Exposing Bobble Heads
Bobble head leaders don’t say what they really think. They go with the flow to get ahead. Bobble heads don’t speak their mind they defend the company line.
Leaders become bobble heads to protect position and get promoted. It’s dishonest and disingenuous. Look around. How many bobbing heads sit at the table? Is anyone disruptive?
Bobble-head organizations:
- Lose creative contributions.
- Make lousy, status quo decisions and complain about status quo results.
- Reflect fear based cultures.
The reason you don’t speak your mind:
- Untrustworthy team mates who use your ideas against you.
- Organizational culture that celebrates going along to get along – “Yes cultures.”
- Fear of being ridiculed for being wrong.
Good girls and boys go along and get stars on their report cards. Bad girls and boys – disruptors, dissenters, and the unorthodox – go to detention.
Fault:
Top leadership is fully to blame for bobble-heading. Rather than punish bobble heads they’re rewarded. Organization grow weak and leaders bask in fake approval.
Dying organizations thrive on stability, agreement, and orderly meetings.
Constructive dissent:
Peter Drucker commented, “Dissent, even conflict, is necessary, indeed desirable. Without dissent and conflict there is no understanding. And without understanding, there are only wrong decisions.
Dissent is more than good, it’s noble.
People who change the world disrupt and critique. The path to exceptional is paved with the bones of the mediocre.
Creating dissent:
- Assign dissent in the next meeting. Put a devil suit on half the team and challenge them to challenge ideas.
- Ask everyone to make a list of reasons the initiative on the table won’t work.
- Establish three options and have everyone advocate for all three.
The path to oblivion is smooth. Great decisions are born in conflict. Create structures for constructive dissent.
How can organizations create constructive dissent?
How can leaders avoid being mired in dissent?
Oh yes – I know a company just like this. 🙂
I know several.
Plus, many leaders don’t know how to offer dissent in constructive ways….sad!
No one wants to tell the emperor he isn’t wearing clothes. Bobble Head leaders are those people. They see the obvious and refuse to rock the boat. They won’t go against the grain. In the end, sure, they may be embarrassed, but in some organizations they are rewarded for their silence.
It’s a sad statement, but I see this daily. I see one particular leader who no one will address. Bobble Head leaders surround him, and those of who would say something have no reach. We’re trying, though!
Thank you, Dan. Great post.
Thank you Colby.
I have a mental image of a group of bobble heads walking down the hall with their heads bobbing…
You’re not far off…
“The path to exceptional is paved with the bones of the mediocre.”
Wow – what a statement! I completely agree though. Healthy conflict is incredibly helpful in pushing the organization to be better and more cohesive.
I like it – great post, Dan!
Thank you Dale.
I read my statement and it scares me… Thanks for throwing it back at me. 🙂
I loved your “mediocrity” quote, too, Dan. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had what might be a corollary to your quote. He said, “Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius.”
I agree talent instantly recognises genius
This is my place of employment… Spot on:( Great post Dan!!
Thank you Darryl.
You have plenty of company.
“Make lousy, status quo decisions and then complain about status quo results”. Been there, left there …
Dear Dan,
I truly appreciate your insights abut bobble leaders. They create a culture of fear. Culture of fear serves their purpose of advancement, growth and going with the flow without getting opposed. And the interesting thing is that those who question or oppose get punished, blamed and unfairly treated. I agree that top management is responsible for such culture. Organizations can create constructive dissent by removing fear factor. This can be done by flowing information timely across all hierarchy, enhancing communication, interactions and appreciating suggestions. Any suggestions should be appreciated and encouraged. Rewarding dissent publicly tremendously boost their confidence.
The process of creating culture is top down approach. And the entire culture creation is convergence of top down and bottom up approach. Leaders should encourage transparency, honesty and dissent in the system. They should encourage ideas, suggestions and intention. This will discourage bobble leaders or manipulators who generally do not have ideas and do not believe in generating ideas as well. They have only one belief, getting position anyhow.
Reading a great new book, The One Thing, hot off the presses!!!
For me I love it cause being simple I got to keep things simple. When I train folks I tell we are gonna break this down simple enough a monkey could do it!
So spending time observing the dysfunction of others is a pleasure I best not get distracted by.
For me and me only not saying this to offend anyone, but if I got time for that I am not busy enough getting my own house in order and PROMISE that is a full time job for a fella like me.
Hope everybody has a great day! Hoping to go to TheOne Thing seminar when it comes to town in the 24th!
SP Out!
Good morning Dan; I chuckled when you mentioned ‘fear’ and the ‘ bobble-head’ leader. Fear restrains creativity and authenticity. Fear keeps the average person from accepting a challenge full of great opportunity due to nothing more than (fear of the unkown). Fear distorts our perception of obstacles and road blocks on the way to success, making them insermountable. “Never allow fear to cloud your vision”!
Steve,
Fear is one of the greatest deterrents to growth. The status-quo means that no one has to step outside their comfort zone and in doing so would alienate one from the formation causing a ripple. It takes true leadership to break-free from the restraints of the regimented mentality in order to allow for positive growth.
Genius
Following the advice in this post is a recipe for failure in a conventional organization. But then again, most conventional organizations are failing (albeit sometimes profitably).
If you can’t speak your truth, you might find yourself happier in a different place. It worked for me!
Random thoughts:
– Bobble Head Leaders = Leaders in name only.
– To advocate for and accomplish change, dissent and dissatisfaction need to exist (which means they need to be encouraged).
– It’s about empowering people to challenge the process (with all due credit to James Kouzes & Barry Posner).
– Once you prove yourself to be an honest & supportive leader, you will not become mired in dissent.
There is nothing more valuable to an organization than a group of people dedicated to a common purpose. When everyone, whether “leader” or “follower”, wants the organization to succeed, they subordinate personal egos and advancement of personal agendas to that of the greater good.
This means challenging others and accepting challenges without becoming defensive when appropriate. It means tolerating others and keeping quiet also, picking battles only when they meaningfully advance the cause.
It means saying “thank you for…”, “you did well when you…”, “that was not right”, “”we can do better if we…”, “I made a mistake, “can you help me so we can do…”, etc.
There is no room for leader/follower/peer ego. Each person has a role to play, none lesser or greater. The leader does have more influence, so more power to effect change, than does the follower. However, with greater power comes greater responsibility.
Bobble-head behavior is, as you say, completely contrary to organizational survival and success. If the emperor has no clothes, his best friend is the one who points it out, his worst enemy the one who allows him to be a fool.
With regard to bobble-head organizations, I’m fascinated to know more about the personalities of their top leaders (e.g., President, CEO). Do these leaders share anything in common in terms of using social situations as a weapon to silence others? I love your points about the corporate culture of these organizations, particularly, that they lose creative contributions, they are fear-based, and they celebrate “going along to get along.”
So true. I was just speaking about this with a group of Marine Corps Recent Veterans still in the workforce. Our operational tempo (In General) is so much faster and our make it happen attitude can be intimidating for non Marines. A company is only like that because the employee culture from the top down allows it and no one steps up to challenge it or lead by example a different way to move the organization forward.
I am just seeing this post four years late… but it reminds me a lot of Jeff Bezos’ article on avoiding “Day 2”. Big companies can live on stability for a long time, maybe even decades before the bottom falls out. But to keep Day 2 at bay, you have to take risks and be willing to challenge your previous decisions and consensus. That is just not something that American business people are usually prepared or motivated to do.
Great piece on disruptive mindset.