I have had conversations in the
last month with various individuals focused on the issue of recognition and the
tendency to attribute success of team-driven efforts to individuals. This may
happen either through the positions such individuals hold or the privilege of
being those who have to tell the story. In a world that may promote individualism, we
see corporate leaders, or leaders of business units, or line managers, who
become identified as being the only drivers of success of initiatives.
Some will
happily take all the work done by others, and appropriate it for themselves. This
leads to those who engage in this behaviour to start framing whatever they do
as being about them and them only. In the process, they may leave behind
excellent individuals who have made a contribution but do not have the voice or
the space to tell the story of their role. This is a prevalent form of corporate
plagiarism.
The result is that all of us try
to become this superhero because that is what the world seems to reward. We
tend to forget that it is not possible for anyone to do everything themselves
or without the help of others. That it is in trying to lift everyone in a team
that you are able to achieve true success. And more importantly, it is in
ensuring that you give credit, rather than take it, that your true leadership
potential is shown. This requires one to go against the instinct of seeking all
glory for oneself, and none for the other.
On the other hand, I have
witnessed powerful experiences of the positive impact of giving credit to those
who may not always speak about their roles. How internal and external
stakeholders find it exciting to know that those who may not always hold very
senior positions are behind significant and ground-breaking work. How that at
times translates to a deeper relationship with clients who now have a better appreciation
of the depth of the organisation they are dealing with and that there is no dependency
on a person. If then the experience of not simply making those in front heroes
has this impact, we may wonder why it is not the universal practice in
organisations.
German playwright and theatre
director Bertolt Brecht tackled this in what is one of my favourite poems. It
is fair to quote the whole poem in this conversation.
Questions From a Worker Who Reads
(Bertolt Brecht, 1935)
Who built Thebes of the 7 gates?
In the books you will read the names of
kings.
Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock?
And Babylon, many times demolished,
Who raised it up so many times?
In what houses of gold glittering Lima did
its builders live?
Where, the evening that the Great Wall of
China was finished, did the masons go?
Great Rome is full of triumphal arches.
Who erected them?
Over whom did the Caesars triumph ?
Had Byzantium, much praised in song, only
palaces for its inhabitants?
Even in fabled Atlantis, the night that the
ocean engulfed it,
The drowning still cried out for their
slaves.
The young Alexander conquered India.
Was he alone?
Caesar defeated the Gauls.
Did he not even have a cook with him?
Philip of Spain wept when his armada went
down.
Was he the only one to weep?
Frederick the 2nd won the 7 Years War.
Who else won it?
Every page a victory.
Who cooked the feast for the victors?
Every 10 years a great man.
Who paid the bill?
So many reports.
So many questions.
Brecht makes simple what is
really the most obvious. In his own style, he forces the reader to come to
terms with the reality of how life really works. If we think about this in the
context of the corporate world, how many go through periods of frustration
because their work is not recognised; that those who have positions or access
are the only ones glorified; and that only the favourites of certain leaders
are the ones whose names are promoted.
Looking at it from another
perspective, how many who have leadership positions are prepared to ensure that
their team or members of their team get recognition rather than themselves. How
many would be prepared to be the ones who are the ambassadors of their team’s
achievement, rather than the ones who lead Brecht to have so many questions.
This problem is a challenge both
for those who seek individual glory at the expense of others, or those who do
not get the glory they deserve. If you are the one who is not getting the
benefit or recognition for their work, think of what do you need to do to
ensure that this is known without seeming arrogant? What can you do to find
your own voice or how can you get others to give your voice a space?
For those
with a leadership responsibility, how do you to start to see the benefit from
your team advancing rather than only yourself; how do you ensure you play the
role of positioning your team vs positioning yourself as a leader. Allowing them to attend that all-important
meeting that would expose them to senior officers in their organisation.
Enabling them to showcase their work with clients. All in all playing the
respected role of a sponsor to your team and its members.
It is more obvious to those who are the victims of this
behaviour that the alternative is better. Those who have a managerial
responsibility have to travel a long internal leadership journey to see the
benefits.
Maybe if this happened Brecht would have more answers than
questions.
