The Rise of the Worker Bee – Politician Mutation
The other day i wrote a post about politicians emerging where there is a leadership gap. (Click here to read it). In it i looked at some different types of people within a business and what happens when things change. The article identified 4 types of peope – worker bees, survivors, aspirants and politicians. Well the article stirred some discussion and Alain in Luxembourg wrote a great email all about the Worker Bee Politician Mutation. Here it is …
By Alain Fontaine, Luxembourg
I can’t avoid thinking of the Peter Principle. Check out this Wikipedia article if you don’t know it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle
And definitely get yourself the book! I consider this book as one of the must-reads for any leader.
I also think that if you have a sufficient number of worker bees and aspirants, there will be no place for politicians. Although politicians might not be kicked from top-down, by the leader, they will have no support from the base (bottom-up) and starve anyway.
Finally, you can create very dangerous mutations of the above styles. Let me introduce the:
Worker-Bee-Politician : someone who THINKS he’s a good worker-bee and actually believes that his career success is due to his good work, whereas it’s only due to his real politician-style way of doing things.
His body would actually show real signs of overwork and his brain would think they come from actual work done for the company, whereas nothing of it is true. He lives in a completely imaginary world, believing his co-workers admire him for the tough job he does, whereas everyone sees his real face, except himself. But he doesn’t care, because in the leader position he thinks he is, he just kicks everyone else out of this bubble some obscure portion of his brain created.
He cannot understand at all why top management seems to be unhappy with him, because he’s so confident in what he does that he would even accuse top management to be unaware of the real challenges. The Worker-Bee-Politician is often a true one-man-show who magically avoids most control and supervision, and is able to create a parallel world in a real company. That is where the true danger comes from.
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Alain, thats a brilliant point. If you want another interesting read, check out “Working with Monsters” by John Clake. He shows another type again.
The book description is essentially:
Workplace psychopaths exist in a variety of workplaces. They are individuals who manipulate their way through life and leave an indelible mark on both their victims and society. They are destructive men and women – cunning, self-centered, ruthless and terrifying. They make working life a living hell for many of us. What motivates these individuals? How can you protect yourself from these monsters who hide behind a veneer of respectability? Working With Monsters provides a fascinating insight into the mind of the workplace psychopath.
Sadly this was something that I saw a bit of when I worked in a previous industry and they are scary to watch in action. They not only follow a Peter Principal of sorts, but they destroy people as they step on them on their way to the top.
I highly recommend the book. It is very insightful but I must say, it makes you take a second look at people for a little while. Very Matrix!
One of the major reasons I left my last company was due to a workplace psychopath. They can slip through the cracks when they are able to manipulate even senior management into thinking they do a good job. I genuinely believe he was burned out, but mostly because he was constantly covering up his mistakes and inadequacies. In my case they were evetnually exposed, but senior management had become their only supporter and had isolated themselves in the process. Nice way to self-destruct a company.
I always thought, it works the other way around – you’ll never be promoted if you are competent in what you are doing and doing it good
But seriously, I wouldn’t classify employees as you do with insects. “Mutations” really depend on how management behave with its people. Pay no attention to aspirant’s effort and he will be join politicians side just to have an opportunity to do something for good, or go for survivals club, browsing jobsearch websites.
There are also no working bees. Each person is an aspirant in a family, in sport or hobby. Try to find what is it, put it on a common ground with your business and you’ll get and aspirant. I saw it, when the boss sponsored a tech guy for his “Cancer Council” bushwalking trip. That guy end up as a team leader in a few month.
It’s too easy to loose touch with your “working bees”. You may think they are just love to do their job and have no ambitions. This is wrong, they simply don’t have interest in your business. Give them opportunity to be involved, be closer, let them feel like a large family (and understand the power of 500+ people family). Respect every one of them (don’t just show respect, but do respect) and they will pay back.
However, some companies don’t need a lot of aspirants. “Stars” and “Question marks” (by BCG classification) do. But “Cows” do not. Probably, that’s why there are a lot of politics in a large established companies. Politicians are easier to direct, they are relatively cheap and loyal if given the opportunity to survive.
Alain, you make some really good points here. I’ve always thought of these people you describe as busy workers – people busy looking busy but doing nothing more than using all their energy in looking busy. Real worher bees are fabulous to work with – a little bit of coaching and guidance and they do fabulous work and feel good about themselves and their spot in the team. Plus with a bit of coaching they don’t need you to notice their efforts, they get on with them and report back in when they’ve got some news. That’s real work in my opinion.