By Floyd W. Carlson (USA)
Charlie did not want to share his knowledge with his team or peers. Charlie believed that by keeping the knowledge to himself, he was making himself indispensable and protecting his job. Charlie was very knowledgeable in what he did, but he was not a team player and the others did not trust him. Charlie’s career stalled until he became aware of his default behaviour and decided to change it. Thinking about your own interest and not supporting your team members is an old school personal leadership methodology of putting yourself ahead of others to distinguishing yourself as the go to person because of your special knowledge. Once Charlie gave up this belief and changed, he was able to take on new things, which led him to be promoted a year later.
This example demonstrates traits that are part of what I call the Stone Age of Leadership. A period in time which is extinct to the way people want to be led today. The challenge is these dinosaur ways of leading are still pervasive in workplaces today and are causing great talent to be ordinary at best or leave to other organisations. The cost to employee morale, productivity, turnover cost and the overall impact of the organisation these leaders cause can be staggering.
Source: iCN Issue 14 vol.1 (Marketing for Coaches); pages 18-19
About Floyd W. Carlson
Floyd W. Carlson is the author of “Conscious Leadership In Action!”
(Panoma Press, 2015) Floyd began his conscious leadership journey when on the battlefields in Iraq. In an instant, his life changed forever. He saw his life flash before his eyes during the heat of a battle. When he thought his life was over, the vision that stood out the most was seeing an image of his son who had not been born yet. This game-changing event became his story that is driving his personal transformation.
Follow him on Twitter @fwcarlson.
