Seagull Managers

So I've been reading Ken Blanchard's new book Leading at a Higher Level. I've actually finished it, but am a little behind on writing posts on what I have learned. But anyway...

"Seagull Management" is a term that Blanchard uses in the book to describe a type of management behavior. Whenever there is a problem, seagull managers, swoop in, make lots of noise, dump on everyone, and then fly away. As you can tell this isn't the the best way to take care of your team. It doesn't do anything to help the team members to succeed, it just succeeds in destroying morale.

We've all seen people do this. A mistake is made. And it makes an impact that is immediately "felt by the leadership". (We already know there will be problems if upper 'leadership' insulates themselves with endless layers of middle management). Then all of a sudden your boss's boss calls your team into his office. He's mad as hell and he wants the head of the person responsible. The poor schmuck raises his hand and he gets railed at. The rest of the team then gets chewed out for allowing him to make such a costly mistake. Meanwhile, no one has learned anything from this. Then, everyone marches out of the office and lays low for the rest of the day. On the bright side this whole incident will make great water cooler conversation for weeks.

"Teach me how to get an A, don't just mark my paper with a B." Maybe if management had thought about putting in stricter controls and checks, the problem could have been avoided. Maybe if the team wasn't over-worked and over-stressed the mistake wouldn't have happened. Maybe, someone should have gotten the proper training before being expected to do the job perfectly.

This all falls back to Blanchard's theory of situational leadership. Leaders need to figure out where their team members are at in terms of development, and take the appropriate action. If the team member who made the mistake was a brand new hire with no experience, he would have needed exact instructions in how to figure out his task. However, if he was already trained in the field, but not in this particular application, it may be helpful for the manager to remind him of the proper procedures and coach him to perform successfully. Though, if he had already been successful a few times, the manager could have taken a more supporting role, in reinforcing this success.

Only when the team member is already a "self reliant achiever" can the manager completely delegate the responsibility. However, the seagull manager just delegates, and apparently hopes for the best. You just can't do that and expect to be competitive anymore.

Anyway, as always comments are welcome and appreciated.

Until next time,
-Jason