Gregg Vanourek and Bob Vanourek wrote an article titled Leaders, Do You Have Your People’s Backs? (18 September 2023).
« Good leaders tell their people, “I’ve got your back”—and mean it. They make good on that promise. They protect their team, in the process building loyalty and trust. Do you have your people’s backs? »
« “There is a great deal of talk about loyalty from the bottom to the top.
Loyalty from the top down is even more necessary and much less prevalent.”
—General George S. Patton, War as I Knew It »
« Throwing someone under the bus is an act of disloyalty, betrayal, dishonor, and cowardice…. It’s a common phenomenon among “pseudo-transformational leaders.” According to leadership scholars Bernard Bass and Ron Riggio, such leaders are self-consumed, exploitative, and power-oriented, with warped moral values. »
« What’s at stake…? Almost everything. It affects team loyalty, trust, and motivation, as well as perceptions of fairness, justice, integrity, credibility, and reliability. »
« . U.S. President Harry S. Trauma felt so strongly about it that he kept a sign on his desk at the Oval Office that read, “The buck stops here.” Clearly, passing the back (avoiding responsibility) is the opposite of good leadership. »
« That doesn’t mean leaders don’t deal with the issue at hand. In most cases, they take action privately to protect the people involved from further blowback in the organization and to avoid that person experiencing public embarrassment. (For many workers, the pain of the mistake or failure is bad enough on its own without that extra bit of social shaming.) Leaders show the higher authorities that they’re dealing with it or have it under control—and that they take full responsibility for what happens on their team and on their watch. »
« There are many powerful benefits that come from having people’s backs, from increased trust, loyalty, motivation, and retention to greater willingness to innovate and take risks. With the psychological safety and team unity that flow from this powerful practice, leaders are wise to step up and get this right—consistently. »
« Leadership author and drama researcher Cy Wakeman recommends that leaders add a single question to their toolkit: Whenever things go wrong, or a deadline is missed, or a worker complains about a peer, etc., the leader should ask: What did I do to help? »
Gregg Vanourek and Bob Vanourek are co-authors of Triple Crown Leadership: Building Excellent, Ethical, and Enduring Organizations.
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