Recently I was speaking with someone about their experience with a controlling leader. My friend said, “He’s just one of those humor him and move on kind of guys.” I thought to myself, “What a sad commentary to be said about one’s leadership!”
It reminds me of a similar experience I had with a controlling leader…
You see, I once had an idea…
It was a dream…a big vision…
I knew it would require risk, extra energies, and the assistance of others, but I was confident this was something worth pursuing…
I even felt it was a call of God for my life…
I was a volunteer for the organization, not an employee, but I had been given a certain amount responsibility and authority…
The only problem…
The leader of the organization was a controlling leader…
That fact alone changed the way I approached (or didn’t approach) the opportunity…
Many controlling leaders receive that kind of attention…
I’ve noticed from my own experience and watching others, that there are certain ways we tend to respond to controlling leaders…
Here are 7 examples:
- Ignoring them instead of confronting…
- Asking forgiveness instead of permission…
- Keeping our best ideas until we are certain they’ll work…
- Being afraid to share new ideas because we know they’ll be shot down…
- Feeling the need to build a coalition of support before approaching…
- Hiding our true thoughts and opinions rather than sharing them…
- Keeping our relationship to “strictly professional”…
Leaders, do any of those describe how people respond to your leadership?
Don’t be that guy!
In my specific situation described above, the result was one of the 3 ways listed HERE in a previous post. Which do you think was the result?
What would you add to my list of reactions to controlling leadership?
