The Back Story
In my management development work, there are back stories that come from my real world business experiences that serve as the foundation for how I work with others. The same is true with information that I share on this blog.
There’s a popular article on this blog titled Five Ways that Employees Both Get Mad and Get Even. If you haven’t read it yet, I’d encourage you to do so before you read the rest of this article. If you have read it, I want to share with you, as one of my patrons, the back story that serves as the foundation for that article. I’ve learned over the years that sharing true stories is a powerful tool for management development.
This back story took place years ago when I was a young man trying to figure out how to be an effective manager. It began with a special trip I made to the office of a trailblazing female executive. To say that this female executive was ahead of her time is an understatement. She excelled as a senior executive in an industry where women were rarely given that level of executive power. She showed through her talent and toughness that she was fit for leadership. I like others learned that she also really understood people. I’ll call her “Shirley.”
I still remember that day years ago when I made the trip to Shirley’s office. Our organization was in turmoil at the highest levels and I was confused about what was taking place around me. I needed to understand how one of the most powerful senior executives in our company could so suddenly lose his power and be forced out of the organization. I’ll call him “Jim.”
In our organization, Jim controlled the key resources of money, people, and space. You couldn’t get much done without his support and he knew it. Sometimes he was a bully but mostly he was an exploiter. Many senior and junior executives resented his tactics but there wasn’t much that they could do about it.
With the organization in turmoil, it had been difficult to separate rumor from fact about Jim’s pending departure. I didn’t feel comfortable talking to my boss so I decided to talk to Shirley instead. As I made my way to her office, I thought to myself that if anyone could make sense of what was happening in our organization, Shirley could.
I was anxious to get Shirley’s thoughts not only because she really understood people but because I knew her to be direct and ethical in my past dealings with her. I knew I could share my thoughts with her and that she would give me an honest assessment of what was occurring without sharing to others that I had come to her.
We talked about the change in Jim’s status in our organization. As he received criticism from powerful stakeholders in the organization, Jim was suddenly without support from his peers and former allies. They abandoned him as they sensed he would not recover from these organizational conflicts.
Further, Jim’s junior executives who once worked so hard to position themselves closely to him, now no longer wanted to be associated with him. They became distant and silent as they watched Jim from the sidelines.
It was hard for me to understand this change in Jim’s status. His power was melting away like an iceberg in the Sahara Desert. Shirley saw my confusion and she explained that Jim had lost his power in the organization because his past had finally caught up with him. I still remember her explaining the following:
Employees have much more power than managers realize and there are so many ways that employees can get back at a boss who's mistreated them. Share on XIt’s important for managers to treat employees fairly and with dignity. If they don’t, they will find that their employees will get mad and somewhere down the road they will get even. Employees have much more power than managers realize and there are so many ways that employees can get back at a boss who’s mistreated them.
My Confusion
As a young manager, I respected Shirley’s experience and her words made sense to me, but honestly, my lack of managerial experience at that time prevented me from fully understanding the wisdom of her words. It seemed to me then that managers like Jim held most of the power in the organization. In my mind, Jim was too powerful in our organization and he had held that power for so long that it was hard for me to accept that he could lose it so quickly.
As Jim quickly departed the organization and his organizational area was divided and distributed to other executives, it was clear that Shirley was right. The many people Jim had mistreated over the years had finally gotten an opportunity to get even with him and they took it!
The Lesson
It took some years for me to fully grasp what Shirley told me years before. What I did not understand then that I understood later is that managers can only survive for so long when they have no real goodwill with their employees.
In Jim’s case, resentment toward him from his employees had been building for some time. Essentially, they hated his Machiavellian management style. As people he mistreated understood that he was wounded and losing his influence, they began coming out of the woodwork to complain about him. They were mad and now they were going to get even!
Although it took time, the balance had finally tipped against him. The organizational cost of keeping him in his senior role was more than the organizational cost of removing him. The Board of Directors forced Jim out.
I learned from Shirley that treating employees well is the key to effective leadership and management. I also learned from Jim that managers who lead through bullying or manipulation create an environment of resentment. They may keep their power for awhile but the people they have mistreated both get mad and get even.
Now, as I help managers with their own development, I plant the seeds of wisdom that Shirley gave me. Today, I tell you what I learned from Shirley years ago:
It’s in your own best interests to treat your employees fairly and with dignity even when you are taking tough action. Treat them badly and they’ll both get mad and get even!
And now you know the rest of the story!
It's in your own best interests to treat your employees fairly and with dignity even when you are taking tough action. Treat them badly and they'll both get mad and get even! Share on X
This article is accurate to the best of the author’s knowledge.
Content is for informational or educational purposes only and does not substitute for professional advice in business, management, legal, or human resource matters.