Leadership Development And Jumping Out of AirshipsWritten by Brent Filson
PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to author, and it appears with included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.comWord count: 885 =========================================== Summary: The Leadership Development function in many a corporation has often been viewed as a sideline when compared to such functions as sales and marketing. Yet Leadership Development can and should be seen as integral to a company's bottom and top lines. Here are two simple ways to make it happen. =========================================== Leadership Development And Jumping Out of Airships by Brent Filson A German silent film melodrama depicts an airship bombing London during World War I. Lit up by searchlights and strafed by fighters, crippled airship loses altitude as captain frantically jettisons dispensable gear to lighten weight. Eventually, only weight left is human. So captain orders members of crew overboard. A grisly scene unfolds as airmen, one by one, without parachutes, step up to hatch, salute captain and first mate, then jump to their deaths. Lightened, airship returns safely to Germany. That scene is not a relic. It's happening in corporations frequently these days, clearly not as fact but metaphor. Companies, shot up in cross fires of increasingly competitive markets, must lighten their loads to get earnings' growth buoyancy. The captains are jettisoning all but indispensable employees. Commonly, one of first functions to be ordered out is training function -- in particular, leadership training or leadership development. Many company heads view such training as dispensable as airship crew in melodrama. Yet leadership isn't dispensable to business success. It's absolutely indispensable. Good leaders are far more important to long term success of companies than good products. All organizations that fail to get, keep, and develop good leaders eventually founder. This isn't a secret. Most leaders know this. Here's secret: The fact that leadership development is viewed as dispensable is not captain's making. It's crew's making. The blame lies with people in charge of leadership development. They simply have not defined leadership development in indispensable ways for results. Sure, they have defined such development for training results but not for results that really count, business results. And when training people focus on training results not business results, they are always put at front when superfluous are told to line up to leap. What is leadership but results -- not training results, business results. If leaders are not getting their business results, they are not leading. Results can be defined in many ways, productivity, operating efficiencies, sales growth, cost reductions, etc., but leadership development has no real value unless it is helping leaders get those results. Here are two simple ways to position your role to notably increase your value to your company.
| | Workplace Violence: The Bullying FactorWritten by Felix P. Nater
A lot has been written about workplace bully and so my approach will deal with assessment and analytical process of workplace violence. During my years as a Postal Inspector on a Workplace Violence Interdiction Team in New York, I quickly gained an appreciation for value of determining "root causes" or "contributing factors" of incidents of Bullying and Bully Tactics. In all of assessments conducted involving bullying behavior "root causes" and "contributing factors" enabled investigative process to determine that in all cases victim retaliated escalating bullying to a physical altercation or threats of bodily harm. The bully created such an emotional response in his victim over time sufficiently enough to create a spontaneous response. As such, I've come to define that Bullying is harassing, intimidating, offensive, degrading, demoralizing and humiliating to victims: employee, co-workers and supervisors alike. The behavior was patterned, unfavorable, unwarranted and reasonably inappropriate for workplace setting. While individual Bully was obviously at fault, management for its failure to curb behavior contributed to hostility by creating a permissive environment that empowered Bully. Sensing that he would not be sanctioned he acted with impunity. The unfortunate reality is that Bully exist to fill a void; some thought his antics were funny; others relished in abuse and banter; if it was racially or ethnically charged comments it had appeal to bigots. As uncanny is it sounds most victims and witnesses interviewed after fact were disgusted at knowing how long they were subjected to abuse and how much they tolerated without intervention until victim retaliated. It just happens over time like diagnosis of cancer. WHO ENGAGES IN BULLYING TACTICS? -An employee -Co-workers -Customers and employees -Employees and Clients -Employees and Vendors -Supervisors or manager During many threat assessments conducted, I learned that Bullying is a form of workplace entertainment by some and an accepted part of workplace culture by others. You victim must be willing to resist victimization and confront individual to avoid potential for escalation ultimately leading to unfortunate spontaneous and subsequent consequences for engaging in a fight. It's easy to be intimidated by this behavior, it is designed to control you. However, don’t blame yourself for being victim of Bullying. Report Bullying immediately! It should not be sanctioned and should be addressed under your company’s Workplace Violence Prevention Policy. WHAT CONTRIBUTES TO BULLYING? Because Bullying is a pattern of abuse it must be dealt with immediately. The permissive environment is dwelling place of this type of behavior. That it might be part of an organization's culture is all more reason for intervention. Left unabated, it creates impression by Bully that culture condones it. Because employees are fearful of reporting bully out of fear of retaliation, incidents go unreported. The lack of appropriate intervention by supervisor or manager is especially case when employee is a good worker or a key individual in business. The fact that Bully is a supervisor or manager invokes fear and distrust in management’s ability to curtail threat sensing he would be sealing his fate if he makes a complaint. This sort of response is common and often came out during interviews of victims and witnesses. I am reminded of an article I read entitled: “The Disruptive Clinician and Impact on Patient Care”, Lee G. Shanley, B.S., Director of Safety and Security Services at Nassau County Medical Center which appeared in NCMC Proceedings Journal, fall 1996. He emphasizes manipulative and controlling power superiors wield on subordinates. He wrote, “Medical staff who continually act out in a disruptive manner towards visitors, patients and other staff members undermine very fabric of healthcare facility. When an individual displays verbal abuse, open or veiled hostility, or threatening actions towards associates, result more often than not is compromised patient care…this abuse if not addressed, and allowed to continue unchecked, will more than likely lead to a major patient care error. As a result of stress caused by situation, associates and other healthcare providers may tend to avoid contact with offending individual whenever possible.”
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