Field notes

Rules and authority matter a great deal to some leaders. Rules-based leaders find security in strictly following rules and comfort by deferring to authority. Because they deeply prize efficiency and respect authority, they allow established rules, policies, and hierarchy to guide their decision-making. This makes them highly consistent and predictable. But also somewhat rigid and inflexible in their approach to situations and people. For those colleagues with an appetite for risk-taking, a preference for creative solutions to problems, and a natural resistance to convention and authority, a rules-based leader can be maddening at times. Learning how to deal with a rules-based leader can be a real challenge. For those facing this test, the first step is not to mistake value-driven leadership with a rules-based approach. These are very different leadership styles.

People resist incorporating the feedback they receive by responding in ways that suggest they will make change when they really have no intention to do so. In yesterday’s Field Note, we discussed the response of Happy Talk to mollify leaders but avoid taking action. However, there are several other resistance strategies that leaders should be privy to and wary of. Here are a few other responses that sometimes suggest resistance.

Good leaders are always on the lookout for happy talk and push through this resistance by being specific with their recommendations and by following up afterward to make sure the feedback has been considered and applied. Good leaders don’t fall for happy talk. They expect colleagues to take their feedback seriously and to make the necessary changes to improve performance. They are delighted to debate or discuss their criticisms but don’t let others use happy talk to deflect them.