When the Bottleneck is at the Top

Petty drama is always a sign that there’s a lack of trust. On the surface, it almost always seems that the trust issues are between employees, but the root is almost always leadership misalignment and lack of conflict capacity.

When I get called to do a workshop or a coaching for one "trouble-maker" the real issue goes unresolved. The reality that no one has the courage to say: The bottleneck is at the top of the bottle. Here are two examples:

Example #1

An executive allowed a toxic employee to continue to work for her because she was afraid her decision to terminate would not be supported by her CEO. So rather than get the support she needed, she avoided a conversation with her own boss and let the toxicity continue.

Can you see here that there were at least two conversations being avoided? One conversation was the executive that allowed toxic behavior from an employee, in other words downward communication. The other conversation being avoided was upward communication (getting support from her boss.)

In this situation everyone else knew what was going on, but no one had the courage to confront.

High-level leaders often assume that the leaders they hire to manage under them will have the skill sets to manage conflict. Very often they don’t.

Suppose that this executive had good reason to believe she wouldn't be supported. Read on...

Example #2

A consultant was hired by a VP to manage an important project that included managing a group of directors. The problem is that one particular director blatantly refused to work with the consultant, going so far to put his decision in writing! No matter how many attempts the consultant made to initiate a conversation, this director refused to talk, engage, or respond. The consultant went to the VP who hired her, and the VP refused to back the consultant on the project.

Both of these examples point to a lack of conflict capacity at the top as well as executive misalignment. If the top level can't manage conflict with each other, what do they expect from the middle and lower levels of leadership?

TruthBomb: Very often the bottleneck is a senior level executive. The issue is power structure and culture, very difficult to fix by asking for a workshop for the worker-bees, or coaching for the person stuck in the middle. When leaders (at any level) avoid conflict hey create a ripple effect of interpersonal problems that affect productivity, well-being and organizational results. 

If you need to rebuild trust in your organization, it starts at the top, with the executive team. What conversations have been put on the back burner for too long? Reach out. I can help.

Marlene Chism is the author of From Conflict to Courage, and had five programs on the LinkedIn Learning Global Platform. She can be reached for speaking engagements, coaching inquiries, or consulting by DM on LinkedIn or through the web at www.marlenechism.com