The Executive Realm
Often, business and psychology are viewed as different and distinct ideas, but we believe business is driven almost exclusively by the psychology of people. Breaking the barrier into a new realm where the strategic business lens is focused on the behavior of your team, your customers, and your competitors can open a world of possibilities for growth. Join two Business Psychologists, from very different backgrounds, explore the complex intersection of business strategy and clinical psychology in today's rapidly-changing business world. Welcome to the Executive Realm with Dr. D and Dr. K.
The Executive Realm
The Leadership "Ivory Tower": Myths, Risks, and Repairs
We discuss the perception of the leadership “Ivory tower,” exploring why employees develop the perception of the ‘distant and disconnected’ leadership team and why it is important for executives to be present, available, and accessible.
Hello and welcome to the realm. I'm Dr. D, I bring the strategy.
Dr. K:And I'm Dr. Kay, I bring the psychology, we are business psychologists and your guides to the executive realm, where we bring strategy and psychology together
Dr. D.:so you can bring your best your C suite, your teams and your customers. Today we're talking about the perception of leadership being in an ivory tower, we'll be exploring why employees develop the perception of the distance in disconnected leadership team, and why it's important for executives to make sure they are available and accessible. So let's get to work. Dr. K, what is the ivory tower when it comes to employees perceptions,
Dr. K:the ivory tower is the perception of employees not being able to reach their leaders, they seem unreachable, as if they don't care, they are just so high up and so far away, that they are in this tower, even if they are three offices down.
Dr. D.:One of the phrases that I've heard the decisions they come down from quote unquote, on high, they don't really understand what we deal with on a day to day basis, there's a wide gap in distance, both metaphorically And literally, in many cases, between employees and the leadership team, that probably contributes to this idea that employees think that leaders just kind of sit around and don't really do very much when I hear the ivory tower, that's the perception I have is that team members are going oh, well, they're just living it up in the ivory tower in the lap of luxury. I think frontline employees also don't understand how difficult and demanding and complex leaders responsibilities are and how time consuming. those responsibilities are.
Dr. K:Yes, leaders have a lot they respond to C suite, they have to respond to managers that are above them. However, from an employee perspective, leaders that are in that ivory tower, they don't understand the grunt work the employees are putting forth. And that's where that ivory tower, that distance between employees and leaders becomes very prominent, and very detrimental and has possibility of being very detrimental to production to employee engagement.
Dr. D.:When you bridge that gap between leadership and the frontline employees, you end up with a better process and a more profitable business, frankly.
Dr. K:absolutely. As much as I want to say, Oh, the employees and they're the ones that are having more issues with this, we have to remember that the leaders get lost in their world to they're not purposely trying to ignore us, or purposely trying to make things more difficult. They get lost in their own world.
Dr. D.:If the president and CEO of a company has 100 employees, it's really easy to get to know all of those employees. If the CEO of a company with 10,000, or 100,000 employees, employees are almost a statistic to that person, it's impossible for them to get to know every facet of the organization in detail. And that's where a well organized and engaged leadership team comes in. It's difficult for large organizations in particular, with many levels of leadership to really have their pulse on every part of the organization. But it's important that a CEO make the attempt. And the C suite. In general, because the C suite is a special unit, each leader is over an individual functional area. But the C suite is responsible for the entire organization. So the Human Resources officer thinks about the health of the entire organization, all of the employees, not just those in HR, the CFO thinks of the health of the organization, not just those in the finance team, the CIO thinks of the health of the organization from an IT infrastructure perspective. But still, they think of the health of the entire organization and or every C suite position. That is the case. The CEO, of course is accountable and responsible for the C suite and the entire organization. And they have to think about the board the level of responsibility and complexity, the weight of the decisions that are made at that level, our make or break for an organization. If a customer service employee loses a single customer that probably doesn't raise to the level of the CEO, but the CEO needs to be thinking about how many customers are we losing and why are we losing them? And what can we do to enable those at the front line to be able to engage with customers in the right way so that we don't lose them. And a customer is a statistic to a large organization. Unfortunately, but organizations need to be mission oriented around the customers. And I think that brings an interesting perspective, when the leadership team is making decisions that the frontline employees don't understand. They feel like they're coming down from on high, or the leadership team seems so disconnected from employees to leaders. That's because there is a problem. The problem is the employees don't understand what's motivating the leaders. And sometimes the leaders don't understand what's motivating the employees. And this gets down to a common theme in many of our discussions is mission orientation. If employees understand that leaders are mission oriented towards serving their customers in this way, or serving their community in this way, and serving their employees, and in a certain way, and employees understand that and leaders actually lift to that, then that demystifies a lot of the decision making leaders can say, we're making this change, because we think it better aligns with our mission. Not everybody is going to agree with this direction. And we want to talk about where those areas of disagreement are, so that we can refine and adjust and make sure that their perspective is brought into that decision. So that as you're making changes to an organization, you're aligning to the mission, and everyone understands what that mission is. frontline employees, understand my voice was included in that decision, because my voice is advocating for the customer, because that's my mission. And I can see how this decision relates to improving that experience that mission. And it is a useful tool for aligning the organization.
Dr. K:I would absolutely agree. Where my concern comes in is the ivory tower people. That's what I'm going to refer to them today. A lot of times, they're going to look at the the numbers, they are going to look at very the tangible information and go this is what's wrong, fix it, this is what I think. And that's where part of the problem is and that's where disengagement of employees comes in. That's where employees will feel, oh, they don't care about us. They don't hear what we have to say, why do we care? Because instead of going, Okay, I see there's a problem with these numbers. This looks okay, this is starting to decline. Let me go talk to these groups. Or let me talk to maybe the middle manager. And they can go down and talk a little bit more to find out what's going on. Because numbers aren't words, when you talk to the people that are making those numbers happen. Those are the people that we need to talk to. It's not just about the numbers. You can't tell everything from some data sheets.
Dr. D.:I think that is a common misconception that leaders only make decisions by looking at the numbers. And that's never the case, large organizations, there is a lot of I'll say, bureaucracy or politics, there is a lot of getting other people on board. If a CEO recognizes from numbers that profits are trailing in a particular area is an example. That is a number driven observation. But never will somebody say we're going to make this change just because of that. There are often dozens, hundreds of man hours at least put into each of those decisions. And well seasoned professional executives will ask for a lot of perceptions. Now. They'll ask their comfort convenience, the CEO will say ask the C suite. Where do you think this is in the C suite will then go out and canvass their VPS and maybe they're directors, but their directors may not say AI is a leader talked about this decision and provided some input on your behalf, because I'm close enough to you guys know what you're facing every day. It feels like from a frontline employee, that their voice is not included in the decision. But they may have been represented in that decision from other leaders. It's never just look at this set of data. And we're going to act based on that set of data. There are often many considerations and many voices that contribute to a decision beyond just the numbers. But it is an important perspective because I think many people, particularly frontline employees, believe that leaders will Canvas a spreadsheet and say draw a line and say okay, this below this line, those are all gone, you know, like magically but it takes an organization in many conversations with many leaders in order to enact a decision and make sure that it comes to fruition and I think this is an important lesson for leaders leaders need To communicate particularly large organizational decisions, they have to talk through the process with the team. We observe the numbers, we're doing this, we talked to X number of people, your leaders represented your perspectives in this decision. We couldn't talk about this decision in advance because, or at least broadly because of market conditions. Or if you're a publicly traded company, there's a lot of restrictions on why you might not openly communicate a decision. But you have to explain that after the fact, we made this decision, because and here's how your voices are represented. A well crafted communication strategy can eliminate that perception, the decision is coming down from on high.
Dr. K:No, you said just now that there are certain companies that can't talk because they're publicly traded, and all of that. And you said also, to communicate after the decision is made as why it wasn't talked about, maybe that needs to be something that is known, maybe there will be employees that don't know that their company can only say certain things because of the position that they're in. And these are decisions that we can always discuss, does not mean that we are not listening to you. But they may be decisions that cannot be discussed, due to our organization, especially if you're not seeing them, you think that they don't care about what you're doing down in the trenches. When we don't see them. We don't think they care. And then when we see them on there, and I'm taking this from pure experience, we don't see them, we don't think they care. We don't think they understand what we're doing. And then when you see them randomly, we get nervous, we get scared, you know, we get very all all tense and anxious. That's not creating a healthy environment. That is definitely strengthening that ivory tower syndrome.
Dr. D.:Yeah. And what that really comes down to is trust does a frontline employee trust leadership to make the right decision and does leadership trust in the employee to support the mission and decisions that are being made? One of the points that you brought up, that leaders just show up randomly, and that creates anxiousness and fear. But it's also a drop everything mentality, when the leader shows up, and they need to do something or they're asking for something. Employees often say, Well, you know, this VP or this director, or this B, or the CEO, asked me to do something or asked us to do something, I need to drop everything right now and go do that. But that creates a lot of stress around. There's this power dynamic involved in leaders, I've heard more than one, Vice President level person say, I don't want people to drop everything, because I'm a VP. But I do kind of expect people to drop everything, because I'm a VP. And they get frustrated when people don't. leaders want to be authentic, they want to be humble. The best leaders display a lot of emotional intelligence, some humility. They're accessible. They don't lead with that power dynamic. But power dynamics are often built into the role. And it's important for a leader to recognize that when they walk into the room, they bring with them all these other feelings of other people they might not even be aware of. So it's important to utilize emotional intelligence and recognize what your presence as a leader, particularly a senior leader, might drive on an organization, a component of the organization that you haven't been to before. I, as a leader, walk into a place that I hadn't been before, or a team that I haven't seen in a while. I want to be there and be available. I'm there not to create fear. I'm there to help answer questions and maybe help solve problems or gain new perspective. But frontline employees might not see that if I haven't developed trust or if the culture of the organization hasn't developed that trust. It's important for a leader to actively say, when they walk into a new place, or if they show up sporadically see gold leadership where they swoop in, leave mess all over the place, and then fly away without really recognizing what it is that they've left behind or the emotional weight that they've left behind them. It's important to say, Look, I don't make it out here very often. I'd love to be out here more frequently. Unfortunately, my schedule doesn't permit that as frequently as I want to be out here. Some of you might be nervous, there's no reason to be nervous. I'm just here to understand what you're going through and how I can help. We also have this other problem that we need to solve here. We need to work together to solve problem. And that changes the dynamic instantly. And this idea that drop everything because I'm a leader is such a dangerous, even unintended consequence, it's important that when you say, Hey, I'm working on this thing, I could really use your help you and your team's help on solving this problem. I want to consciously recognize that I want you to freak out about this, that you have this on top of everything else that you have going on. So I should say, what other priorities Do you have right now that this might squeeze into? I don't want you to have to drop everything, I have a deadline of x to be able to deliver this because I have to report back to the board or whatever my constituencies are. So that we can then collaborate on when can you do this, I don't want this to disrupt everything else that you have going on. I always think about this idea that if I were to see a leader in the grocery store, just shopping, and they walked up to me and asked me to do something in the way that they're asking me to do it at work, what would I what would my reaction be? You have avocados, I want those avocados? Can you give them to me by Thursday, you'd be like what the hell is wrong with you, you have to approach every situation, like you have no power and no authority. And in turn, that leaves you with a lot of power and a lot of authority. But it leaves you with trust that's developed in underpinning that authority and that power that you have with your team, you have a team that will then know that you're in it for them, not just in it for yourself and your needs.
Dr. K:Absolutely, there are different leadership styles, there's the transformational transactional laws a fair or passive avoidance, and the the transformational leaders. Everyone knows, they're the leaders. They know, they know that they are the ones, let's say with more authority with the last word, and have the ability to direct which way, you know, certain situations are going. However, with a transformational leader, they also the employees feel them being present, they feel that there is a open door policy, they feel that they're able to say they're able to put their words out there, and the leader is going to go, let's take a look at that, because maybe you're right, or we looked at that, thank you for your input. It didn't fit in with what we're trying to do. But if something else comes about, let us know, you know, there's always those little pictures of the different leaders, and the transformational leader is the one that's helping to pull the wagon, you know, with transactional leaders, you know that that changes every day. It's very different than passive avoidance. But it's tends to have a little bit more negative consequences. Now, unfortunately, everybody feels that transactional leaders, not everybody, but a majority people feel that transactional leaders have a negative is all negative that's bringing to the table. And that's not exactly true, because transactional leaders have the ability to be very, this is what we need done. Now, how are we going to do it? They're not you know, at they're a little bit more direct, a little bit more assertive, and that's not always a negative thing. However, if you have a transactional leader, that employees feel are up in the ivory tower, and their presence is, as you call it, the seagull, would you call it seagull?
Dr. D.:Yep. a seagull leader yeah
Dr. K:seagull leader, you know, they come in, swoop down, and they leave that mess, which is a great metaphor, that doesn't create a place of enjoyment, that doesn't create a sense of engagement to produce what is needed to be produced. And I think having a blend of the two leaders would be beneficial, especially if you are a leader of a company that is 5000 10,000 100,000 finding a way to blend, you may not know everybody on the front line. But if you have other leaders below you, that are a little bit closer to them, you know, it builds you can find out what you need to know from the exact person and that at least will make that the distance of the ivory tower. A little bit shorter.
Dr. D.:Yeah, absolutely. I mean, leadership is often shrouded in mystery to frontline employees, particularly folks earlier in their career. leaders have to demystify leadership. People often aspire to be leaders without really understanding what that is they Some people think it comes with power. Some people think it only comes with money. Some people think it comes with the ability, just kind of sit back and let other people do the do the grunt work, there myths in leadership, every person brings their own leadership style. You talked about the categorization of leadership with transactional and laissez faire and passive avoidance and transformational. Those are leadership styles. A leader has a natural approach to their leadership style, but they need to be able to flex and recognize if I'm a transactional leader. And I'm thinking, I don't want to bother people, I just want to get in, tell them what they need to do, and get out because I don't want to be disruptive, that could be perceived as really disruptive. It's important for a transactional leader, for every interaction, they need to flex, they need to walk into the room, ask questions, be open, laissez faire, how are you doing, understand who you are, what you're working on, just absorb, then you need to get into the transactional component of your presentation, which is, here's what we are, here's what we're doing. Here's why we're doing it. Here's what we need, then you need to flex to transformational and say, Okay, what do you need for me? How can we all pull together? How can we get there at the end of the day, and you need to trust your team, so maybe you can flex to passive avoidance and say, I'm going to step away, let them do their thing, and I'll come back and check on them in a little bit.
Dr. K:I would agree, I think flexibility, communication being present are huge ways to make that ivory tower again, seem smaller, or maybe non existent. And I can't say that every person in a company would if they saw a leader, being a part of the team would think, you know, oh, my God, look at that leader. They're amazing. There might be people that are just like, Oh, please get this person out of here. I feel so much better without them. However, majority of people seen someone in the trenches asking questions, at least saying hello. And they're, they're less of a number or a statistic or an employee in their person. I'm going to do more for you. Because I appreciate how you made me feel. I appreciate that you care about what's going on? Absolutely. I don't care if it's 10,000 employees, either. Yeah, the company needs to make a make the or helped create a sense of humanity.
Dr. D.:Yeah. And I think what it really comes down to is approachability. And one of the things you talked about was having an open door policy. And there's a dilemma to this open door policy idea. Because an open door policy says whenever my door is open, you are welcome to come in and see me. Now, the I think the intention behind that is when I'm not in a meeting, I'm available to you. But people don't say that they say I have an open door policy, which when you say policy, you say that is my policy, and it's subject to change at any time. The right thing to do is to say I am available to you, you don't have to say I have an open door policy. It's if you need me, I will be here that is the right way as a leader to present themselves. But it's very impractical. As a leader to say, I am available to you all the time because you have responsibilities and meetings and decisions and constituencies that you have to support. One of the brilliant ideas out of academia is this idea of office hours, the idea that I will be available to anyone who needs me, I will reserve this time to have conversations with anyone at any time about any topic from these hours, you are my priority. And I want to make sure you know when I'm going to be available. So you can come to me at any time. Anybody in the C suite any VP, any director, any manager who says to their team, yes, I'm going to be available to you. And you can come to me, I'm always going to reserve these blocks of time, once a week, once a month, whatever that might be a day a month for you to come and see me. You can just walk in, you don't need an appointment, you can be about any topic, you can come as an individual, you can come as a group, and you will have my full attention during that period. That changes the dynamic. Now, not a lot of people will take a senior senior leader on that offer. There are people who will and they will frequently and you have to be patient with those that overuse that invitation so that you don't discolor the intention behind that. But if you're available to somebody and you say I will be available to anyone at any time and you're welcome to come and talk about anything, then you have eliminated that gap. directly between leadership and not,
Dr. K:I would agree, and you brought up, I have a office hour times, or if I'm not in a meeting, you know that I'm available to you, I think it's important for leaders to understand that too. If someone's under if an employee's under a deadline to crunch numbers, or get this marketing idea out, and you come more on and into their office or into their space, and you're like, I need this now. That's that just may not be possible. And to, you know, like you said, the drop everything mentality, that can create a sense of confusion, a sense of anxiety, again, that ivory tower syndrome, where the leaders just don't understand what's going down below. So as you brought up earlier, hey, this is really important. However, do you have time to put this in their? In what you're doing right now? Oh, no, you're under a deadline that is by five o'clock today. Okay, let me Who should I direct this to? Or where can I go to make this happen? If it is as important, just because someone is a an employee, does not mean that what they are currently working on at that moment, isn't just as important to the company as whatever the leader comes running in all frantic about. So it's important that leaders also understand and communicate with the employee, hey, what do you have going on? This is important. Let's go from there.
Dr. D.:And as senior leader who might talk to a frontline employee, and who has a marketing deadline or something coming up, they may say, hey, how can I help you? Can I buy you a little extra time with your boss, let me go talk to your manager and see if I can buy you a little extra time since you're helping me out on this thing. Or if it can't, don't worry about it, I'll figure out another way. When you run into the room and say, drop everything do this, what you're really saying is, you're not important, I am more important, my needs are more important than your needs, your priority might be higher than what they're working on. But if that's the case, then that's an easy solution. Talk about it. This is my priority. This is what I'm trying to get it done. I know you're working on this thing, or what are you working on? Okay, you're working on that? Why that's pretty important, too. Can you come see me when it's done? And maybe you can work on it then? Or, hey, let's see if we can buy some other time on this because this really is the higher priority, not because I'm asking, but because the needs of the business demand that it's more important. So prioritization, and shared reprioritization can really bring people around in alignment on what really needs to be focused on next.
Dr. K:Absolutely. So Dr. D, how can leaders prepare to change this ivory tower syndrome?
Dr. D.:It starts with expanding on the idea that we're all on the same mission. When employees understand that they and leaders are on the same fundamental mission, it decreases the perceived gap between leaders in the team on what they're trying to accomplish and what decisions need to be made. Create an open office hours time dedicated to allowing anyone or a group of people to bring issues of their choice in a safe environment, and be available and consistent to them. They are the priority. Remove the because I'm a leader prioritization expectation as a leader take as much care and explaining how your requests for the broader mission and when requesting ask the person how this request relates to other priorities and be empathetic about what your presence brings to an environment. If you are somewhere in frequent. People might be perceiving that as a stressful situation. So do what you can to diffuse that. So Dr. K, what's on tap for next week?
Dr. K:All right, so next week, we will be talking about corporate social responsibility, a favorite topic of mine, the influence business can have on the community it serves, and the way it benefits employees, customers and profit.
Dr. D.:That's an exciting topic. I know you're really well educated in that area. And to all of you joining us on this journey to the realm Thank you so much. I'm Dr. D.
Dr. K:And I'm Dr. k. And we are always looking forward to your next visit to the Executive Realm.
