Tag: #remote

Is it Authentic Leadership or an Excuse?

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By: Stephanie Diana Wilson- Eubank

There is a movement in trends of leadership called authentic leadership and in both on site and in remote workplaces authentic leadership as a skill is being perverted as an excuse for poor people skills and aggressive management behavior.  First let us define what authentic leadership is.  In layman’s terms it is a leader who is honest to all and is just genuinely themselves.  Not seeking approval from others so that the goals are the focus.

First off how is authentic leadership defined in professional capacity versus layman terms?  Forbes has a great article titled “What is Authentic Leadership” that you can check out for further clarification.  The link for that is, https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2013/05/12/what-is-authentic-leadership/amp/  However, to sum up the article an authentic leader is someone who is able to be themselves and are results driven with a brand of personal honesty.  If interested there is also a great Harvard Business Review article, https://hbr.org/amp/2005/12/managing-authenticity-the-paradox-of-great-leadership for more info on authentic leadership. 

Now this article is not to disparage different learning or performance types.  Everyone has a type of manager they work best with, but this article is specifically for those in leadership roles who act badly to their employees and argue they are using authentic leadership tactics.  This article is to bring the topic of abusive managers.  Where my focus topic of my research is regarding remote employees these sorts of bad players also do more emotional harm for remote employees.  Forbes also has a great article on what is detailed as professional isolation which is a normative pitfall for remote employees as they don’t get to interact with management face to face as often.  Which can put remote people at a disadvantage at the start.  Which means managers must do a little more collaboration to help ease that issue so that it does not create a constant revolving door of hiring.  You can check out the Forbes article at https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurelfarrer/2019/02/15/beware-professional-isolation-is-more-than-loneliness/?sh=17a736712723. 

First off how is authentic leadership defined?  Forbes has a great article titled “What is Authentic Leadership” that you can check out for further clarification.  The link for that is, https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2013/05/12/what-is-authentic-leadership/amp/  However, to sum up the article an authentic leader is someone who is able to be themselves and are results driven with a brand of personal honesty.  If interested there is also a great Harvard Business Review article, https://hbr.org/amp/2005/12/managing-authenticity-the-paradox-of-great-leadership for more info on authentic leadership. 

Many of us have had the boss like the meme from the office with the power object watch and the coffee mug saying, “Yeaaaaaa, I am going to need to you do this project in less time than we agreed”.  Or the manager that when you ask a legitimate question says, “you got to be f***ing kidding me” and starts to berate an employee for a simple question.   Or the manager who always says exactly what they are thinking with no filters.  My personal favorite has been a manager who throws items off desks and screams at people to get his way and HR explains away his behavior because he is a high producer and is, “passionate about his work”.  Yeah… someone’s “passion” should not require me to play dodgeball at work because he cannot accept federal agency guidelines for compliance.

However, Doctor Ramani who has been featured on several Youtube psychology channels, her own channel, and has lead Ted Talks on Narcissists and the abuses in all its forms.  This includes cases of narcissistic abuse within employment.  Here is a link to her interview at MedCircle titled, “Is Your Boss A Narcissist?” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P-5q0C31m4&feature=youtu.be .  In this the doctor analyzes she talks about how some managers have work place enablers who allow for managers to have all around bad or inappropriate behavior because they explain away the behavior as, “hey they get results” and/ or “hey they are mean but, you always can trust them to tell the truth”.  The truth is this is a perverted form of enabling narcissistic abuse and using the concept of authentic leadership as the excuse.    

In summary authentic leadership is not about who can be more of a jerk boss and call it honesty and result driven management.  That just perverts the concept of authentic leadership which is being one’s self enough to focus on tasks while still being a human.  When it comes to authentic leadership especially where remote employment is concerned.  Remembering in these COVID lockdowns as it reshapes our economy, we as leaders need to remember a little humanity and caring goes a long way.  And that humanity is the true sign of authentic leadership. 

Remote Hostile Work Environments.

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By: Stephanie Diana Gast- Wilson

While working on my dissertation in Business Administration on the topic of Remote Teams there are specific pit falls that happen in both research of pre COVID and during COVID.  Those pitfalls are:

  • Professional isolation,
  • Social Isolation,
  • Communication, and
  • Moral.

However, all four pitfalls are inter-related and if managed well can create an open communication.  But; sometimes organizational cultures or management becomes toxic and hostile work environments.  Which makes a lot of people rather than stay and fight the issues with toxic management to leave which hurts moral even more.  And this is the case in both face to face and remote environments. 

It is thought that remote teams can’t have a hostile work environment because there no environment physically to speak of.  However, COVID has forced many of us to work from home and proven that you can have a hostile work environment.  Although many of us are working from home and dealing with a new normal there is a tolerance level for the dysfunction that happens with working from home, teaching from home and the other craziness that happens with lockdown. 

Yet, this is no excuse to tolerate a toxic work environment.  Hostile work environments go beyond the stress that is are part of the COVID new normal. And each scenario should be examined individually and compared for perspective which is outside the topic of this post. 

 Although hostile work environments stem from ineffective communication and don’t just hinder effectiveness for those in the mix of the environment but; can kill moral for the whole team.  In remote teams it is easier for teams to spread displeasure more quickly and effectively.  Which can quickly create an exodus of employees.  When too many employees leave and are disgruntled this can hurt company good will and recruiting.  All the pitfalls in remote teams can be made or enhanced by bad communication.  And nothing exasperates communication than sarcastic remarks to team mates and passive aggressive tones.  Neither translate well in writing or remote environments.   Also, small breathing and tones can be misconstrued.  Such as sighs when picking up the phone.  Another thing for managers to remember is to always make employees feel important.  When they call or reach out make sure that pleasantries are polite for a reason.  But, overall mindfulness on the part of management is key to keep employees calm and happy while defusing hostile work environments.  It is always important to remember management makes and breaks teams