Visionary Leaders are Not Entitled Individuals

Reinventing Sport Leadership - Part 12 of 16

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“A sense of entitlement is a cancerous thought process that is void of gratitude and can be deadly to our relationships” (Steve Maraboli)

A while ago I experienced what I later realised was a case of entitlement. If you do not know what entitlement is, it is when a person or persons take for granted your time and efforts and assume that you are there for them at their beck and call. To be at someone's beck and call means one has to be ready to react to their commands without a delay.

Over the years, I have also worked with leaders who felt very entitled as far as the roles and responsibilities of their subordinates are concerned. I was a colleague to someone who was at the beck and call of our supervisor. I mean, he would do anything, work-related and of a personal nature to please our supervisor. Unfortunately, our supervisor thought making people “jump” when he said “jump” was not good for the morale of the department. Fortunately, our supervisor did not practice his entitlement to all of us. I am sure he sensed that not everybody will do things as he wanted all the time probably because he knew that some of us knew our jobs pretty well, and we would go to him for guidance and principle approval of our plans.

All of us come across entitled individuals in the workplace and society regularly. Dr. John Townsend, in the book “The Entitlement Cure (2015) states that “the entitled person feels good and lives badly, while those around him(her) feel bad about the situation but have more successful relationships and careers.” We notice entitlement through behaviours such as:

· Bestowing the rights of leadership on the positions we hold and their titles. For example, I might act with very little respect towards my colleagues because I am the Chief Executive Officer of a company. The title I hold becomes the most important variable to get people to respect me as a leader.

· Assuming that the qualifications we hold give us certain special rights over our subordinates instead of empathy, understanding, positive feedback, communicating effectively, and good employee engagement. Just as much as a position does not get to do the work, qualifications that are not used effectively, will also not do the job. As someone who has been very fortunate to have been afforded an opportunity to have a Doctor of Philosophy degree, I have always seen this degree as a door opener for many other people I come into contact with – it has been a tool I use for the development of others and not an end in itself.

· Expecting all other employees to stop working when one enters a room or when the so-called leader calls them to his/her office. I am reminded of many years ago when as a first-year student doing a summer job in a government department when everyone in the open-plan office I was stationed in had to stop working and stand up when the head of the department walked in. At the end of the day, one would not see the head of the department’s output in terms of vision and plans for the department.

· Sending an employee during the hours of work to go and buy a newspaper and the like on the company’s time. The employee would have to use his/her own transport to run errands for the boss during office hours. Some leaders even expect their subordinates to be at their beck and call after hours and over weekends.

· Berating employees who might have done nothing wrong for some petty reasons simply to exercise the powers that come with the leader’s office.

· Using the organisation’s resources for personal gain. I am sure most of us are guilty of using our organisations’ resources such as stationery, time, vehicles, and others instead of separating our person's needs from our work responsibilities.

· Exhibiting personal bias towards some of the subordinates for no reason whatsoever except that they might be principled and are not prone to be taken advantage of or know how to do their work very well and do not seek supervision that much. This I have seen with my own eyes in one organisation I worked at. My line manager had a great liking for a colleague who came from the same community as him. The two became confidantes who would meet every morning for about an hour behind closed doors. When one day I enquired from my line manager’s secretary what the two always discussed, she told me that they are discussing you and your colleagues. I found this to be unbelievable and also as an opportunity for me to get the resources I needed to do my work through my colleague. I knew that he always got what he asked for from our boss whereas this was not always the case with me when I approach the latter personally. So, I swallowed my pride and always went to my colleague when I needed something to do my job well.

Now, how does a leader who is not entitled to behave in the workplace and society in general? Here are a few things that have worked for me, most of which I have learned from many other people who were willing to mentor me throughout my career, and from my resourcefulness to be the best leader I can be:

· Leadership is about principles – good principles. Those principles help one make sure that everyone is treated fairly and equally. There is nothing as disastrous to leading a divided team or organisation as leaders who lack principles and have an entitled chip on their shoulder. Good principles also imply telling the truth at all times and making unpopular but fair decisions even those that are tough. It is said that leadership is not a populist context – it is about the greater good for internal and external stakeholders. No wonder that Winston Churchill said that “You have enemies? Good. That means you have stood up for something, sometime in your life.” Now, with so many things wrong in our government and sport organisations, need we wonder what is wrong? Probably entitled leadership is one of the key issues that is leading to the collapse of good corporate governance.

· Leadership is about valuing every employee equally. Among employees, there will be those who are experienced, have good qualifications and experience, and can do their jobs with minimal supervision. Others do not have high qualifications and experience and need support and mentoring. Both types of employees play an important role in the organisation and must be valued accordingly.

· Leadership is not about the abuse of power. It is about influence, trust, firmness, fairness, and understanding. Of course, the leader has power and authority. However, these are flavoured with empathy, accountability, and a genuine love for people and their work. The latter does not mean that the leader is weak and unable to make tough decisions. The visionary leader, to me, is the one who “hug and kick butt” regularly.

· Leadership is about not having an attitude of being special, feeling owed, or deserving of praise without having taken full responsibility in doing one’s work. Great leaders knuckle down together with the people they lead to ensure that an organisation achieves its vision, mission, and goals within the time-frames that have been set. While working with other people, great leaders praise what is worth praising, thereby holding everyone accountable.

· Last but not least, visionary leaders are not the smartest people in the organisation. They rely on others to do great work for the organisation and external stakeholders. They recognise their responsibility as being to support, clear obstacles, and lead everyone else as the organisation pursues its vision, mission, and goals. Jack Welsh, erstwhile CEO of General Electric has said that:

“I was never the smartest guy in the room. From the first person I hired, I was never the smartest guy in the room. And that is a big deal. And if you are going to be a leader — if you are a leader and you are the smartest guy in the world — in the room, you’ve got real problems.”

Through hard and smart work, not taking chances with the resources (human, financial and other), appreciating all other employees (including cleaners, gardeners, handyman, and security officers), and full commitment to the welfare of the organisation and its stakeholders, visionary leaders can get the best out of everyone and achieve great success.

“An attitude of entitlement is inversely related to one of gratitude”

Pete Wilson