Destructive leadership: the aftermath of the tempest | Rhonda M. Martin | TEDxSanAntonio

A healthy leader–follower relationship relies on trust, respect, competency and commitment to the organization. A leader has the power to influence and shape the employee’s job experience and the organizational culture. Destructive leaders, however, abuse their power by using coercion to manipulate for personal gain, and employ fear as a motivator. The negative impacts of a leader’s destructive behaviors are detrimental and painful to the followers in an organization, and the long-term impact on corporate culture can be costly. Followers are pivotal to the success of good and bad leaders.

In Dr. Martin’s study on the millennial generation as followers, she found they were adversely affected by destructive leaders. Specifically, they felt devalued, participated in unethical behavior induced by fear, lost faith in the organization because it implicitly condoned leaders’ bad behaviors, or chose to retaliate against these leaders. Destructive leadership will perpetuate until followers and organizations stop enabling the destructive behaviors and take action by educating, training, and empowering the workforce to be active participants.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

I love Sundays.

It's a time when I actually get a chance
to smell a cup of coffee -

hazelnut is my favorite.

I go on long bike rides with my friends,

and I spend the afternoon
hanging out with my family.

But there was a time when I hated Sundays.

In fact, I would stay in bed
as late as I could

in hopes it would delay
the upcoming Monday.

Granted, with five dogs,
the demands that they have,

I wouldn't be able to stay in bed long.

But when I did get up,

and throughout the day I would experience
a loss of appetite, high anxiety

when I even thought
about the upcoming workweek.

You see, I felt like I worked
in a combat zone,

where I would literally
experience verbal abuse,

and I would see my colleagues
leave the manager's office in tears.

And I witnessed spiteful gossip

that just tore apart the morale
in the workplace,

when all I desired was to be valued
and appreciated for my contributions.

Ladies and gentlemen, this was my life
working for destructive leaders

early in my professional career.

Now, many of us have probably worked

for constructive and/or destructive
leaders in our careers.

We can probably agree
that someone who is constructive,

they inspire, they have integrity,

they're ethical

and they empower followers.

Contrary to that
is your destructive leaders.

Let's put this into context.

This is not somebody
who's had an occasional bad day,

because I'm sure we've all had those.

But this is someone
who demonstrates destructive behaviors

that are purposefully meant

to harm the organization and employees
for their own personal gain.

These individuals are called
workplace bullies or abusive supervisors

because they belittle,
they manipulate, micromanage,

use coercion and condescension

to intimidate and control
their employees.

If you think about it,

bullying's become so pervasive
in our educational system

there are now campaigns
and laws to protect the victims.

So why is it not taken this serious
in our workplace today?

Shockingly,

destructive leaders will victimize
40 to 50% of the workforce,

and in doing so, they're going
to cost US corporations

in the upwards of $25 billion annually.

This is because of
legal fees, high turnover,

absenteeism and high medical claims

from employees who are
experiencing extreme anxiety,

high levels of stress and depression

because they worked
in a toxic work environment.

Come on, folks. We should be
outraged by these statistics.

I am and I was,

so I was inspired to do research,

and I conducted a study
where I interviewed millennials

who've worked for destructive
leaders in their careers.

And listening to their stories
during the interviews,

you can hear the pain in which they talked
about how they were called names

and ridiculed by their managers.

Their managers actually told them
that they needed to be controlled -

teams that resembled
functioning alcoholics,

fistfights that went on
during team meetings,

some who lied out of fear
but only became a comedy of errors,

and then some who lost
professional credibility.

This generation of followers
is greatly impacted

by destructive leaders.

And in our society, we are inundated
with news of leaders who are unethical,

who lie, steal and cheat,

with little to no consequences
for their behaviors.

This was confronted in my study

where the destructive leaders
who adversely impacted the followers

were not punished for their behavior,

but surprisingly they were promoted

because upper management
only considered the results,

with disregard for the means.

Most often, employees
will leave an organization

that does not address
the destructive behavior.

They find the names and faces
do change the new organizations,

but sadly, over time, they find
the destructive behaviors still exist.

Leaders are not successful on their own,

and according to Padilla,
Hogan and Keyser,

who are some accomplished
researchers in this space,

they found that destructive leaders
in particular are successful

when the organization and followers
enable their behaviors.

I'm intrigued by our society,

where we make excuses
for destructive behaviors.

We've heard these stories because
they've become common in our workforce

where "That guy, Johnny, he has a temper.

That's just the way he is,"

or "Suzy, she's very condescending,
but don't take it personal. Come on!"

Research does state
that those who are abused

will most likely become
an abuser in the future.

But I'm of the mindset that we actually
have a choice in the matter.

And as somebody who's worked
for destructive leaders,

I made a decision not to become
the product of my environment,

but I chose to be a constructive leader
and a courageous follower in my career.

Now, we can probably agree

that the field of leadership
is a billion-dollar industry, right?

Think about it.

We are reading books or taking seminars
and classes on how to become leaders,

but I believe we've missed
one vital step in this process.

To teach somebody to be a leader
before you teach them how to be a follower

is no different than expecting somebody
to run before they can walk.

I witnessed this firsthand
on a trip to Peru

where I was teaching a team-building class
to business professionals,

college students, universities
and small communities.

The organization that sponsored this trip

had developed a relationship
with a group of underprivileged women

who were being taught
how to be leaders in their communities.

And they were very successful
as individuals,

and they wanted to start
a bakery together.

But in doing so,
they were failing miserably,

and they didn't understand why.

As I observed their disagreements,
it was always over the leadership position

because in their culture,
a follower was considered insignificant.

They didn't understand
the vital role of being a follower

in a team effort.

It was through continued
team-building exercises

and followership training

that helped them understand
the role of the follower.

And they were successful -
today in as far as a bakery.

I share this story to demonstrate
that, as a society,

we have not prepared
our future generation of leaders

because we neglected to teach them
how to be great followers.

I understand there's this stigma

that someone who's a follower
is passive and subservient,

and they're not ever
going to make a good leader.

But according to Ira Chaleff,

there are two key facts
to remember about followership.

One:

it is a role, and not
someone's personality.

Two:

the follower's not there
to serve the leader,

but they're both there
to serve a common purpose.

Research and education
on followership is quite nascent,

considering the many years
we've studied leadership.

And we've studied some great leaders,
who've also been great followers -

for instance:

Aristotle, Thomas Jefferson,
Indra Nooyi, Mary Barra and Tim Cook.

By 2018, 40% of the workforce
will be the millennial generation,

and we have not prepared them to be active
and courageous followers in their careers.

What is a courageous follower?

According to Chaleff,

a courageous follower is somebody
who has the courage to serve,

to challenge,

participate in transformation,

take moral action,

and the courage to speak up to leadership.

Ladies and gentleman,
I have three challenges for you today.

The first challenge is to become educated

and understand the types
of destructive behaviors

and decide how those
are going to be addressed

within your organizations today.

The high turnover of employees
is costing more in the long term

than to remove that destructive leader.

Think about it.

I find it hard to believe that anybody
in this audience today

would be excited
to work for a bully every day.

The second challenge goes out
to the millennials in the audience.

Do you want to be the generation

that makes a positive significant impact
in our society today?

I challenge you to take responsibility
in your role as a follower,

and be a great follower
who will in turn be a great leader.

And in doing so, we will minimize
the number of destructive leaders

in our society today.

And my final challenge goes out to those

who are currently serving
as leaders in organizations.

It is time to take followership seriously

and to educate people
on how to be successful in this role.

Today, the Naval Academy, Microsoft,
Google and many Ivy League schools

are doing just that.

They're educating employees
and students on followership.

So I ask: why does your organization
not embrace followership today?

Thank you.

(Applause)