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What about if someone has deliberately chosen not to follow a safe system at work or a work instruction, but he did not mean for something bad to happen? As this is a breach of health and safety regulations, he having deliberately chosen to deviate from the work instruction, is disciplinary action the right response?
When Corona-19 struck, government lockdown laws in South Africa meant that employees of a financial services company were forbidden from work from its offices: they could either work at home, or not at all. The company achieved the almost-overnight IT transition for remote working relatively well (although there were many issues with connectivity and work-from-home problems), but leadership issues related to the new working mode quickly emerged.
Management visibility programmes can contribute to increasing or decreasing legitimacy in an organisation. Having spoken to recipients of management visibility programmes over the years, I have heard anecdotes in equal measure about how these programmes have been both positively and negatively received by employees.
When leaders truly listen they not only don’t talk but they turn down the voice in their head (their agenda) to give full and total attention to the agenda or needs of their people.
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Question of the Month
By Wendy Lambourne, Director, Legitimate Leadership.
Question: What about if someone has deliberately chosen not to follow a safe system at work or a work instruction, but he did not mean for something bad to happen? As this is a breach of health and safety regulations, he having deliberately chosen to deviate from the work instruction, is disciplinary action the right response?
Answer: Legitimate Leadership believes that the appropriate leadership action when somebody does not do what he/she should do or does what he/she should not do is to ascertain ‘why’. This is only fair.
There are in fact only six ‘whys’ – and the subsequent leadership action should align with the applicable ‘why’. The medicine, in other words, should match the malady.
The six ‘whys’, and appropriate leadership actions, are:
1. Lacks the means – provide the means.
2. Does not know how or why – provide training/coaching.
3. Is incapable – remove from the role/redesign the work.
4. Is sloppy/careless – censure/insist on careful.
5. Wilfully does not do it/is deliberately malevolent – discipline/sanction.
6. There is a mismatch in what is motivating/required – remove from role/redesign work.
So yes, if as is suggested the person wilfully or deliberately chose not to follow the work instruction, some disciplinary action or sanction is appropriate. If leaders fail to hold people to account for their deliberate malevolence they cannot be surprised if there is a continuation of the deliberate malevolence.
CASE STUDY: LEADING LEGITIMATELY – AND REMOTELY, IN A PANDEMIC
By Stefaan van den Heever, Associate, Legitimate Leadership.
When Corona-19 struck, government lockdown laws in South Africa meant that employees of a financial services company were forbidden from work from its offices: they could either work at home, or not at all. The company achieved the almost-overnight IT transition for remote working relatively well (although there were many issues with connectivity and work-from-home problems), but leadership issues related to the new working mode quickly emerged.
The company had previous engagement with Legitimate Leadership and its framework.
When a Legitimate Leadership associate phoned one of the company’s managers concerned with learning and development, she told him that she was grappling with two major issues related to the new remote-working mode.
READ THE FULL CASE STUDY BY CLICKING HERE
ARTICLE: GETTING MANAGEMENT VISIBILITY RIGHT
By Josh Hayman, associate, Legitimate Leadership.
Management visibility programmes can contribute to increasing or decreasing legitimacy in an organisation. Having spoken to recipients of management visibility programmes over the years, I have heard anecdotes in equal measure about how these programmes have been both positively and negatively received by employees.
In 2013 and 2014 I observed such a programme making a significantly positive contribution to management/employee relationships. In the organisation concerned, a large platinum mine in South Africa, the programme was also credited with making a significant contribution to improved safety performance that was unmatched in its industry.
Their “Visible Felt Leadership” (VFL) programme, which I witnessed over two years, got the following 5 things right:
VIDEO: LEADERS TALK LAST
By Simon Sinek, American author on leadership and motivational speaker.
COMMENT ON THIS VIDEO BY WENDY LAMBOURNE, LEGITIMATE LEADERSHIP: We argue at Legitimate Leadership that leaders gain trust whenever they suspend their agenda for their people’s agenda. Listening is a good example of that. When leaders truly listen they not only don’t talk but they turn down the voice in their head (their agenda) to give full and total attention to the agenda or needs of their people. We agree with Simon Sinek wholeheartedly, therefore, when he encourages leaders to develop the practice of being the last to speak.
OUR SUMMARY OF THIS VIDEO: Nelson Mandela is an important case study in leadership because different personalities are viewed differently in different places in the world, but Nelson Mandela is regarded as a great leader everywhere.
Nelson Mandela was born the son of a tribal chief. When asked by a journalist how he had become a great leader, he said, ‘When I was a boy I remember going to tribal meetings with my father and I remember that they always sat in a circle and my father was always the last to speak.’
READ THE FULL SUMMARY OF THIS VIDEO BY CLICKING HERE
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