Outing Cruella de Ville

Dear Bob …

I have been thrust, willy-nilly, into a kind of business-consultant role for a large organization. I know many of the staff in this organization at various levels. I am on a team of employees and other outside people who are working on a strategic plan for the organization. We are working on things like “mission statement,” “vision statement”, “values”, etc. Soon we will get to measurable outcomes.

In the process, I have heard from several sources that the operational head of the organization, a VP equivalent, is a horrible, abusive boss. I have observed that the people who report to her appear beaten down, defensive or even terrified. And naturally the organization is not creative, passionate or flexible.

This VP, like all the employees at this organization, is unfireable. She is even being promoted, though it isn’t clear if it is a substantive promotion or not. She gives the impression of being sweet and reasonable, but she gets people in her office, closes the door, and destroys them. She also uses and discards people heartlessly. She may be an actual sociopath.

So my question is: are there things I can propose at the strategic level that can stop this monster from abusing her people? I don’t think “values” like “nurturing a culture of openness and respect” will do it. It needs to be as concrete and objective as possible (or so I feel.)

The best idea I have come up with so far is the “strategic goal” of everybody having clear, explicit criteria for whether they are doing a good job. My idea was that if everybody knows what they are being judged for, they don’t have to worry about being jumped on for something random. But that is pretty weak, it seems to me. How about a solid grievance procedure? Not allowing her, and therefore anybody, to be alone with an employee?

It is possible that Cruella could subvert anything in this strategic plan, regardless of whatever wisdom it contains, but I am giving it my best shot. Thoughts? I would appreciate anything.

– Strategizing

Dear Strategizing …

You face three challenges in a situation like this.

The first is keeping all of your suggestions at a strategic level when your goal here is tactical – important because solving the situation doesn’t address the structural deficiencies that allowed it to happen, and (of course) because if you don’t, you’ll be working outside of your charter.

The second is being subtle enough that Cruella doesn’t recognize the connection between what you propose and the way she treats people so she can subvert or kill it.

The third is keeping yourself out of her crosshairs … and sociopathic executives are often paranoid enough to look at every action of every employee through an is-it-a-threat-to-me lens.

Here are a few possibilities that seem promising:

* Establish an organizational listening strategy – a way for the executive team to get a better handle on What’s Going On Out there. Organizational listening strategies employ multiple employee feedback channels that typically complement the chain of command with (for example) employee surveys, an open door policy, executive lunches with small groups of line employees, and balanced scorecard reporting (yes, metrics are simply one organizational listening channel among many).

It’s hard for anyone to argue against getting a better handle on what’s going on our there, and any professional in the field knows that the chain of command is a dreadful listening channel since it almost guarantees that all undesirable messages will be filtered out. And between the open door policy, employee surveys and balanced scorecard, Cruella’s management style should become evident pretty quickly. (If it isn’t evident how the balanced scorecard fits in, these always include employee measures; among the employee measures is staff turnover; and if Cruella’s staff don’t leave for greener pastures more often than those in other parts of the company I’d be very surprised.)

* Include a culture change plan as part of the strategy, or if not, include it as part of the implementation plan for the strategy (if you aren’t supposed to develop an implementation plan, you might as well stop work on the strategy because it will be nothing more than a three-ring binder that sits, ignored, on the shelf).

Culture change plans have a bad reputation as soft-and-fuzzy foolishness, and many are. They don’t have to be: Good ones describe how employees respond to different sorts of identifiable situations in very concrete terms. They also include mechanisms for monitoring progress in the culture change … which gets back to organizational listening and provides yet more ammunition for needing it. The best begin with concrete changes in leadership behavior, and mechanisms for determining the extent to which the company’s leaders consistently act in accordance with the defined changes.

* Engage an outside consulting firm to perform a situation analysis. Yes, I’m being self-serving in making this point. It’s valid nonetheless, and easy for you to defend: All you have to point out is that (a) unlike anyone who works in the company, outside consultants can listen to everyone so they can assemble a complete picture of what’s going on; (b) they can promise confidentiality more persuasively than can anyone inside the company; and (c) without a reliable situation analysis, it’s difficult to plan the implementation strategy because you won’t be sure where you’re starting from.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of possibilities. It should give you a sense of how to go about your task. Just remind yourself that aren’t trying to solve the one problem. You’re trying to fix a system that allowed the problem to happen and, if left as it is, will allow it to happen again.

– Bob