Crisis managers are good at managing crises. Therefore they will start to become stressed when there is no crisis to manage. Smooth running organisations are not their thing. Ones where they have to intervene often are the way they like it. Why do we let them do it?
Is it any wonder that people who think of themselves as crisis managers work in organisations that are permanently in crisis? It should not be.
At the same time, we know that staff perform at a very low level when placed under unrealistic or artificial pressure that create distress or dissonance (a mismatch between what you value and what you believe you should do) ( 1 2 3. The reverse operates. Positive mood, emotion and aligned values produce significant improvements in work performance.
So why are these people allowed to do it? Probably because of a number of fallacies and mis-perceptions that arise from knowing that a small amount of stress produces a beneficial performance effect combined with the all-purpose belief that “if a little is good then an excess must be excessively good!”. Add to that a bit of self-doubt and people are prepared to let someone else tell them “this is a crisis – I need everyone on to this now” and everyone does … with the exception of the noted cynics who just get on with their jobs.
That might give a clue as to why most workers go along with their leader’s crisis making but why do their colleagues and superiors allow and even encourage it? A few ideas are worth discussing.
- They do it themselves
- They wish they were so dynamic and powerful
- If they challenge the behaviour they may appear weak
- Better to keep out of other people’s messes
- It takes a lot of hard work to do better.
No doubt that coercive (even bullying) and crisis managers cluster together. This is evidenced enough for HBR to nominate a “no assholes rule” as a breakthrough idea for 2004, it is extended in Robert Sutton’s books, including Hard Facts and others. 4. It takes a lot of courage to stand up to a culture of passive-aggressive coercion and to take a clear look at the evidence that lets you make a clear and precise judgment on the correct path to take. A colleague or superior in this kind of environment is likely to think the same.
The next phase of this pattern is that new managers or aspiring ones will often look up to the perceived high performers and emulate them, strengthening the trend and perpetuating it. This is sometimes called cloning.
If you disagree with what is happening (for whatever reason) what will you do? If you tackle it head on then you become a target, you have to be prepared to take it to a logical or illogical conclusion. You must have the time and moral courage to carry through. If you have less than both in full measure then you will be in deep trouble. “They” are in their preferred mode. A crisis is their world and you probably have other things to do. It is easy to make out that you are not focused enough on achieving the organisational goals (whatever they might be). Often it is easiest to just let it go if it is not directly affecting you.
Leaving the most interesting one for last we can look at how easy it is to deal with these kinds of behaviour. The lessons are that it is extremely hard for most people to deal with it. At its most extreme, you look at why people did not stand up to mass-genocidal maniacs like Hitler and Stalin. The “easy” explanation is the threat of physical violence. That only came after they were in powerful positions already.
A close look into the research into Emotional Intelligence shows that the degree of self-mastery and communication skills required to deal with passive and overt aggression is very high. You must be incredibly confident and self assured to take on agression. You must have the backing of others and not be left isolated in the organisation. It takes a long time and a lot of help to get to that level for most people.
The lesson of this is: Assholes cluster together. You have the potential to be one yourself. If you dont do anything about it then you condone and strengthen their bahaviour. It takes hard work to deal with them because crisis is their friend.