Five Ways To Deal With Cowardly Leadership – Part II
Last week I wrote about how you the citizen and voter and employee can affect change in dealing with Cowardly Leaders. I outlined the first three of five ways that all of us can deal with and influence Cowardly Leadership. If you missed it, read it here.
Now, let’s look at the final two methods.
Fourth- Research and Communicate
Become involved. Go to the School Board Meeting at times when there is nothing on the agenda that concerns you. Go to the City Council meeting to see how the meetings are conducted. Find out who really is making the decisions- is it the chief elected official? The hired staff person? Other elected officials? Important people in the audience? Find out.
Talk to your peers. If you’re an employee, talk to your colleagues about ineffective leadership. See if they feel the same way. Make sure you aren’t an outlier and have a personal vendetta that others don’t see. If you hear from others that feel the same way, and who see the same issues, then you have identified a real problem.
If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck…
Speak to the news media. Most worthy, reputable, news reporters will talk to anyone “off the record” on background in order to find out the rest of the story. If there are concerns by many of you, find someone who knows a reputable reporter, and set a meeting. Make it clear it is off the record, and if the reporter says no deal, then politely walk away. Most news professionals would rather know the story, even if they can’t use it right away, than not know it.
Brainstorm with those you trust. Your family, friends, and other colleagues in other parts of the country. Explain what you are seeing and experiencing, and get their input. They may give you a different angle, a different perspective, some ways of approaching the problem you haven’t considered.
Fifth -Hold Them Accountable
This is the most important of all. It’s also the most difficult.
It is awkward at best to question an elected official on why they are, or aren’t, doing something that is in the best interest of the community. It’s difficult to put yourself in a position to question those who self-proclaim themselves as the “experts.” Simon Sinek, author and speaker at one of the most-watched TED talks ever on leadership, says that true leaders are willing to pay the price to have the honor to lead.
Cowardly Leaders, on the other hand, want the glory and tributes, but without having to pay the price. Paying the price by following through on doing what they said they were going to do when they ran for the office. By making the hard decisions, and by holding the people they supervise accountable. Those that are politically appointed have the extra protection of not having to answer to voters, since they weren’t elected. Their leadership often is nothing more than an extension of saying “Yes, Sir or Yes, Ma’am” to whoever put them in their position. There is no honor in their leadership.
Regardless of the position, we as citizens are obligated, in a democratic government, to hold those who are leading our cities, counties and school boards accountable. We fail in our obligation as voters if we go to the polls, pull a lever or punch through a chad, then sit back and pat ourselves on the backs and say, “We’ve done our duty for the next four years.”
Accountability. Communication and Research. Be Strategic. Do what you should do. Set High Standards. If we don’t expect the people we voted for to do the very minimum of the above, then we are just as cowardly as the cowardly leaders we criticize.
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