Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Bad Leadership
I chose this article because it’s funny. The writing is messy, and the concept is refreshingly non-academic, ahhhhhhh. The author talks about “Seagull Management” as a poor system of leadership. The principles are summed up this way, “the manager flies in for a second, poops on you, and then flies out.” This is the manager that is never around, but when you do hear that s/he is coming in everyone gets visibly anxious. Their time, brief as it is, is filled with criticism of anything that is even a little bit wrong, and before anyone has time to defend themselves, or ask questions of clarity, or confront the critique, the seagull has flown off again.
Where this does become relevant for us is how we would respond to this type of leadership. I’ve been under very passive leaders in the past who were only assertive when there was danger of something improving, or changing from what is comfortable. It was a real challenge to try to lead my office through changes that were forced onto us from the position of first officer. How do those of us who are called to bring about change, do so when the person above us has either bad leadership (the seagull method), or is so rooted in the traditions and “what has worked before” that they are resistant to the vision we have and feel directed to by the power of the Holy Spirit? It is nearly impossible to share a new vision with either of these leaders in a way they’ll accept.
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Loved the article. I have actually worked for a number of people like this. In fact in the corporate world managers and leaders like this thrive. As long as they are criticizing someone they are on top. As soon as they stop criticizing someone, some process, or the organization in general their leadership capabilities are called into question. It can be extremely hard to work with and under these types of people. In fact, the only tried and true method that seems effective is to avoid them at all costs. If you have to deal with this type of manager/leader/influencer the only real way to “escape” is often come up with contrived flaws for them to chew on that really have nothing to do with the issues and problems of the organization. Unfortunately in a secular environment, with these types of leaders it is best to “tread lightly” and eventually they either get promoted or leave to greener pastures. You did get me thinking though about how to handle this type of leader in the church. My hope would be that if this individual was in a church there could be more room for confrontation and truth (spoken in love). In my article, I stated that “Whether things are going the way that I think that they should or when they are going in the opposite direction” it is most important to obey what God has put on our hearts. Despite what a manager may think or accept, our obedience is critical.
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