Good Guys and Bad Guys

As a leader you will often be cast as a principal in the battle between good and evil.  This may take the form of Marketing vs. Finance or IT vs. HR.  You will need to discern who are the good guys and who are the bad guys and make the right calls for your organization.  Sniffing out the nefarious from the benign is only as difficult as you make it.  If you focus on the territorial battles and money grabs, it can be hard to tell the noble causes from the more self-serving.  So here a few guidelines.

The difference between noble and less noble depends upon which side of an issue you are looking at.  For example, Marketing will tell you that a major investment in that area will reap great financial returns.  Finance will respond that the investment is highly speculative and could end in disaster, like many of Marketing’s schemes often do.  But focusing on this battle could cost you the war.  The real issue is not which department gets its way; it is assessing the big picture, weighing risk factors, and making the call.  Input from the opposing parties is essential, but may not be the determining factor in your final decision.

Another principle to bear in mind has to do with your own tussles in the organizational stratosphere.  First, revert to the tactic above:  take a step back and see the big picture.  Make sure that your cause is for the good of the order.  It’s easy to get caught up in individual conflict, where you can lose objectivity.  Engage in some perspective switching, including a good dose of self-awareness.  Remember that it is better to cut your losses early rather than to pursue a lost cause down a road that you know is a dead end.

One thing that can help you keep things in perspective is to remember that there are really no good guys or bad guys.  Rather, there are multiple units, each of which sees the organization differently.  None of them is out to do harm (usually), but it is likely that any given unit will not fully understand the points of view of the others.  Your facilitating this understanding can often prove more beneficial in reaching a compromise than taking sides.  Collaboration is usually more fruitful than discordance.

From an organizational perspective, you should also keep in mind that infighting, complete with labels like “good guys” and “bad guys,” can lead to a culture of “winners” and “losers.”  And in any organization, just as in global warfare, the winners write history.  How history is written is important to your success as leader, and to any legacy that you may leave.  You need to be aware of how the struggles that comprise and inform day-to-day operations tell the story of your leadership, and importantly, of your organization.


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