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Stunted at work? How to bypass the office hierarchy

Chana R Schoenberger

The question of who looks up to or down on whom is parodied by John Cleese,

Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett on Frost Over England. (BBC)

Q: The owner of our company and his sister are both executives here. While they

re both friendly when I meet them socially, they make life in our office quite

difficult. Perennially unhappy with the team s work, they frown and complain

constantly, and insist employees stop whatever they re doing to fulfill their

requests. What can we do about this?

A: This sort of hierarchical leadership ought to be as antiquated as an iPhone

3 by now. Companies these days generally understand that good ideas can come

from anywhere in the ranks, and they try to make employees feel as though their

contributions are important. A company that doesn t get this is a tough place

to work.

What you re experiencing is stiff neck syndrome, a condition employees

developed by looking up and waiting to be told what to do, said Frank R van

Vliet, an executive in residence at the University of Baltimore s Merrick

School of Business, in Baltimore, Maryland.

If your managers demand that employees stop what they re doing to tend to their

whims, you and your colleagues will continue to suffer from a case of stiff

neck. Why would someone want to start a task on his or her own accord, when

they know that the boss could come around the corner at any moment and change

the scope of work that the employee was planning to tackle? van Vliet asks.

This kind of behaviour can sometimes be found at start-ups where the

entrepreneur is still in charge but the company has grown larger. In the early

days of a company, the founders have to make all the decisions and do all of

the work. The problem comes when they have trouble trusting the employees they

hire later on. At some point, a manager has to back off and let people do their

jobs.

First, think about your own behaviour, just to rule out the possibility that it

s actually you who are the problem. Do you work in a self-directed manner? Get

all your work done? Take the initiative? Do you complain about other things in

the office, or just this one aspect of workplace life? Maybe your performance

is what s wrong in this situation.

If not, you ll have to seek some sort of conflict resolution. If your company

has a human resources department, consider discussing this situation with them

first Allowing the management team to belittle employees, either one-on-one,

or worse, in front of others, should be not be tolerated, van Vliet said.

If there isn t an HR department, or if that function is filled by the boss who

s bothering you, van Vliet suggests sitting down with that manager and having a

calm, rational discussion. Because you said your two executives are friendly in

social situations, they may be amenable to this approach. Explain how all the

interruptions to your work are getting in the way of your productivity and

morale and that of your colleagues. With introspection, and perhaps some

coaching, it s possible that your bosses could change their ways.

Maybe not, says van Vliet. It s often true that you can send a duck to eagle

school, but at the end of the day you still have a duck. In that case, you may

have to look for a new job.