Management dissonance...

That was Jerry Jarvis’ response when I asked, “What was that all about?”  He proceeded to teach me an important leadership lesson I had not read in any books or learned in any management training classes.

As leaders, I believe we never want our people “looking over their shoulder”, wondering if something bad is about to happen.  “Management dissonance” cripples employee productivity.  And if retaining key people is, well, key … leaders may find out followers are much more impatient and leave even though leaders were expecting the opposite.

I witnessed that impatience three years ago when our company was acquired.  It can happen whenever a company goes through a re-organization.

The term management dissonance is derived from the psychological definition of “Cognitive Dissonance”, which Google tells us:

Cognitive dissonance refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs or behaviors.  This produces a feeling of mental discomfort leading to an alteration in one of the attitudes, beliefs or behaviors to reduce the discomfort and restore behavior.  

             Sam McLeod

I have written about leadership communications (and lack thereof) often.  Been there; done that myself:

As Sales Director, I spent at least one day each month observing my sales reps in action; in the field.  All nine of them were tenured and experienced.  Yet, their sales performance was unacceptable.  The owner of the company hired me to turn things around.  We weren’t sure if we had an attitude-problem or a people-problem.  I felt it was the former, but I had recently terminated two of my nine reps.  

Today, I’m in Orange County meeting my southern California sales rep for breakfast at the start of my “ride along”.  He seemed nervous; we both knew he was struggling.  Our small talk dissipated quickly, when suddenly he blurted out, “Are you here to fire me?”  Catching me off guard, I paused and replied, “No” slowly and calmly drawing out the O sound.  He took out his cell phone; dialed; and said, “It’s OK honey.  He’s not firing me.”

Much more relaxed now, Jerry tried to change the subject to the itinerary for today’s ride along. I stopped him, saying, “Whoa whoa whoa – what was that all about?” He then proceeded to educate me on the term he coined, “management dissonance”:

1. He noticed I wasn’t traveling with my PC.  (It was with IT as they were applying several updates.)  Jerry assumed I didn’t have my PC, so I could take his back after firing him.
2. He was the lowest rep on the sales performance report; I had fired the previous two lowest reps; he figured he was next.
3. And I had not specifically told him I was not going to fire him; in fact, I had offered him no news at all.  So he filled in the blanks.

Well, I didn’t fire Jerry.  He went on to have a successful sales year, which we were counting on.  He (and his wife) were all worked up over lack of communication; my bad.  I learned that in absence of updates followers will come to their own conclusions.

Difficult for a leader you might say?  Yes it is.  That’s why the leader is the leader:

In calm waters, every ship has a good captain.  

          Swedish Proverb      

I believe it is leadership’s responsibility to “reduce discomfort and restore behavior” during times of stress.  It is the respectful thing to do for our followers.  And if roles were reversed, I think everyone would be in agreement, don’t you?

                       GAP

May you feel the peace and share the power of a positive perspective today – and every day!