Welcome back!
We’ve been talking about the perils of mistreating a team. Today we’re going to continue that conversation. When you mistreat people, it mangles your reputation. Detailed information about your misbehavior spreads far and wide. Losing your reputation will limit your future opportunities. Your current reality will erode out from under you like quicksand. People will stop trying to work with you. You’ll also miss out on important information and then situations you would have had an early warning about will erupt in your face. People will smile and nod but then quietly seek ways to correct whatever problem you are causing or allowing (or both). You will give people a common enemy to coalesce around. Productivity will shift from the mission of the organization to the goal of bringing you to justice. You can only mess with people for so long before they give up on you and fight back. Mess with the wrong person, who is braver than you, healthier than you, has more stamina than you, or especially if they are a person of faith under the protection of God, and you’ll find yourself in a world of hurt in a hurry. Worse yet, do something that hurts or threatens their family’s well-being, and you’ll have a street fight on your hands. Do the right thing and treat people well. Don’t make anyone succeed in spite of you. Gift them with succeeding because of you.
A special note for leaders who have surrounded themselves with people who are as dysfunctional, corrupt, or mean-spirited as they are in an attempt to build a human shield to hide behind. You may be wallowing in denial and seeking allies wherever and however you can find them, but the fact is, even that self-serving maneuver is readily transparent. Even people who are attached to you because of whatever illicit means you hooked them in with, will have no problem joining up with your adversaries if you treat them badly enough. Relationships based on using each other never last. Eventually, everyone will join forces on a quest to put a stop to the hurt you are causing. When that happens, you’ll find yourself on the outside looking in. Even if you survive the controversy, your power will forever be diminished and you will never be fully trusted again. In a classic case of reaping what you chose to sow, the damage you caused other people will finally be visited upon your own doorstep. When the suffering quite rightly switches from the team to you, misery becomes your new normal while everyone else will be celebrating your fall. Your team is talking about your nonsense in their living rooms, around the Thanksgiving table, in church, while playing sports, and everywhere else they go. You can’t stop it. All you can do is change it by doing right by people, and giving them reasons to speak well of you. That’s your social reality as a leader. Either people are singing your praises and raising your social capital, or you are handing them the ammunition that will eventually bring your reign of tyranny to a screeching halt.
Until next time, think about this question and be brutally honest in your answer to yourself: what is it like for each member of your team to work for you? Not just what you want to believe because it’s what your buddies tell you to stroke your ego, but what it’s like for every single person to be under your command.
I’m praying for your wisdom and positive action!