Earning respect from a lone-wolf manager
By Joan Lloyd
Dear Joan:
I have a situation where a co-worker is trying to poison my
direct reports behind my back. The same person has tried to bad
mouth me to his own direct reports, HR and even top management.
What works in my favor is that every time he has done that the top
management, my direct report and HR have themselves told me about
it and reinstated the fact that they don’t believe a thing of
what he said.
His direct reports, for obvious reasons, have limited their
communication with me while they used to have a great relationship
with me earlier. Since I am in a support role to his group, this
definitely has an impact on my work.
Why is he doing it? Well, our organization used to be a very
people-friendly organization and this new manager’s focus is
business. He joined the organization much later than me, made
decisions where the business was higher but the trust within teams
went down the hill. He feels threatened for my focus to people and
getting business through it. We did business earlier too, though I
must admit, the growth rate for sales are much better now.
The problem is the entire work culture has changed and people
are scared to communicate openly. He has great authority over his
people and they dare not do what he doesn’t approve.
The top management realizes what’s happening since other
support groups have also expressed their frustrations about him.
Nevertheless, the business is good and the top management seems to
be comfortable being diplomatic about it. They praise us when we
approach them and probably praise him for the business he
gets!
My current problem is that I am going to hire new direct
reports and the management has expressed apprehensions that this
manager would try to influence them negatively as well. I want your
advice on how should I approach not letting my new hires getting
influenced by him or his direct reports.
Answer:
He is getting improved sales results and that has more
influence with senior management than your complaints about his
treatment of you and other support departments. It sounds as if
this new manager is very results oriented and wants tight controls
to accomplish his goals. And it appears that senior management is
willing to stay out of his way.
At the risk of generalizing, a lone-wolf manager typically
wants to be left alone to get results. If lone-wolf leaders leave
blood on the floor in the process, they see that as an
unfortunate—but necessary-- price to pay. Often, they view
support departments as interference, not value-added helpers. They
will ignore HR procedures, for example, or go through the motions,
just to comply and keep HR off their back.
Unfortunately, by not embracing support departments, such as
Marketing, Finance, Quality Assurance, and others, he is spurning
valuable resources as well as wasting time and energy fighting
needless battles. It also sounds as if his take-no-prisoners
management style is creating a fear-based culture.
I’m reading between the lines here, so I can only guess
that he is bad mouthing you and other support departments because
he feels you don’t add value. He may think your methods of
focusing on the people side of things didn’t bear fruit, so
he is trying to discredit you and keep you at a distance.
It’s encouraging that senior management is praising your
efforts but they aren’t doing anything to support you.
And since the bottom line is looking better, senior leaders
don’t want to take him on and make him play nicely with
others. Unfortunately, they are setting a precedent that will be
hard to change later. Lone-wolves end up holding the organization
hostage: let me ignore the rules and I’ll get you results.
Over time, this creates serious problems with poor morale, high
turnover, inconsistent standards and even potential legal and
regulatory risks.
In my experience, the best way to establish your credibility
(and that of your new employees) is to acknowledge that he is
getting good results but to offer value-added help with his
business problems, so that he sees you as a help, rather than
overhead expense.
He probably respects people with a strong spine and a results
orientation, so hire new people who fit the bill. Invite him or
others on his team, to interview your final candidates. Get the new
hires involved with managers below this leader, to help them with
their issues. Don’t bad mouth the leader or paint a negative
picture of him with any of your employees. He is your internal
customer and it is up to you to find ways to partner with him. Keep
upper management informed as you execute this proactive plan; this
will earn the respect of senior management far more than
complaining about him.
