Accountability: When Leaders Fail

Whenever one is in a leadership position, whether it is a formal position or one of informal leadership, there is an element of accountability that has to be considered. How is an informal leader accountable? Well, in the case of almost any organization, anyone to whom others look for direction and advice must be able to be accountable to the organization for what they tell others. If for instance, a senior police officer in my agency told a new rookie that it is permitted for him to do something that would violate a person's civil rights, who is at fault? Certainly the rookie is responsible for his own actions and is supposed to know what can and cannot be done, but if the senior officer told the rookie to do something he himself thought was permitted, the senior officer has failed the rookie, the organization, and the community by not knowing the law as he should. Unfortunately, many new employees of any organization don't know who is a good resource and who isn't. The learning curve in those circumstances can be very long and potentially career ending. Just because one has time in the agency doesn't make one a good leader.

When we think of leadership we think if the formal leaders: the CEO, the division manager, the store supervisor, anyone who has formal authority to make decisions and direct people in order to accomplish tasks. Those leaders can make or break those individuals with how they make decisions and deal with company and employee issues. Anyone can take care of the routine issues covered in policy and SOP; it is the unusual circumstance that shows the true colors of the leader. I know many supervisors who know policy and SOP yet can't relate to people and won't make a decision if it isn't specifically covered in some written directive. When those supervisors aren't willing to make the decision and stand by it, the rank and file lose respect and confidence in that supervisor. If that happens, the supervisor becomes impotent in many ways because the line people will find ways to circumvent the normal chain of command to get things done. That leader has failed the organization by not being able to make decisions and lead in his or her area of responsibility, and has failed those under him or her by not being able to instill confidence in their ability to lead.

So, what do we do with those who fail? Is this an automatic out the door situation with no regard to the energy and expense already invested in that person? I think it depends on the reasons for the failure. If the leader has demonstrated no concern for the organization and is obviously in it only for what they can get out of the position, I don't think they can be salvaged and should be sent packing for the good of the organization and those who do want what is best. If the leader has failed due to a lack of training, they may still be able to be an asset to the organization by giving them better tools to do their job and making sure they are adequately educated into the values and mission of the organization.

The employee who is promoted due to longevity alone is not necessarily going to be the best person to have in a formal leadership position. Their leadership skills are sometimes based on personality, charisma, and the ability to lead by example. They are the ones who "walk the walk, and talk the talk" but don't want anything to do with discipline and giving orders. Those are the very ones we want to keep in place as examples of good work and positive attitudes; we want new employees to see that they can be productive and still enjoy their work. However, when placed in formal supervisory positions those very same informal leaders can become bitter and resentful toward their supervision for forcing them to do things they aren't comfortable doing, and aren't equipped to do well. In these cases, the organization now has failed their employees and must make a decision on how to fix the mistake. There would be no shame in allowing the newly promoted supervisor to go back to being what he or she did best: doing good work and helping fellow employees work better too. It seems though that bosses don't want to admit they promoted the wrong person and instead of allowing a graceful return to the previous position, they will just transfer the new supervisor to another area of the company to "develop them." This will more than likely just compound the problem and frustrate the supervisor more. The line employees will also become disenchanted with the situation as they know there is one among them who could have done the job better, but now may not get the chance since the supervisory position has been filled.

Organizations and leaders within them fail for a number of reasons such as: failure to recognize good work, not keeping up with training opportunities, not compensating workers adequately, not giving them adequate work environments, etc. These are all ways failure can take place and have an impact on employee morale and work satisfaction. However, it seems that the way employees are impacted the hardest is when it is personal. If a leader is not providing competent and confident leadership, employees allow that to affect their view of the organization as a whole. If a supervisor is harsh and fails to do more than is required, or only does enough to get by, employees will resent them and productivity will fall because nothing is being done to remedy the situation. Top leadership will fail when they don't want to disrupt the status quo because doing the right thing is not the easy thing to do.