Three Dysfunctional Styles of Leader Self-Sabotage

Entrepreneurs and business leaders can, unwittingly, put the brakes on the success of their own businesses!  It is not intentional.  It is more of an unconscious desire to retain control of the changes which occur at different stages of organizational growth.  For an organization to successfully transition to the next larger size, the leader must personally grow and change first. While the stages of growth are predictable, the speed at which it occurs is not.  Some companies skyrocket from the start.  Others grow more gradually, taking years, or even decades.  The market demands and economic conditions impact the organization’s growth and viability, but the sustaining factor is the leader.  If she perseveres and adjusts, the organization follows.  If she stops growing and changing, so does the organization.  A business that stops growing eventually dies.  Depending on the company, it could close up “overnight” or it may slowly ride out the final wave of its existence.

If we assume the business has a viable market to offer its products or services, it has the potential to grow in revenue and in profit.  To grow, the leader needs to “allow” it and embrace the inherent changes.  Considering that the overwhelming percentage of businesses in our country are small, we could conclude that there are millions of owners who like it that way.  Or, they do not know how to overcome the growing pains.  Or, they are resisting the natural growth of their company.  If you are choosing to stay small.  Kudos to you.  You know what you want and are pursuing it.  It is not an easy task.  As with all choices, there are the consequences and challenges to face.

I’m going to focus on the leaders who are resisting their growth, both personally and organizationally.  If you fall into this category, you probably are unaware of what you are doing and how it contradicts your stated desire.  Essentially, you are sabotaging your own and your company’s success!  A classic entrepreneurial self-sabotaging is hiring people to help you get the work done and not delegating effectively to them.  You remain frustrated with their lack of progress or performance, only to be responsible for it yourself.  Maybe you never appropriately trained the person on the correct way to do the job (the way that makes your company competitively successful in your marketplace). Or, you might have thrown the person into the job, but then micromanaged every little thing they were doing. If so, that is a classic symptom of a Dysfunctional Leader/Controlling Style (Lewine, 1995).  On the other hand, you may have washed your hands of it, walked away, and left the person to deal with the work sans any feedback or direction from you.  This is the opposite Dysfunctional Leader style, Abandoning (Lewine, 1995).  Rounding out the three major types of dysfunctional leaders is Self-Sacrificing(Lewine, 1995). This leader sabotages his success by failing to set boundaries with himself, his people, and his clients.  He gives in to every demand, feels sorry for others, and does their work for them at the expense of himself and his own workload.  His health may suffer as a result.  Rather than confront poor performers, he does the work himself.  He fails to set and enforce limits with demanding customers. The Dysfunctional Abandoning Leader gives too much away to the customer and sacrificing his profits..

In order for any business to grow, the increasing workload must be redistributed at certain levels of volume, otherwise a log jam occurs and the orders pile up. At that growth stage, you’ll either need another person or a different/more efficient way of processing the work.  Either solution demands a change in the leadership behavior.  You must lead and manage differently in the new stage of growth.  If you do not learn, grow, and apply new skills, you retard the growth of your company.  If you think you can delegate the growth and development to everyone else, you are fooling yourself.  As long as you still work there or even show up to get the mail, your presence influences the entire organization whether you want it to or not. If your company’s growth is stalled, hold up the mirror to look for your answers.  Be honest with yourself. Are you too Self-Sacrificing, Controlling, or Abandoning? If the answer, is “YES!” Chart a new course for yourself. Learn new techniques. Change one of your worn out attitudes. Try something different. Lead yourself and your organization will follow.

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