The Dark Side of Leadership

My experience with leadership training, is that it often misses a fundamental aspect of an organization.  I call it the dark side of leadership.

In essence it comes down to this: The more dysfunctional the leader, the more dysfunctional the organization.

The organization takes on the dysfunction of the leader and mirrors it and enables it.  Whether team, company, state, or country.  The more powerful, or charismatic, the leader, the more likely this can happen.  

This phenomenon can mirror family dynamics to a great degree.  Leaders often subconsciously gravitate towards and promote and hire those that match the dysfunction, or who enable it.  This creates organizational weakness, resentment, confusion, and feelings of being manipulated.  It destroys positive culture.

Also, we tend to promote and want our leaders to be experienced so they can bring the wisdom of experience to bear.  This is good.  Yet, dysfunctions can get worse as a person ages (if not faced with courage and dealt with properly) and become more rigid and intransigent.  At the same time the person is gaining more power in the organization and so the chance of a solution becomes more remote.

Members of the organization don’t want to take shots at the leader (thanks to the need for self-preservation) and, frankly, it is probably not a good idea to have this happen.  So, the dysfunction continues.  The organization’s efficiency and productivity and effectiveness suffer.  The dysfunction becomes embedded in the organization, and the organization’s culture.  The organization drifts from merit based, to loyalty based. Opportunities are missed.  You can really get a sense for the dysfunction of an organization by observing how it handles disappointment and bad news.  Does it try to hide it?  Does it shut down and blame?  Do people retreat to their respective corners?

Leadership training often fears looking directly at this because it is a rare leader that has the strength of character to invite such examination, and an examination of the organization from this perspective.  It takes courage and it can hurt.  Those who do undertake this journey of self reflection, with good guidance and proper support, reap benefits that few could have imagined possible.  It leads to exceptional positive impact at work, at home, and in the larger community. 

Transform and Thrive!