Harmony At Work Can Result In Mediocrity--So Shake Things Up

Probably one of the biggest mistakes leaders make at work is managing for harmony. When confronted with personnel conflicts, mistakes in judgment, differences of opinion or straight on failure, too often we try to manage the situation by bringing about agreement, order and "peacefulness." At first glance that seems to be appropriate--even obvious. Who wouldn't want some calmness instead of frustration and agreement instead of discord? But more often than not, what is really needed when managing workplace conflict is courage, not harmony.

Managerial Courage 

In his defining book Managerial Courage, Harvey Hornstein, PhD. concluded in his research that seeking harmony in organizations, while worthy at times, often is a primary killer of innovation, initiative, and creativity:

"What often emerges under the pressure to get along, be nice and work and play well together is an uncontroversial package of rules about how to act and what to think, distinguished only by their blandness . . . Courageous initiatives frequently spark conflict, disrupting organizational harmony. Such conflict is one of the principal organizational benefits of managerial courage. When properly managed, conflict focuses choices, aids commitment, elevates thinking and sharpens issues. Productive conflict, by continually juxtaposing organizational options, can be an enormous aid to organizational growth and progress."*

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9 Reasons He’s a Better Leader Than I Am

It’s always good to surround yourself with people who challenge you to get better. My friend is one of those people.

You know how there are some people who are just really freaking good at certain aspects of their work? We all have strengths, sure; but some folks go a step further in one or two areas, right? It’s their sweet spot. Their thing. And when they’re doing that thing, it’s really a thing of beauty to watch.

You likely wouldn’t recognize his name right away, but he’s probably the best developer of people, the best coach, the best whatever-you-want-to-call-it I’ve ever seen firsthand. He’s simply way better at coaching than I am, which is great because I learn a lot from him and am better off for it. How he does what he does makes me want to keep pushing myself to get better at it. I want to be able to coach my team like I see him coach his. (And I’m not gonna lie–there are times he’s so good at it that it makes me want to punch him in the ear. Or maybe the tooth. But that’s what friends are for, right?)

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How Treating Your Employees Like Turtles Can Smother Innovation

There are typically two ways companies unintentionally discourage innovation: preventing employee growth and paying too much attention to the highest paid person in the room. Here's how to promote creativity instead.

What do turtles have to do with innovation? Not much, we thought, until we ran across a retail manager at a big box store in San Diego during the course of our research and clinical work for Judgment on the Front Line. That manager pulled us aside to explain that most employees--particularly those at the bottom of the hierarchy who serviced customers--were treated like turtles at many companies.

If you buy a turtle and put it into a small aquarium, it will stop growing to accommodate its limited living space, regardless of how large it might have potentially been. This is a phenomenon that often outrages animal activists because urban apartment dwellers who fancy diminutive turtles typically don’t look after them very well. In truth, the turtles stop growing because they not only have limited room to reach their potential but are also malnourished and poorly treated.

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