As a manager under the stress of meeting expectations and delivering results to owners and stakeholders, striving for peace in the workplace and avoiding conflict should be the order of every day, shouldn’t it? When employees show up to work each day, on time, and do what they were hired to do, it is a good day. We don’t want to deal with politics or drama – we want everything to be running like a well-oiled machine. We assume that when there is peace, everyone must be happy.
Or maybe they are not.
Consider this: Peace can actually be detrimental to the success of an organization, especially if it goes on for weeks, or worse, months. Why? Peace can be a leading symptom of apathy and/or employee disengagement. Peace can also be a sign that a work team feels defeated or has given up on a fight or cause – the very things companies need if they are to improve and grow.
The role of a good leader is to create a culture of continuous improvement and operational excellence. And this simply cannot be achieved without challenging employees, occasionally stirring the pot, and lighting a few fires. We should want employees to challenge one another to be better in areas where there is weakness, and to place peer pressure on those who do not pull their fair share of weight. Controlled chaos under the right conditions for the right reasons can be a very effective management tool, because chaos ignites passion.
It may seem counter-intuitive, but peace is often times the product of autocratic or micro-management. A boss heavily breathing down the back of his employees while keeping them all on a short leash will turn some into fearful order-taking robots and will push others, often the more valuable ones, out the door. These are the leaders who intimidate employees into compliance in exchange for a paycheck until other employment can be found. Let’s not sugar coat it- it’s an abusive relationship. These are also the leaders who intimidate employees into being peaceful, and also fearful of sharing what could be really good insights to become a better department or company.
These are the leaders who actually think they have “won” because they are rarely challenged or questioned. In reality, they have won nothing – they have lost. They have lost the respect and admiration of their employees, and they have also lost the opportunities to have productive and meaningful conversations with the very people who were hired based on their intelligence, experience, track records of success and backgrounds.
Such leadership styles are quite dated, and proven to be completely ineffective. Companies that are growing and leading their industries are led by people who have very strong people (E.Q.) skills. These leaders know when and how to employ critical skills such as Active Listening and conflict resolution and know how to keep everyone motivated to give their best every day. These are the leaders who don’t roadblock communication because they need their employees to learn the process of working through their own problems. These are the leaders who don’t strive for peace. They want passionate, engaged employees who care and want to fight the good fight.