
Adolf Hitler greets Neville Chamberlain at the beginning of the Bad Godesberg meeting on 24 September 1938. It was at this meeting that the Munich Agreement was concluded, on 30 September. The Munich Agreement is widely regarded today as a failed act of appeasement.
Note that the greeting occurs at a point where Hitler is standing at a level two steps higher than Chamberlain — high enough to communicate a message of superiority, but not so high as to make a handshake impossible. Image (cc) Deutsches Bundesarchiv, courtesy Wikipedia.
Most leaders of teams, groups, or other business units perform well. Their responsibilities are important enough to their organizations that these assignments generally go to capable people. Sometimes, though, someone in a leadership position is so ineffectual that intervention is required, and for various reasons appropriate corrective action doesn't occur. What does occur instead usually seems to be a satisfactory approach at first. Only later do the shortcomings of these alternatives become clear.
Accompanying these less-than-optimum but nevertheless appealing approaches to dealing with ineffectual leaders are significant risks. Knowing the risks can remove some of the appeal of these approaches, and that can help us choose more effective responses. This post explores in two parts the dysfunctional ways we deal with ineffectual leaders. First I examine the meaning of ineffectual. Then I explore the risks of some of the more common dysfunctional approaches.
In what follows, I refer to the ineffectual leader as Leslie, using either masculine or feminine pronouns.
Ineffectual or ineffective?
Scholars of English usage have debated the difference between ineffective and ineffectual. The position I favor is well summarized in TheBetterEditor blog:
If something (or someone) fails because of its physical properties, or unanticipated events, or some other reason not due to human incompetence, it is ineffective. If a person fails because they aren't up to the task, or aren't willing to take the appropriate steps, or because their character prevents them from succeeding, they're ineffectual.
An example might help to clarify the distinction between ineffective and ineffectual. Leslie is the Director of Product Development at Bogus Software, which performs contract software development. Bogus has decided to convert its software development processes to Agile, which promises productivity gains, in part, by limiting detailed planning beyond what's known for certain about the work. But Leslie doesn't trust Agile processes, and insists on long-term, complete and detailed plans, because, "…I can't keep projects to schedule if I don't know anything beyond this next Thursday." His insistence on detailed plans thus prevents the Agile initiative from demonstrating its advantages. With respect to the Agile initiative, Leslie is an ineffectual leader.
Marla, Accompanying these less-than-optimum
but nevertheless appealing approaches
to dealing with ineffectual leaders
are significant risksanother Director at Bogus, is also having problems with the Agile initiative. Her problems relate to the cumbersome purchase process she must use for retaining contractors. The onboarding and offboarding processes are so complex that by the time Marla can bring someone on, the development team has found another way to get the work done. Marla would like to help, but she has been ineffective, in part, because of the purchasing process.
Risky approaches to dealing with ineffectual leaders
Organizations choose from a variety of possible interventions when they try to limit the damage done by ineffectual leaders. All have a mixture of consequences — some helpful to the organization, and some less so. Below is a survey of the options and the possible deleterious consequences.
- Acceptance
- When we accept the leader's limitations, we leave the leader in place, while we hope for the best. The more significant risks here relate to the leader's direct responsibilities.
- But there are other risks. For example, any other activity is at risk if it depends for success on something Leslie's group must deliver. And any of Leslie's peers who become aware of her poor performance might resent the organization's acceptance of the situation.
- Promotion
- Even worse than acceptance is promotion, which usually gives the person promoted more influence over organizational outcomes. Still, ineffectual leaders are sometimes promoted when their new position seems less likely to afford opportunities for trouble making.
- Often, promoting someone to protect the organization is an illusion. The higher the rank granted to ineffectual leaders, the greater is the risk that they might inflict harm on the organization.
- Ersatz promotion
- To deal with the risks of promotion some organizations try the ersatz promotion. The ersatz promotion seems to be a promotion, but the ineffectual leader's new position is usually of recent creation. Because it is new, its responsibilities can be crafted to limit possible opportunities for damage to the organization. And that might work.
- But in most cases, the ineffectual leader granted such a promotion receives status and compensation in exchange for little benefit to the organization. Demoralization among Leslie's peers is difficult to avoid.
- Reorganization
- Reorganization (or spinoff) provides a method for avoiding terminating Leslie while simultaneously reducing the impact of Leslie's ineffectual behavior. The advantage of the reorganization is that it hides within a larger change the relatively smaller change in Leslie's responsibilities.
- But reorganization entails risk because it can be disruptive to the organization. If reorganization is happening for other reasons, exploiting it to solve the "Leslie problem" might be worthwhile. But executing a reorganization primarily to solve the Leslie problem is sensible only if the risks associated with leaving Leslie in place are comparable to the risks of reorganization.
- Probation
- Probation entails setting a definite time period during which the ineffectual leader must meet specific performance goals. Although probation is common in the lower ranks of most organizations, it is rarely used in higher ranks.
- A very significant risk is that people supervised by the leader inevitably discover that their supervisor is undergoing performance probation. Acquiring this knowledge can cause them to behave differently, in ways that make difficulty for ineffectual leaders trying to demonstrate performance improvement.
Perhaps the most difficult option of all is termination. The difficulty, if there is difficulty, is often emotional. Leslie's relationships and history with those who make the termination decision can create quite a tangle. It is that tangle that makes the other options so appealing in comparison. The risks of the other options seem so remote, while the emotional pain of firing a friend can seem so immediate. In many cases, avoiding today's pain for oneself just invites tomorrow's pain for numberless others. Top
Next Issue
Is every other day a tense, anxious, angry misery as you watch people around you, who couldn't even think their way through a game of Jacks, win at workplace politics and steal the credit and glory for just about everyone's best work including yours? Read 303 Secrets of Workplace Politics, filled with tips and techniques for succeeding in workplace politics. More info
Your comments are welcome
Would you like to see your comments posted here? rbrenHoWzUJVeioCfozEIner@ChacbnsTPttsdDaRAswloCanyon.comSend me your comments by email, or by Web form.About Point Lookout
Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.
Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.
Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.
Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.
Related articles
More articles on Workplace Politics:
Obstacles to Finding the Reasons Why
- When we investigate what went wrong, we sometimes encounter obstacles. Interviewing witnesses and participants
doesn't always uncover the reasons why. What are these obstacles?
Ground Level Sources of Scope Creep
- We usually think of scope creep as having been induced by managerial decisions. And most often, it probably
is. But most project team members — and others as well — can contribute to the problem.
Suppressing Dissent: I
- In some groups, disagreeing with the majority, or disagreeing with the Leader, can be a personally expensive
act. Here is Part I of a set of tactics used by Leaders who choose not to tolerate dissent.
Grace Under Fire: III
- When someone at work seems intent on making your work life a painful agony, you might experience fear,
anxiety, or stress that can lead to a loss of emotional control. Retaining composure is in that case
the key to survival.
Grace Under Fire: IV
- People can be astonishingly inventive when trying to harm others. Some strategies involve driving to
distraction the target of their malevolence by humiliating the target and lying about the target's character,
deeds, or abilities. Targets who recognize these methods are more likely to be able to maintain composure.
See also Workplace Politics and Devious Political Tactics for more related articles.
Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout
Coming June 7: Toxic Disrupters: Tactics
- Some people tend to disrupt meetings. Their motives vary, but they use techniques drawn from a limited collection. Examples: they violate norms, demand attention, mess with the agenda, and sow distrust. Response begins with recognizing their tactics. Available here and by RSS on June 7.
And on June 14: Pseudo-Collaborations
- Most workplace collaborations produce results of value. But some collaborations — pseudo-collaborations — are inherently incapable of producing value, due to performance management systems, or lack of authority, or lack of access to information. Available here and by RSS on June 14.
Coaching services
I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrenHoWzUJVeioCfozEIner@ChacbnsTPttsdDaRAswloCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.
Get the ebook!
Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:
- Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, )
- Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag (PDF, )
- Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, )
- Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, )
- Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, )
- Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, )
Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info
Follow Rick





Recommend this issue to a friend
Send an email message to a friend
rbrenHoWzUJVeioCfozEIner@ChacbnsTPttsdDaRAswloCanyon.comSend a message to Rick
A Tip A Day feed
Point Lookout weekly feed
