Advice to leaders who have people complaining about the negative effects of their leadership:

If you are a leader reading this you are probably feeling “under the pump” because of what people are saying about some negative effects of your leadership, and you may be facing questions and pressure from your board because of the stories and complaints they are hearing from staff and the school community.  Maybe you have that awful feeling that the school staff and community’s morale is collapsing, and the school’s work environment is becoming ineffective, unhappy, and discordant.  And deep down, you know that somehow your attitudes and behaviour as a leader have some part in causing this downward spiral. 

The good news is that, if you take responsibility for your part in these issues, you can be helped, and you can turn your leadership around to see the restoration of a positive, energising and productive workplace environment. 

Before I make recommendations about what to do, let me outline a few of the reasons why leaders may find themselves in this situation.   My observation is that most leaders are not purposefully prepared for the task of leadership that they find themselves thrown into.  Here are some typical scenarios – see if any of them describe you:   

• You are the principal or a senior leader of a large and complex sphere of responsibility that has a number of middle levels of leadership.  Before you took on this role, you have previously been used to leading only in a smaller group or with limited responsibility.  In these roles, you have been the expert, you always knew everything, had your hands on everything, controlled everything, and the performance of your organization depended mostly on your efforts.  Now that you have to lead a larger and more complex group, you find that you feel threatened by the other leaders’ competence, decision-making, etc;  or you feel “out of control” because they don’t tell you (and don’t ask for your decision!) about all the minutiae of what happens in their spheres of responsibility.  So you micro-manage them, shut them down, make unreasonable demands, or become angry and impatient with them – that is, you have become toxic to their energised engagement with their work!
• Or maybe, whichever level of leadership you find yourself in, you recognise that you never really had any training in how to delegate, or how to trust other leaders and work with them collegially.  You may not have had opportunity to learn how to develop the leadership skills of others, then to equip them, release them and help them to grow in their leadership functions.  As a result you find yourself stumbling into situations where other leaders get offended or frustrated with you.
• Perhaps in becoming a leader, you have never really had any proper feedback about how your leadership style, personality, and behaviour affects those you lead.  If that is the case, you have probably had no coaching in how to identify the issues of concern and develop better skills in your areas of weakness.   If that is you, you probably feel mystified and upset by the poor responses that people make to your leadership.
• If you are a task-orientated high-achieving leader with clear goals and well-honed administrative skills, it is likely that you will not easily see other people’s feelings and probably miss the “emotional intelligence” cues that people are put off, offended, left behind, or feeling over-pushed or de-energised by your leadership.  
• Or maybe you are driven by your perception of the expectations of your board or leaders (or maybe yourself!) that you perform perfectly at the highest level in your role.  If so, you will probably feel under threat if those you lead don’t perform to your expectations.  You may feel that you need to “keep the pressure on”, “keep your nose in every issue”, “check every decision”, “whip them into shape” in case they slacken off – after all it all comes back to your reputation doesn’t it?  If that is you, needless to say, you are creating a toxic work environment.

Ouch!!  But be encouraged – if you are reading this, you are probably conscious of a need to change some aspects of your leadership – and change is possible.  Leaders at any age or stage of leadership can change and make improvements in their interaction and leadership skills.  You may need some help, but it is do-able.

OK, so what can you do if you have become aware that there is a problem and it may be something to do with your leadership? 

1.  Do some self-reflection:  First, a bit of self-reflection would be in order.  Here are a few suggestions:

• Try “’The Boss Whisperer’s’ Self-Test:  Is my leadership abrasive?” –  Click here to download it.
• Put yourself in the shoes of people on your staff who may be struggling with your leadership by reading the advice I have given for them.  Click here to see it.

2.  Do some research:  This can be a painful process, but it will “open your eyes to some realities, and perhaps, give you some clues regarding the “emotional state” of your workplace, and what needs fixing in your leadership.  I suggest you use the following processes for your research:

• Identify a few staff members whom you feel may be struggling with your leadership and invite them to meet with you one-on-one to “give me some feedback on my leadership”.  You may find that people are intimidated by the prospect of talking with you, so give them opportunity to bring another person (either a colleague or a support person such as a spouse, pastor, etc).  I advise against meeting with more than two people at once for this purpose.  
• In preparation for the meetings, you may like to give them the “Am I affected by toxicity?” test.  (Click here to download it)     Please don’t ask them to give you a written response, ask them to just use it to give them some clarity on which things they want to talk to you about.
• At the meetings listen, make notes and ask clarifying questions. Don’t argue with them or try to justify your actions or “put their concerns in perspective” – all that stuff has to wait until later! 
• After the meetings, thank them for their input and say that you want to process what they have said before taking any action.
• It is possible that people may not want to meet with you, or that the relationships are so emotionally charged that such meetings would be fraught.  In that case, you would be wise to seek an outside reviewer to come in to do these interviews and provide a summary of people’s feelings.  (Equipping Christian Schools offers a service to do this – contact  Ray Tiller on 0409 646 279 or email ray@rayrtiller.com.au )

3.  It’s all about feelings not facts!:  Recognise that it is how people feel about your leadership that matters, not what you think the facts are.  The fact of the matter is that leaders who treat people properly and value them will almost always cause them to feel good about being on the team and people who feel good about their workplace will mostly give you a good voluntary effort.  So, if the “climate” of your staff’s feelings is generally negative, you need to do something about aspects of your leadership, not justify yourself by arguing the fine-detail of your facts!

4.  Talk to your board chair (or your principal if you are a middle-manager):  It is very likely that your board chair (or principal) already has concerns generated by complaints from staff or the school community, or by his/her observations of low morale.   So telling him/her that you want to pursue some improvement will be welcome news.  You may like to look at my advice to board chairs and senior leaders.  Click here to go to that page.   

5.  Get some help:  The negative effects of your leadership can be fixed, but it takes time, purposeful planning and skilled support.  You would be well-advised to engage an external professional to work with you to identify the key issues in your leadership, work on a development plan with you, and coach you through the development processes.  There are a number of organisations that offer such services, and Equipping Christian Schools offers the services noted below that are specifically designed for Christian schools.  You may like to look at a sample development plan for a principal seeking to grow in this area – click here to download it. 

How can Equipping Christian Schools help?

If you are feeling that you would like to see some changes in this aspect of your school, you may like to consider asking your principal or board to look at the following services offered by Equipping Christian Schools:

Review your team’s Leadership:

We can do a  thorough review of the effectiveness and effects leadership in your organization, and then make recommendations for improvement.  Click here for more info, or contact Ray Tiller on 0409646279 or ray@raytiller.com.au

“The Genius of Jesus in Leadership”

This program is a series of 7 seminar/workshop sessions designed to help leaders develop a theory and practice that is consistent with Jesus’ “servant leadership” paradigm.  This program can be offered online in a series of 7 weekly single-session “webinars” from 23rd July to 10th Sept. Or you can do a 2-day intensive in Melbourne 21st & 22nd August).  Click here for more info & registration for either mode, or contact Ray Tiller on 0409646279 or ray@raytiller.com.au.  If none of these suit your school, we can do a tailor-made program for your school/cluster.

Some resources to help you:

If you feel you would like to read more about aspects of what has been discussed in this blog, I can recommend a few excellent texts.  Click here to see my summaries and recommendations.