I've held the opinion I am hereby sharing for quite a long time, due to not believing that it is indeed genuinely respected that almost universally-proclaimed freedom of speech. Everything in our lives comes at a cost, and every single action, professional and personal must be balanced very tightly and responsibly, especially in this day and age where whatever shows up in the web will forever claim its eternal footprint. However, there is a greater energy inside me that has always driven me to be as courageous and determined as my conscience demands; such does not have to come up with disruption to anyone's well-being, and I am sure that our entitlement to think and feel makes us ever more human and generates a proactive synergetic world... for the better.
I have been quite shocked about the displacement of realities between what several stakeholders claim about management skills, leadership skills, and the actual day-to-day reality of what is seen and felt by all of us in our professional experiences, in our professional involvement. It is incredible how social networks have become a public speaking platform for so many colorful diagrams and schematic presentations on the qualities of leadership and management. Don't take me wrong, it is important to have it discussed, it is relevant to have it uniformised and it is crucial to have it debated. What I suspect is not healthy is still the enormous present misconception that a manager and leader have achieved such level because of their professional qualities associated to their solid people skills. That is not true, and most of us who have put any thought into the rationalisation of this simple, yet extremely important problematics, have understood that management and leadership are still positions and properties that happen as consequence of professional progression, not a natural assumption by the system, of qualities that are integral for the role.
Some time back I experienced working with a manager in a certain project that was probably the least qualified human being, in human interaction, that I have seen in decades. The attitude of this person was almost like going back in time where arrogance, lack of sympathy and presumptuousness were obligatory in manager/leader and had to irrevocably be accompanied by a face that never smiled and a stern attitude of eternal discontentment. I am completely sure that said person was undeniably solid in their performance as a pillar, not because of the quality of their results but just because of the parallel built between what was delivered by their style of management and leadership and the dying ever classic idea of bossing around. No space for debating ideas emerged from the arrogance that their position is a clear reflection of an intellectual superiority.
Well, that old, very old-age incorporation of distance and unattainability, be it intellectual and even communicational (due to the lack of presence and availability said person assumed as part of their theatre of management and leadership), had to obviously claim their victims. The project was in shambles, there was a clear gigantic gap between the actioners and the thinkers, no adequate positioning towards the future with present brainstorming for success and harmony, and eventually people found dismay. Actually, here sits yet a very important concept that is still nowadays misinterpreted by many stakeholders, especially those that occupy positions of decision and leadership; i.e., that harmony somewhat resembles laziness, and that an entropic reactional work system delivers precepts of effectiveness based on anxiety. This incredible idiotic misconception can be called - Glorification of Stress -, and has claimed the professional vitality of many projects throughout the world because it is generated by people who do not understand the first thing about people and still understand the world as a system of owners and effectors, one that will operate ever more efficiently if the 'lower rank' agents are constantly under threat, limited in their access to information concerning the vitality of the projects and their own professional progressions.
This manager I am referring to had embodied the idea that scaring the others and maintaining a distance, using of proverbial arrogance and short messaging of direct orders was so effective that they needed to maintain that status quo, and swarm this approach towards other departments and other personnel. I eventually left the project due to the fact that I saw way too much disorganisation and lack of integrity, but in the back of my mind remained this bitterness that professionally we are so limited in our capacity to speak freely and engage in practical/useful conversation that can promote the betterment of our team spirit and the glory of our team achievements. And here lies yet another misconception, the last one I'd like to stress for the sake of time - the measuring of success is based on numerical goals, very few projects ever assess how happy were the professionals during the process of reaching said goals, and the effects such processes had in their mental/emotional and even professional health. This is ever more evident when corporations are managing employees that are not directly contracted to the organisation or are linked contractually for a temporary/short span of time. It generates detachment, it generates a human disconnection that basically uses people's greed or insecurity as a generator of intra-competitiveness rather that inter-cooperativity. This is even more a reality if management and leaders proclaim or use that typical insidious trick of announcing out loud the project is going poorly, not all will have their contracts renewed and people are under intense scrutiny. Once again the worst aspects of human nature surface and what should be gaining from team spirit will be exploiting professional survivalism. Do not be fooled. All loose! Only the corporation that makes use of such trickery will temporarily gain from it until the different people find dismay, understand they have been played and assume a posture of personal dignity by leaving at all costs, personal and professional. Big corporations then go about recycling the methodology promising other new inexperienced staff the same volatile and empty 'dreams', and the never ending circus of disrespect will keep claiming professional lives and producing stories of unfortune.
Management, Leadership, these active agencies of any team can only produce real holistic positive results if they act as immediate generators of Team Spirit. If they row towards their objectives as one and make sure that no one is left behind at all cost. It is in this ultimate defiance of hardship that any employee will strive to be the best version of themselves.
For Part II I will bring you what is perhaps the most iconic (and don't forget you are reading this from a known Iconoclast) speech I ever heard about reaching goals and the necessary elements of happiness and justice for all.
Thank you all for reading 'til this point. I hope I have enticed you enough to come and visit the 2nd part.
Post photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
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