Post on 19-Feb-2017
PATRIARCHAL LEADERS Part 3 of 4 Dysfunction al Le adersh ip Style s Series :
A POINT OF VIEW PAPER BY THE EXPERTS IN BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE AND ACHIEVING ORGANIZATIONAL POTENTIAL
5 ORGANIZATIONAL ISSUES THEY CREATE
Practical Insight THE NEWSLETTER OF CALIBER LEADERSHIP SYSTEMS FEBRUARY 2016
4 Dysfunctions of Leaders This article is the second in a series of articles on dysfunctional leaders. Each of the articles provides insight into the 4 Dysfunctional Styles: Narcissistic Avoidant Patriarchal (Autocratic) Matriarchal (Nurturing)
Each of the dysfunctional leadership styles: has natural talents and
abilities that when directed can be used in the service of the organization;
has specific Behaviours that they use to achieve their own agenda that get in the way of the organizations goals;
have to be managed and coached in order to shift from functional to dysfunctional behaviours;
can be developed over time to add value to the organization.
We customize our leadership development and coaching services to meet the needs of your leaders and organizations.
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The Patriarchal Leadership Style Part 3 of our 4 Dysfunctional Leadership Styles Series
The third Dysfunctional Leadership Style is called the Patriarchal Leader. It refers to
a fatherly leadership style with dominant males using their position of power and
authority to control and take care of employees who in turn are expected to show
obedience and loyalty. This type of leader considers themselves to be responsible for
their people and promotes the idea of the company being “family” with their role -
being father - responsible for his employees.
Patriarchal Leaders are leaders who use their left brain functions excessively to drive
their individual agenda and to control their experience and those of others. As a
result, they are bound to the Patriarchal
behaviors associated with that side of the
brain. They tend to support the notion that
traditional (left brain) behaviors of men are
right and preferred while other behaviors
and ways of expressing oneself are
wrong. Functional qualities and needs
rooted in the left brain include power,
control, objectivity, critical thinking, and
competitiveness and are the hallmark of the
Patriarchal Leader. They negate the value of
collaboration, cooperation, emotional expressiveness, empathy, caring and concern
for the experience of employees, which are traditional right brain functional
qualities.
The behaviors of the Patriarchal Leader are characterized by a pervasive need to be
in control, to ward off feelings of anxiety and uncertainty. Their position at the top
allows them to focus on getting things the way they want with minimal personal
interactions.
Patriarchal Leaders: Controlled, Decisive, & Demanding
This leadership style is most effective in situations where there is a need for
establishing status quo by defining, organizing, establishing deadlines, etc. It works
in organizations where employees need to focus on performing specific tasks
without worrying about making complex decisions. It lets them become highly
skilled at performing certain duties, adding value to the business as a whole.
However, the downside of the Patriarchal Leadership Style is that employees are
© 2016 Caliber Leadership Systems
stifled and their development is impeded
by the need to conform. They achieve
their goals at the expense of flexibility,
openness, authenticity and collaboration.
While there are many
Patriarchal Leadership
behaviors, the following are
examples of the more frequent
ones and the type of
organizational issues they
create.
“US VS THEM” APPROACH
Patriarchal Leaders create strong feelings
in people. “You are either with us or
against us” is the type of mentality they
use. They decide who is valuable to them
and who isn’t based on their usefulness.
To the Patriarchal Leader, you can be in
favor one day and out of favor the next if
you cease to be useful.
Because men have greater value to
Patriarchal Leaders, men tend to hold the
most important and visible roles (e.g.
executives, politicians, public leaders,
etc.). Women who do hold these
positions are expected to behave
according to their roles and adapt to the
cultural norms.
RESULT: CULTURE OF FEAR,
DISCRIMINATION
Patriarchal Leaders make decisions based
on a subjective criterion and employees
tend to be afraid of falling out of favor or
doing something wrong. Their leadership
style is parental and as a result,
employees will tend to behave like
children. They become more concerned
with their survival than doing their best
work and achieving their potential.
In addition to excessive adaptation,
Patriarchal Leaders bring out the worst in
people. Employees resort to trying to gain
favor with the Patriarchal Leader by
agreeing with everything they say. As a
result, other employees accuse them of
being “Yes men and women.” Others
employees adopt the discriminatory
practices of the Patriarchal Leader
whether they believe in them or not.
Fear, adaptation and self-preservation
become the norm. Competition and a
lack of communication, cooperation, and
organizational community are norms for
the culture. Employees are concerned
with their survival and not with the
overall goals of the organization.
OVERPOWER OTHERS
Direct and authoritative, Patriarchal
Leaders have to be the one in control.
They expect everyone to adapt and
conform to their “rules of the game.” The
message is that their way is the “right”
way of doing things and employees
should follow without question. They act
like dictators, becoming increasingly
dominant or aggressive should the way
they want things done be challenged.
They lose their temper when
contradicted or disrespected believing
that no one is really entitled to challenge
them, even if they have asked for other’s
opinions. Their peers and direct reports
are intimidated by the Patriarchal Leader,
causing them to acquiesce and give in,
even when they know it’s not the right
thing to do.
RESULT: MEDIOCRE WORKFORCE
When power and control resides at the
top of the organization and little
distributed to employees down the ranks,
the achievement of employee potential is
stalled. While care may be given to hire
the best people into the organization,
consideration is not given to the
distribution of authority. As long as
employees do what they are hired to do,
little more is expected of them, regardless
of how much they have to offer and their
potential value to the business. Talented
employees soon leave, resulting in a
mediocre workforce and high turnover.
BOTTLENECK AT THE TOP
Patriarchal Leaders don’t believe in
empowering their employees. They get
work done by issuing threats,
CALIBER LEADERSHIP SYSTEMS — Dysfunctions of Leaders—Patriarchal Behaviour FEBRUARY 2016 Page 2
© 2016 Caliber Leadership Systems
punishments and evoking fear. By not
delegating authority and decision making
throughout the ranks, decision making is
slowed by the Patriarchal Leaders as they
become a bottleneck as everything has to
flow through them. They expect even the
most senior people to come to them for
decisions. Should someone make a
decision without first consulting them,
they are reprimanded and punished by
the Patriarchal Leader. They
unknowingly make their direct reports
dependent on them by assuming to know
what is best for them. They act as though
they are the only ones capable of having
good ideas or making decisions. Much of
their behavior is to make sure that they
retain and increase whatever control they
have for as long as possible so that they
won’t feel anxious about losing control.
RESULT: DEMOTIVATION & LOW
MORALE
Lack of involvement from the employee
in the decision making process leads to
employees not assuming ownership of
their work, contributing to poor morale,
lack of engagement, little commitment to
organizational goals and high turnover.
Subordinates becoming heavily
dependent on the leader and can become
useless in running operations if their
leader isn’t there. The Patriarchal Leader
has an increasing amount of work
themselves and their stress levels and
frustration with their workforce
increases.
LOSE SIGHT OF THE BIG PICTURE
In order to stay in control, Patriarchal
Leaders tend to have a very narrow focus
and can lose site of the bigger picture.
They can do great damage to an
organization by forcing the execution of
their strategies based upon a subjective
idea of what success looks like. There is
no shared vision or building together. In
addition, they can fail to be attuned to
the pulse of the organization and rarely
look at the bigger picture.
RESULT: INCREASED STRESS,
DECREASED PRODUCTIVITY
Because they are feared by their
employees, the work environment is
highly stressful and tense. Employees
become demotivated and on guard,
fearing they will do something wrong.
Patriarchal Leaders do not see they are
the cause for the lack of motivation. They
assume that employee motivation comes
from creating a structured set of rewards
and punishments and hand them out
freely. This leads to further employee
stress. The workplace becomes rigid and
excessively demanding, creating high
absenteeism, hostility and lowered
productivity.
ONE-WAY COMMUNICATION
Patriarchal Leaders have a very direct
communication style. Communication is
usually one-way and they control who
gets what information. They tell
employees what they want done, without
CALIBER LEADERSHIP SYSTEMS — Dysfunctions of Leaders—Patriarchal Behaviour FEBRUARY 2016 Page 3
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being open to input from others. They
don’t just tell them what to do, but also
how to do it. They tend to communicate
on a need to know basis and don’t see the
need to disseminate information
throughout the organization. They
control discussions and interactions with
their direct reports and dominate
meetings. They will freely provide
negative feedback to employees and
rarely mention anything positive to them.
RESULT: EMPLOYEE DISENGAGEMENT
Commitment, creativity and innovation
are typically eliminated by the
communication style of the Patriarchal
Leader. In fact, people stop themselves
from offering suggestions or bringing
issues to meetings. They become
disengaged, only doing what they are told
and losing interest in the organization.
They end up waiting for the inevitable
failure this leadership produces or the
removal of the leader. You often hear
employees say that “no news is good
news” and they stop expecting any type
of positive feedback or inclusion in the
bigger picture.
Barriers to Development In order for Patriarchal Leaders to
develop, they have to be willing to learn
to trust and let go of control. Developing
assertiveness, building tolerance to their
emotions and those of others are critical
to their long-term success as leaders.
There are three key barriers
that need to be addressed in
order to develop Patriarchal
Leaders:
INTOLERANCE OF CHANGE
Patriarchal Leaders will drive change, but
they resist and react to change that is
introduced to or imposed on them. It
doesn’t matter whether the ideas are good
or not. It simply threatens their imposed
order and they quickly squash it down.
They can drive their companies into
receivership by not attending to the need
for change and by not listening to others.
INFLEXIBILITY
Because they lack self-awareness,
Patriarchal Leaders don’t realize they are
being inflexible. They think the way they
do things is the right way and will refuse
to take advice from others. While they
may hear what the other person is saying,
they argue and rationalize their position,
putting energy into discounting the
advice rather than considering its value.
INABILITY TO SEE THEY ARE THE
OBSTACLE TO GROWTH
Despite knowing that change is
necessary, Patriarchal Leaders will blame
others and become more Patriarchal
instead of seeing their own behavior as
the problem. They don’t see that if they
want to transform the performance of
their business that they must do most of
the changing.
Patriarchal Behavior is a form of
self-protection. Long-standing
self-protective patterns of
behavior can be changed and
new, productive responses and
patterns can be put in their place.
CALIBER LEADERSHIP SYSTEMS — Dysfunctions of Leaders—Patriarchal Behaviour FEBRUARY 2016 Page 4
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Changing Patriarchal Behavior We have had a great deal of experience
working with Patriarchal Leaders. We
help them develop their leadership skills
and emotional intelligence by doing the
following:
FOLLOW THEIR SYSTEMS Patriarchal Leaders must learn to stay
involved with direct reports and co-
workers while managing the anxiety this
produces. We help them develop a
communication strategy and provide
coaching on how to have performance
discussions to engage their people.
PARTICIPATE IN A LEADERSHIP
DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM WHICH
INCLUDES EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
COACHING Patriarchal Leaders must build awareness
of how they are contributing to their
team and employees’ dysfunction.
Participating in a team training program
lets them be recognized for their progress
while, getting feedback from their peers.
DEVELOP EMPATHY Patriarchal Leaders need to develop the
capacity to use their right brain, the brain
typically associated with creativity,
cooperation, empathy and holistic
approaches. Using the right brain, they
learn to empathize with others and
recognize the impact of their behavior on
others. During coaching, we provide
exercises and role play to help develop
empathy and emotional intelligence.
LEARN TO DELEGATE Patriarchal Leaders need to trust that they
can delegate both tasks and authority to
others and take responsibility for the
performance of their direct reports.
Patriarchal Leaders need to trust they can
delegate to their direct reports by taking a
realistic look at their skills and what they
need to do to develop. During our
coaching sessions, we challenge the
notion that they have to maintain control
and help them get to the root of their
trust issues.
CHALLENGE THE STATUS QUO Innovation is quickly squashed by
Patriarchal Leaders. They are comfortable
with the status quo and growth they can
control. Allowing their direct reports to
have some decision making authority
helps the Patriarchal Leader build
tolerance to how they feel when they
don’t have control over everything.
Learn more about the Patriarchal Leadership Style at our webinar
on:
Thursday, February 25th
1:30 pm to 2:15 pm For information on how we can help you deal with adaptive or other dysfunctional leadership behaviour in your organization, contact us for a complimentary consultation.
hhilliard@caliberleadership.com
adranitsaris@caliberleadership.com 416.406.3939
www.caliberleadership.com
CALIBER LEADERSHIP SYSTEMS — Dysfunctions of Leaders—Patriarchal Behaviour FEBRUARY 2016 Page 5
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