career advice for workers: accept hierarchy and feudalism in your workplace

[Eubulides <paraconsistent@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/06/business/yourmoney/06advi.html 
March 6, 2005
CAREER COUCH
When a Subordinate Goes Wide to the Boss
By CHERYL DAHLE

Q. A smart, ambitious employee has gone to your boss behind your back to
pitch an idea that you had rejected. How should you handle this
insubordination?

A. Do not start by assuming that the employee's behavior is the problem. You
- and your ego - may be the real source of the difficulty, said Joseph
Grenny, co-author of "Crucial Confrontations" ( McGraw-Hill, 2004). The
incident may be a valuable, though drastic, bit of feedback on your
management style.

"You might be micromanaging and not giving people opportunities to vet their
ideas and challenge your point of view," Mr. Grenny said. "It might not be
that the person is not trustworthy. It might be that you just don't trust."

Q. How will you know if you're the problem?

A. Mr. Grenny suggests that you begin by asking yourself some questions:
What is your track record in promoting others' ideas? Do people who work for
you receive recognition within the company for their contributions? Do you
spend as much time listening to others' ideas as you do promoting your own?

"If you always feel like you're the smartest person in the room, you might
be the problem," Mr. Grenny said.

Q. What if the problem isn't your management style?

A. Assessing the employee's motivation will help determine how to handle it.
The employee's actions may be a reflection of genuine political naïveté,
said Rick Brandon, co-author of "Survival of the Savvy: High-Integrity
Political Tactics for Career and Company Success" (Free Press, 2004).

"If he truly is a politically oblivious person, it helps you to help him,"
Mr. Brandon said. "You want to coach him and point out that this kind of
behavior ultimately damages the trust in a relationship. Discuss with him
the proper protocol."

Mike Miller, vice president for information technology services at Sprint in
Overland Park, Kan., recently handled a touchy situation with a young,
enthusiastic employee who pitched her idea over his head. The woman brought
up her idea in a breakfast event that senior executives at Sprint use to
cultivate relationships across different levels of the hierarchy. She saw
the event as a chance to get a high-level executive to back her idea.

But her plan backfired. The idea played poorly with the senior executive,
and the end run angered several managers on the rungs above her whom she had
not consulted.

Q. What's the best way to handle that sort of enthusiasm?

A. Mr. Miller, 56, who has more than 25 years of experience managing groups
of up to 2,500 people, said that once he got past his gut-level aggravation,
he knew that the intentions of his employee were good.

"People in their naïveté or inexperience often will take ideas to whomever
they can to sell them to," he said. "The last thing you want to do is turn
those people off because their excitement and commitment is a huge asset to
the company."

More important, once he heard the employee's idea, he realized that it was a
stellar one that would improve the customer billing process and get rid of
outdated computer code.

So he helped the employee articulate her case for the idea, which he then
championed to the senior executive whom she had originally pitched.

The project is now under way, with the employee at the helm.

"If you come down on people for the wrong reasons, you can kill creativity,"
Mr. Miller said. "You can undo years of trying to get people to open up and
talk freely about their ideas by shutting them down like that."

Q. What if an employee does intend to undermine you?

A. Mr. Brandon, Mr. Miller and Mr. Grenny all agree that cases of
intentional, mean-spirited sabotage are rare. If you are certain that the
person is intending not only to promote himself, but also to damage your
credibility, treat it very seriously, Mr. Brandon said.

He recommends consulting your human resources department immediately to
understand what kind of case you will need to build for firing that person.

"You don't want to be doing a ballet-inspired synchronized swimming routine
if you're in a shark tank with a shark," Mr. Brandon said.

Q. What can you do to prevent an employee from going behind your back again?

A. Be clear about the process for selling ideas in the department and the
company, Mr. Grenny said. Make sure that it includes ample opportunity for
your team to make suggestions. And remind the person that the workplace is
not a democracy.

Q. Should you follow up with your boss?

A. If you have a solid relationship with your boss, that may not be
necessary, Mr. Brandon said. But if he seems to think that the incident
reflects poorly on you, you'd better address it, Mr. Miller said.

He chose to approach the senior executive who had initially squashed his
employee's great idea, to point out how the boss's behavior had dampened the
enthusiasm of an employee with a good idea. The senior executive appreciated
the feedback and even apologized to the employee, Mr. Miller said.

"More often than not, what appears to be insubordination isn't," Mr. Miller
said. "Separate the facts from your conclusions and don't assign motives.
You're not in some Hollywood movie where the young up-and-comer is trying to
undermine the old veteran."