Managed by the Mob
Is your business, department, division or project being managed by the mob? Do you have a clear and defined strategy, or are you being run ragged with no sense of accomplishment or direction? Decision by committee is tantamount to management by the mob and may indicate a lack of leadership. What can you do about it?
Management Mob Mentality
Rather than make sound business decisions based on good judgment, mob decisions are coerced by personal deal making and an overdeveloped need to belong to a small crowd. In some cases there is even a fear of being ostracized or becoming vulnerable for acting independently. A typical mob consists of a small group of individuals who have no real loyalty to one another, but who maintain an unspoken commitment for mutual self-preservation. Sometimes the mutual self-preservation is at the cost of another employee, a poor business decision, covering up or other practices that may be harmful to the organization. This is the breeding ground for what is commonly known as "the good old boy network". Loyalty and commitment are as thin as the skin and reputation of the members of the mob.
"Sometimes you have to let other people be right, even when you know that they are wrong, because you need them to like you. That is how you get along." Is is really more important to sacrifice values or good business decisions just to get along? On the contrary, is it possible to disagree or to debate contradictory concepts and still maintain a mutual respect for one another? Unfortunately, the tenuous nature of a mob relationship does not sustain mutual respect. The mob mentality is a culture of deceit with a thin veil of compliance that lacks constructive contrasts or commitments.
Good Teams and Bad Teams
Teamwork is healthy for an organization. Teams can be deployed to apply specific combinations of expertise and experience to resolve complex problems. Departments or groups of common skills may be organized into teams for the purpose of accomplishing specific goals. Teamwork can develop a sense of community and may contribute to consistency and cross-training. Good teams are identified by continuous attainment of goals and the consequential self-improvement of the team members.
The term 'teamwork' is not healthy for an organization when it is used as an excuse to gain authority that is devoid of personal responsibility. There is a deep chasm that separates disagreement from dissention, the result of which is a lack of direction.
What is True North?
Imagine that the team is trying to steer the company ship towards True North. If the team members do not agree on the compass or the course, there may be members pulling to the east, to the west or to the south. With members pulling in opposing directions, what direction will the ship ultimately turn? What happens when the ship is turned in one direction and suddenly pulled in another? Have you found yourself in such a ship, drifting aimlessly in the ocean?
For a team to be effective there must be a captain at the helm. Teamwork encourages discussion and healthy debate, but ultimately there must be coordination for a common strategy. There can be only one rudder, only one True North, even as the course is sometimes checked for accuracy. It is even reasonable for individuals to rotate the responsibility of acting in leadership as the captain, as long as there is consensus on the compass and the course for True North.
Managing the Mob
What can you do if you find yourself adrift with mob mentality? There is an antidote to mob mentality, it is individual accountability. Keep track of individual roles and responsibilities. Recognize individuals for personal achievement, and hold each person responsible for personal commitments. Be cautious about limiting the ability of mob members to assign unreasonable expectations or demands on other members of the team. Rather, allow each individual the opportunity to make commitments based on the personal authority and responsibility to fulfill those commitments. Treat each person with dignity and respect, allowing disparate ideas while maintaining consistency of vision and values.
You do not need to be the leader of the mob to change the mentality or steer the course toward True North. On the contrary, the nature of mob mentality is to maintain a lack of leadership and thereby sustain the accountability free zone. A mob lacks leadership, discipline and conscience. You need only to consistently demonstrate one of these traits to turn the course of the mob toward teamwork and True North.
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Words of Wisdom
"There's a whiff of the lynch mob or the
lemming migration about any overlarge concentration of like-thinking
individuals, no matter how virtuous their cause."
- P. J. O'Rourke (1947 - ),
Parliament of Whores (1991)
"The nose of a mob is its imagination. By this, at any time, it
can be quietly led."
- Edgar Allen Poe
"In a nation ruled by swine, all pigs are upward mobile."
- Hunter S. Thompson
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About the Author:
John Mehrmann is a freelance writer and President of
Executive Blueprints Inc., an organization devoted to improving
business practices and developing human capital.
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