to give Wells Fargo their money again. 

Image: Stumpf on Capitol Hill last week. Image Credit: Gabriella Demczuk for NYT

To Call Out on Your Way Out - Or Not

I mostly agree with the advice NYT’s Workologist gives to this employee who experienced bullying that forced him/her to resign from their job in this article. The employee was able to find a better job very quickly after resigning, and is considering sending an email to his/her former employer (and/or the boss’s boss) about what really transpired. While it can be good to focus mainly on the future, rather than past drama, it’s important that upper management knows what happened. As I’ve stated over and over again, workplace bullying is not something that should just be ignored – it’s a systemic problem that, if left unchecked, can lead to potentially life-ruining circumstances. Writing an angry note after the fact can feel cathartic, but instead of sending it or deleting it entirely, I would argue that the employee in this letter should send a measured, even-toned, fact-based and objective letter from a private, non-work email address to the bullying boss’s supervisor. The point is that when workplace bullying is involved, someone should be notified – it’s less about payback, and more about protecting the workers who still have to deal with the bully on a daily basis.

Image Credit: NYT Workologist Graphic, Gracia Lam via NYT