The corporate world may not be as supportive of its staff as we would think or like it to be with excesses of passive and hidden aggression. Even with modern management approaches, have we really arrived? Reading the hidden signs in dealing with hostility is key in improving performance and addressing dysfunction in teams.
There is a western trend to a more progressive and less directive culture in certain companies. In theory, employees have greater autonomy and influence over their respective scope of work. This is driven by change management practices, belief in the value of employee engagement, a drive to self-actualization, and the current trends in Mindfulness.
However, I believe there are some recent regressive factors moving away from this, in part driven by a competitive marketplace and the need to be more agile. This may seem as paradoxical as the conventional theory / practice has shown that a more engaged and content workforce will perform better, and deal with the need for agility and rapid delivery. I have tried to postulate the drivers for this regression.
There has been a recent rise of factionalism and tribalism, and the need for people to identify with certain factions or groups. Some commentators are also concerned about the dangers of political correctness, in terms of its potential lack of transparency, and the potential consequence of limiting open debate. This has been exemplified by the recent rhetoric on social media and in the press, post the Brexit vote in 2016. We have also witnessed lower levels of actual teamwork and more individualism. This selfishness is driven by the need to survive, especially as the economy gets tighter.
The first step to delivering impact in a hostile culture is to recognize that you are in one. That statement may sound trite, but it is not as easy as it looks.
What defines a hostile culture or environment? My definition is relatively simple. It is one which limits ones ability to execute their work or perform consistently without thinking of what could come next, and negative distractions like watching your back continually. It is noteworthy that people do not have to shout or raise their voice for the atmosphere to be hostile.
A key element for success, is to understand the difference between active hostility and constructive pressure. The former is intense, repetitive, inauthentic, and likely to be less rational. The latter is the opposite, but still maintains the required accountability, and has a level of mutual trust between parties.
Typical behaviors and activities that are common for active hostility include unrealistic targets, minimal information, poor explanation, no context, shifting deadlines or targets and changing the scope of work. In more severe cases, there can be a mob style approach where a manager enlists others to aid the hostility.
There are many other behaviors that one may witness, but another useful reference point is the work done by Geert Hofstede, the eminent psychologist and his associates, on macro cultures. Hofstede categorizes and describes six different cultures. There will be traits mentioned above that are pertinent in a significant number of the dimensions, but probably the most relevant are Power Distance and Masculinity vs. Femininity.
Cultures that are likely to be hostile will have large power distance and show the characteristics of hierarchy, leading to existential inequality, expected subordination, autocracy, the belief that power is absolute and that its legitimacy cannot be challenged. Cultures with small power distance tend to be more collegiate.
Another trait of active hostility that I have witnessed is that of Compliance. In this case, compliance can be interpreted not of defined rules, but of dictates and edicts. Here, the end justifies the means and defined rules can be bent or ignored to meet the edict.
We must remember that none of these characteristics can be taken in isolation, and on their own, will not determine active hostility, but a combination could lead to one.
What do I mean about finding the balance point, and why is it relevant?
If you are a new leader in a large organisation, then for you to be impactful you will have to be different, without alienating yourself or acquiescing to inappropriate cultural norms. It is critical that you resonate with your team and conform to the rules initially. This does not stop you being a change agent, but you should do it without being too much of an initial maverick.
If you are already established in the organisation, this will be easier, but for you to effect any internal change may be more difficult as there may be a reticence to your challenge. You need to be accepted by your own team to have future impact. This does not mean you do not question, or challenge paradigms. It means you must effect change from the inside and gather momentum.
A coaching background, or understanding the concept of mindfulness and particularly self-awareness, can help. According to the Building Strong Coaching Cultures for the Future, a 2019 study from the International Coaching Federation and the Human Capital Institute (HCI), developing coaching skills for leaders is an ongoing and successful process in organizations with strong coaching cultures.
Understanding the impact of your approach and the behaviour you elicit on the people around you will enable a greater chance of success. This will give you key insights into how your approach will impact the team as you start to challenge them. You need to find the critical balance point between listening, challenging and conforming.
In the previous section I mentioned about the importance of finding the balance point and understanding your environs. This will be a platform for the work you are going to do and help determine the impact you will have on your team.
So, in more detail, what are the key things you need to do to have impact in a hostile environment?
Professional Coaching is an asset for many organisations looking at enforcing authenticity in their workplaces. The International Coaching Federation (ICF) defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. ICF professional coaches work within high ethical standards when coaching teams and leaders. They are part of a worldwide network of credentialed coaches across a variety of coaching disciplines and work toward the common goal of enhancing awareness of coaching, upholding the integrity of the profession, and continually educating themselves with the newest research and practices.
Professional coaching services can befound usingICFs directoryof credentialed coaches spread all over the world.
http://www.coachingfederation.orgwww.coachfederation.org.ukwww.experiencecoaching.com
Read the original:
How to have impact in hostile environments | theHRD - The HR Director Magazine
- Jerry Seinfeld thinks political correctness is killing comedy : Code Switch - NPR - May 6th, 2024 [May 6th, 2024]
- The Other Side: Can we cancel political correctness? - Fairfield Daily Republic - May 6th, 2024 [May 6th, 2024]
- Jerry Seinfeld blames 'PC crap' for the demise of comedy - The New Daily - May 6th, 2024 [May 6th, 2024]
- Politically incorrect - - March 31st, 2024 [March 31st, 2024]
- Dileep critiques impact of political correctness on comedy films; says Movies will become dry - TOI Etimes - March 6th, 2024 [March 6th, 2024]
- Keeping Up With Spongy Political Correctness; Turbines Make a Sudden Move Offshore - The SandPaper - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- Disney's Snow White Live-Action Remake Ignites Controversy - BNN Breaking - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- Political correctness is strangling comedy and with it our British sense of humour - The Telegraph - January 29th, 2024 [January 29th, 2024]
- The absurdity of political correctness - Fiji Times - January 29th, 2024 [January 29th, 2024]
- Claudine Gay, Jimmy Lai, and the truth of things - Catholic World Report - January 20th, 2024 [January 20th, 2024]
- Rochdale has exposed the horrors of political correctness - Spiked - January 20th, 2024 [January 20th, 2024]
- Michel Valentin: Political correctness and swastikas - Missoulian - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- Letters to the Editor | Nov. 12, 2023 - The Philadelphia Inquirer - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- How the free world can prevail - Geopolitical Intelligence Services AG - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- The Die Hard Survival Guide To This Year's Office Holiday Party - Fisher Phillips - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- Who Won The Third Republican Debate? - FiveThirtyEight - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- Although Many Have Tried To Change Name Of Devils Tower ... - Cowboy State Daily - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- North American Birds Named After Bad People Will Get a New ... - WTTW News - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- "Imagining the Indian documentary combats Indigenous mascoting - The Michigan Daily - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- Disney's downfall attributed to cancel culture The Tide - The Tide - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- The Kremlin fuelled antisemitism at home. Then it blew up - Euronews - November 15th, 2023 [November 15th, 2023]
- The Vibes Are Off at the 2023 Venice Film Festival - Vulture - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- Democracy and the Crisis of Authority - Asharq Al-awsat - English - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- 10 Best Workplace Movies of the 2010s - MovieWeb - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- The Social Contract Between Human Rights and International ... - Harvard Political Review - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- A Requiem for Manners - The Imaginative Conservative - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- Letter to the editor: Understanding God | TribLIVE.com - TribLIVE - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- Karin Klossek: No More Home Office Freedom? Then I Quit! - finews.com - September 3rd, 2023 [September 3rd, 2023]
- Republican Attacks on Woke Ideology Falling Flat With G.O.P. Voters - The New York Times - August 6th, 2023 [August 6th, 2023]
- Discussions on unions, politics mark librarians' conference The ... - The Militant - August 6th, 2023 [August 6th, 2023]
- Serving the Sovereign - Magnolia Tribune - August 6th, 2023 [August 6th, 2023]
- A Philosophers Role in the Texas A&M Debacle (updated) - Daily Nous - August 6th, 2023 [August 6th, 2023]
- High school football: Walsh confident South is making progress ... - Salisbury Post - August 6th, 2023 [August 6th, 2023]
- War On Niger Republic Will Be War On Northern Nigeria, By Prof ... - SaharaReporters.com - August 6th, 2023 [August 6th, 2023]
- Introducing the Reason Crossword, a Weekly Puzzle for Libertarians - Reason - August 6th, 2023 [August 6th, 2023]
- From Relativism to Wokism: A Path of Confusion, Fallacy and Self ... - C2C Journal - August 6th, 2023 [August 6th, 2023]
- John Krull: Try this in a small town - Pendleton Times-Post - August 6th, 2023 [August 6th, 2023]
- Book Review: "Rodney Kills At Night" -- Engaging Company - artsfuse.org - August 6th, 2023 [August 6th, 2023]
- US stokes divisions on BRI, but will Italy fall into trap? - China Daily - August 6th, 2023 [August 6th, 2023]
- Whoopi Goldberg blows up over political correctness: 'We don't know everything you're not supposed to do!' - Fox News - March 31st, 2023 [March 31st, 2023]
- 'They mad over a forehead kiss?': Fans Cry Hypocrisy as Disney - Bastion of Political Correctness - Edits Out Ayo-Aneka Kiss Scene in Black Panther:... - November 16th, 2022 [November 16th, 2022]
- The silliness of political correctness THE FIRST STREET JOURNAL. - November 8th, 2022 [November 8th, 2022]
- Why Women Are So Susceptible To Political Correctness - November 8th, 2022 [November 8th, 2022]
- Cancel Culture: Its Causes and Its Consequences - November 5th, 2022 [November 5th, 2022]
- Why Did British Police Ignore Pakistani Gangs Abusing 1,400 ... - Forbes - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Where are the liberal defenders of Kanye West's freedom to speak? - New York Daily News - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Perfecting the "art of polarization": How these '90s conservatives created today's radicalized right - Salon - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Anna May Wong is now the first Asian American on US currency - The Black Wall Street Times - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Best of times, worst of times - The Spectator Australia - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- When Rekha's beauty advice for young women was to be 'physically fit and definitely not fat': 'Fat is ugly' - The Indian Express - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Theatre Review: You should see The Doctor now - The New European - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- The Utopian Horizon of Memory Art: A Conversation with Andreas Huyssen - lareviewofbooks - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- I should be allowed to play any person, or any tree, or any animal: Marvel Star Scarlett Johansson Was Furious After Losing Trans Role Due to Insane... - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Videogames: the latest weapon in the culture wars - Spiked - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Jes Tom on Why They Love Chris Onstad's 'Achewood' Webcomic - Vulture - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Why Hungarys Jews Are the Safest in Europe - The American Conservative - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Why you should change your voter registration to Pennsylvania, Part 1: the insanity of Doug Mastriano - CMU The Tartan Online - September 22nd, 2022 [September 22nd, 2022]
- TIFF 2022 Review: Stephanie Johnes' "Maya and the Wave" Hits a High Watermark - The Moveable Fest - September 22nd, 2022 [September 22nd, 2022]
- Longing After the Fleshpots | Luke Burgis - First Things - September 22nd, 2022 [September 22nd, 2022]
- Where to Watch and Stream Jimmy Carr: Telling Jokes Free Online - EpicStream - September 22nd, 2022 [September 22nd, 2022]
- Opinion | Leicester Violence Has Exposed the Multicultural Claims of Left-Liberals - News18 - September 22nd, 2022 [September 22nd, 2022]
- America's Misguided Fascination With Royalty - The Atlantic - September 22nd, 2022 [September 22nd, 2022]
- The pending collapse of the United States of Political Correctness - The Hill - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- Laurence Fox finds a role equal to his talents: the Breitbart biopic of Hunter Biden - The Guardian US - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- Moving ahead as a party of one Times News Online - tnonline.com - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- Google Bars Truth Social From App Store Over Lack of Content Moderation - Reason - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- She idolised Thatcher, now Liz Truss is on the cusp of becoming Britain's next PM - WAtoday - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- OPINION: Andrew Tate sparks a culture war: The perspective of a young man and woman The New Political - The New Political - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- "I Know What It Means To Grow Up Without Much" Pro Golfer Harold Varner III Keeps It Real About Going To LIV Golf | It's All About The Bag!... - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- The Lady Is Not For (A Populist) Turning: Thatcherian Ambiguities In Cas Mudde's Theory Analysis - Eurasia Review - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- Dear Friends and Readers, The Brooklyn Rail - Brooklyn Rail - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- 9/2 Flashback: On abortion | Fred Clark - Patheos - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- The Kingdom Exodus Review: Lars von Trier Goes Full Meta With the Return of His Creepy Hospital Drama - Yahoo Entertainment - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- Film Review: 'Explorer': The Amazing Life Story of Author and Renowned Overachiever Ranulph Fiennes - The Epoch Times - September 3rd, 2022 [September 3rd, 2022]
- Bill Maher Asks A Question Even A Meathead Cant Answer On Real Time - Deadline - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- Exclusive | Pa Ranjith on 10 years in cinema, pan-Indian films, Natchathiram Nagargiradhu: 'I am waiting to see the ripples it creates' - The Indian... - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- Opinion: In Alberta, children's early years of education are being used in a game of political football - The Globe and Mail - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- Marvel Comics Removes Masters Of Kung Fu Mentions From Its Website - Bleeding Cool News - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- Jimmy Carr's 'Terribly Funny' tour to be the biggest comedy tour to ever hit Australia - Beat Magazine - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- Police need to be more focused on crimes that matter to voters, say Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss - iNews - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]