The fish rots from the head

5 signals for leaders that the fish is rotting from the head

Fresh fist - before the rot sets in

A couple of teams I’ve worked with in leadership development have been fond of quoting “the fish rots from the head” when they’ve been talking about why a team or organisation is going off.

The original book The fish rots from the head by Bob Garratt is about boards and boardrooms and for me is very applicable to company or organisational leadership below board level.

The hierarchical structure of our organisations means that the behaviours and strategies selected by senior managers are mirrored or replicated throughout their organisations. In fact, their behaviours and strategies are amplified as they ripple out through the organisation.  Marco Iacoboni’s research on mirror neurones indicates that imitation happens for both positive and negative behaviours (see Chapter 8 particularly in Mirroring People)

So what are 5 signals for leaders that the fish is starting to stink?

1. Your people are looking for other jobs, spending more time with their networks or doing minimum hours – this one is obvious. And it isn’t only the good people it’s also the people who are good at sniffing out organisational politics.
2. No-one’s giving you negative or constructive feedback – when the world is silent on things that aren’t working or you’re only receiving glowingly positive feedback it’s time to reflect on what might be happening. Yes, I know that positive feedback is lovely, but all positive? Time to check what’s going on.
3. Your team isn’t delivering – there are delays, errors, poor execution, low sales, unhappy customers.
4. Every action you implement to make improvements to delivery – including changes in people, structures, and/or roles doesn’t make a difference to performance, engagement or team delivery.
5. Your boss changes their behaviour toward you – asking questions, testing reasons for poor delivery, or avoiding you.

If you, deep down, know that some of these relate to you what can you do?

• Recognise that you’re likely to be feeling stressed, threatened and defensive and that if you’re not careful this will negatively affect your behaviour, so build relaxation into your working day
• Each day book time in your diary to reflect and to target key business strategies (yes we know you’re incredibly busy)
• And finally, seek feedback from a trusted, smart advisor and take their advice about next steps.

Amanda