Beware Of The Flying Monkeys: Curbing Vindictive Behavior In The Office

(As originally published in @Forbes )

Sometimes fiction reflects more of our reality than we imagine. And as we have seen in the political arena, movie references such as “gaslighting” can become part of the popular vernacular and powerful phrases with real consequences. Sometimes even fantastical elements in movies can become a reflection of our own business reality. “Flying monkeys” is a term I recently came across in a context that took me by surprise, and yet, it made so much sense.?

Flying monkeys has become a way of referencing how someone else does the bidding of another, and not for altruistic purposes. More specifically, according to?the article ?"Are You A Narcissist’s Flying Monkey?", the term was coined after the Wicked Witch of the West’s flying monkeys that “were sent by the witch to do her dirty work.”

The penny dropped for me when I read a description of how a colleague might use others (the flying monkeys in question) to spy and spread malicious gossip while painting themselves, the true instigator, as a victim. These flying monkeys can be anyone in your workplace. They are third parties used by someone to control and manipulate you and your circumstances.

Though reluctant to discuss it at first, I have found a surprisingly, and disturbingly, large number of senior business leaders who have experienced this same scenario — myself included. We build or lead a business and entrust those who we have brought or promoted into key positions to help build toward the same visions and goals as us. We work to enhance them, the rest of the team and ultimately the shareholders.

Now we all understand that as CEOs, people like staff and shareholders will sometimes have complaints and issues about you; they will sometimes go as far as to say you don’t know what you are doing and that they can do much better (neglecting a key factor being they are likely where they are because of you). But it is this problem — of them thinking they know and can do better — that is the nexus of the issue at hand. More to the point, a CEO may face individuals who go the next step in thinking that not only do they know better, but they should be the one in your place. That’s often when operation flying monkey kicks in; they start a campaign to have you moved and replaced.

Hence the negative whisper campaigns, instigation of problematic issues and the creation of doubt by obfuscating their duties, which are all presented as someone else’s doing — that of the CEO. They are facilitated through false rumors and innuendos, and all the while the perpetrator acts as the innocent. The instigator enlists the often unknowing help of others so that all the issues, doubts?and concerns come not from them but these innocent third parties, the flying monkeys.

The good news in this scenario is that these individuals are all very much the same and follow the same pattern. And once discovered, and hopefully early enough, they can be countered. But it can be a long game. To avoid or counter those behind the flying monkeys, it's very important to keep in mind an extremely important fact: These individuals have no loyalty and will discard those of the monkey corp once they are deemed no longer effective. By nullifying them, you nullify the source. To do so:

? Watch them from afar and test to see if any intel you provide goes back to the instigator.

? Determine if the flying monkeys are willingly involved and therefore complicit or simply delusional, and manage them accordingly.

? As the instigator thinks they are smarter than you (and they always do), use that to set them up to be caught in their own trap.

? Enlist board members you can trust to counter the negative campaign.

? Sometimes, with the key people in the know, it pays to let their campaign play out. As rarely is there a thorough plan. More likely, it is ill-planned petty revenge against an imagined opportunity or even a slight, and they are hoisted on their own petard.

In the end, it's about awareness and healthy skepticism. Pay all the more attention to changes in dynamics, informal chatter and, in particular, more compliments than usual. While it certainly could be merited, you may have also found the lead of the flying monkey corp.