Here’s three reasons why.
In the 80s movie Gremlins, the creatures are friendly and resourceful……until they are accidentally fed after midnight. This turns them into mischief makers of the highest order, smashing everything (and everyone) around them.
This can happen at work when leaders inadvertently enable bad behaviours in their people. Here’s three ways that you might be doing this.
Rescuing
When someone is falling short of expectations, or we don’t think they’re capable, it’s very tempting to step in and get it done yourself.
Whilst this may get the job done in the short term, in the longer term you may be holding people back or worse still, setting up a dependency on you as the person who will always come to the rescue. Sometimes, resisting the urge to step in can be more helpful.
Feeding drama
Some people like a bit of drama at work. They enjoy getting everyone all fired up and running around. As leaders we can easily become the villains or the rescuers……if we allow ourselves to get dragged into the drama.
Ask yourself, “Is this issue significant enough for me to get involved with?” If the answer is ‘yes’, sit the drama causer down and ask them what they were intending when they started behaving in a drama led way. This will help identify whether there is a real issue at play, or just drama for dramas sake.
People pleasing
Most of us know as leaders that we can’t please all of the people all of the time. Despite this, it’s easy to find ourselves trying to do so. It’s good to take soundings from the team on contentious issues. Good leaders do this, make an informed decision and then explain their rationale. Some people won’t like it. That’s ok.
If you’re spending too much time managing your gremlins and need a bit of help. Drop me a line.
