Your Team Is Who?
by Miki Saxon
Some managers, especially executives who should know better, have two teams—one is the one to which they pay lip-service and talk about in public.
The other is the one that takes priority and stays front and center in all decisions.
Let’s use the CEO as our example, remembering that this attitude can happen anywhere on the management ladder.
CEOs are always talking about ‘the team’ and it’s taken to mean all the company’s employees.
But, for those the shoe fits, it actually refers to their direct reports and their pets.
Back when this attitude was common it was also honest. Managers were ‘us’, workers were ‘them’ and everybody knew where they stood.
Then organizations started to change. Volvo focused the world on the power of teams. Research showed that productivity increased when people were more invested and engaged in their work.
Academics, management gurus and the leadership industry introduced language that was supposed to be inclusive and empowering.
And it was when used by the CEOs who bought it, owned it and meant it; to the rest it was pap—good for keeping all those not on the ‘real’ team in line.
Now, with the severe downturn, more managers, from CEO to first line supervisor, are slipping back to the old mindset—often without even realizing it.
So the next time you’re preparing to speak to your team, take a step backward and ask yourself to whom you’re talking…
Who is your team?
Image credit: sxc.hu
