Are You The Cause of Your Organization’s Dysfunction?

I’ll admit, I’m an overthinker. Sometimes this is a great quality to have although there are plenty of other times where it isn’t but because of it, I do tend to get lost in my own thoughts fairly often. The other day was one of those times when I got to reflecting back to the book 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell. More specifically, there was one particular “law” that he identified that became rather stuck on a mental loop inside my head - the law of magnetism. 

In that particular “law”, John proposes that we attract people similar to us in terms of our qualities and characteristics. He points out that this is especially true in our work organizations, positive people attract positive people, people high in leadership skills and potential attract others who are equally high in leadership skill and potential. The only difference is that the two individuals who are attracted to each other may not necessarily be on the exact same level of skill. For instance, a person who is considered an 8 (on a scale of 10) in terms of leadership would attract someone who is either a 6 or a 7. What ever happened to the old adage about opposites attracting?

Normalizing Ineffectiveness

While pondering this, I couldn’t help but also think about a recent statistic that I saw where only 23% of executives report that their teams are effective. What does that mean for the other 77%? A lot of this ineffectiveness and dysfunction is caused by ongoing internal conflict and drama which often goes ignored and overlooked even though 92% of leaders admit that teamwork is critical for success.

This was where the thoughts really got deep! With over 77% of executives claiming that their teams were ineffective, did they or their hiring managers hire the wrong people? Applying the law of magnetism, did they hire, or attract, similar people to themselves?

No one wants to view themselves as being ineffective or no good at their job, especially executives or other supervisors. Yet, if John is correct in his book and if there is any truth to the law of magnetism, does situations where employee teams are ineffective reflect a potential unrecognized truth that the executive leadership is ineffective?

Unspoken Criteria For Hiring and Promotion

Perhaps the answer lies in determining whether the hiring or promoting decision was based on actual credentials that made the person a legitimate candidate for that position. Or were they hired or promoted based on similarities that they shared with the hiring official or executive that had nothing to do with the actual duties and pre-requisites of the role.

Back when I was 22, I was interviewing for a job with the local state probation office. I was interviewed by a panel of three individuals that consisted of the chief probation officer, the probation officer III or office manager, and the intensive probation officer. I had prior law enforcement experience and I knew that I checked all of the requirements for the position, it was just a matter of winning the interview team over. A few years later, after I had been hired by the probation office, I found out that after my interview, the chief was the only person who was hesitant to hire me. Instead, he wanted to hire another candidate because the other applicant liked to fish as a hobby, as did the chief, and he also had several ponds that the chief was hopeful to be able to fish in. I don’t know whether the other applicant was qualified in any other way, I’m sure he/she was, but I always found it interesting how fishing became a hiring criteria for the chief even though it had nothing to do with the actual job. Luckily, the other two people on the interview team talked the chief into hiring me.  

What's Your Hiring or Promotion Process Like?

So what about you and your hiring team? Are you truly hiring and promoting individuals due to their credentials or are you making a personnel decision on them based on the law of magnetism irrespective of them being qualified for the position? In my 26 years of professional experience, I can’t count how many times I’ve witnessed unqualified people hired or promoted due to what John describes. Unfortunately, the organization and the work culture suffers significantly when this happens!

Here’s a more difficult question. Remember the 23% of teams who were considered effective that was mentioned earlier? What about the 77% that would be classified as ineffective? Applying the law of magnetism, are they ineffective because they are a reflection of the executive or leadership team? I’ve always said that an organization is a reflection of its upper executives. A great executive and leadership team can create an outstanding organization! On the other hand, poor executives and leaders will never be able to create even an average organization. Not only that, poor executive leadership teams will spoil and ruin great employees, if the employee doesn’t escape the cesspool before then.

Are You It?

So ultimately, are you the cause of your dysfunctional organization? If you were to take a very objective assessment, how would you rate yourself, your leadership team, and the entire organization that you’ve put together? Are you attracting people like you or are you attracting the right people who are qualified for the right position? If you were to objectively assess yourself, would you be one of the 3 out of 4 employees deemed to be ineffective or would you be the 1 out of 4 who is effective?