ABC of Quasi Leadership
Stoyan D. Tunkov
Learning Experience Design Professional / Trainer/ Founder at Five Senses Training Ltd.
“To build a strong team, you must see someone else’s strength as a complement to your weakness and not a threat to your position or authority”
Christine Caine
A few weeks ago I was preparing a tailored training for the Bulgarian branches of a large international financial institution our company is working with. It was the final online meeting for the day. I was having a conversation with a director of one of the subsidiaries of this company. All of the sudden, in the middle of the conversation I was asked: "I have a question. Can you please tell me who is/are the most important people in the world for you?" I quickly replied: "It depends. Generally speaking - my family and friends. Half an hour ago, it was one of your colleagues I had a meeting with back then. At the moment - you are. So, for me it always depends on the specific moment of time."
What I didn't share in my answer, was that about 16 years ago the short answer of this question was: "Me."
In the last few decades the topic of the good and great leadership is widely discussed in large amount of academic researches, in the daily working environment, social media platforms, etc.
But what are the main characteristics of the so called Quasi Leadership? And how can we recognize quickly bad leadership examples when we witness such? In my experience, there is no such thing as good or bad leader. But there is a Good Leadership Behaviour and there is a Bad Leadership Behaviour.
So, how can we easily identify the latter:
Behaviour that puts the leader always in the centre is counterproductive, it usually creates frustration in the team and it leads to toxic team environment.
When leaders prefer to listen to the sound of their own voice it becomes impossible for them to learn all the valuable information they need in order to manage their team successfully.
Another example of bad leadership behaviour is when the leader is micromanaging the experienced members of the team. Of course micromanagement has its place, but only for a really short period of time and only for the newcomers in the team.
When the manager blames everyone else but him for the failures and takes all the credit for the successes, that's a clear sign for a really damaging leadership style. The whole concept of?the successful team gravitates around taking the best individual qualities of every member in service to achieve the common goals.
Quasi leaders always know better than others and always force the team members to accept their opinion. They demand respect, instead of earning it. They use fear and threats, and encourage hypocrisy and calumniation. You can easily spot the fake leaders when you see them criticizing their team members in public.
For the Quasi leaders it is not about the privilege to lead, but it is all about the privileges that come with the position, it's about the symbols of power and the social status.
It is impossible to bring out the best from the team when we have behaviour, similar to the described above. The responsibility always lies in the hands of the true leader.
Which reminds me of a story:
Once upon a time there lived high in the Himalayan mountains an old man known for his wisdom. He knew when it would rain, and thus when the village should plant crops. He could predict the frost, and thus when crops should be harvested. He knew how to treat illness and prevent impending illness. Being so well respected, people would flock to him to seek his advice and counsel. They would bring questions and the wise man provided answers.
One day a young boy, wise in his own eyes, devised a plan to trick the old man into a wrong answer. He would catch a bird and ask, “What’s in my hand?” When the old man said, “A bird.” Then he would ask, “Is it dead or alive?” If he said, “Dead,” the boy would open his hands and let the bird fly away. If the old man said, “Alive,” he would crush it in his hands and let it fall to ground dead.
The following week, the wise old man came down from the mountain into the village. The boy quickly caught a bird and cupping it out of sight in his hands, walked up to the wise old man and asked, “Old man, what is it that I have in my hands?”
The wise old man said, “You have a bird, my son.”
The boy then asked, “Old man, tell me: Is the bird alive or is it dead?”
The wise old man looked at the boy, thought for a moment and said, “Son, the answer lies in your hands.”
...
It is not a very difficult task to recognize bad leadership behavior. That is one of the main missions of the upper level management. And when this behaviour is recognized, it is a must to act quickly to completely eradicate it.
After all, we are all very familiar with what Bad Leadership Behaviour is, and what Good Leadership Behaviour is.
The question is, in your working environment, which of the two types is more commonly widespread.
-Stoyan