If you find an empire-builder in your midst, you must act
fast:
1. Don't assume everyone is a team
player just because your organizational chart reflects
teamwork.
While your organizational chart is flat and most employees are
assumed to have equal power and rank, the empire-builder is busy
building a hierarchy. What results is a "shadow
bureaucracy" that management doesn't see.
"For empire-builders, the thinking process is always there.
'How do I consolidate my power?' Even when they pretend to
be working as a team, these are not team players," Kossoff
says. "If there's no hierarchy put in place by management,
the employees will create it for you."
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2. Look for systems that don't make
sense.
If you have 10 employees on a project that consistently lags
behind, or employees are hinting that they can't finish their
work without a particular employee's help, you have a problem.
Ask employees where their projects are held up. They may point you
in the direction of one individual. In fact, Turknett says,
frustrated subordinates usually blow the whistle on
empire-builders.
3. Don't ignore the
situation.
Confront the empire-builder and talk about his or her impact on the
company. Require that he or she share knowledge and cross-train
other workers. Other techniques, including 360-degree feedback and
professional counseling, can also break empire-building habits and
force employees to share. "Let the person see it in spades.
Put it on the table and keep it on the table until it's
resolved," Turknett says. "Otherwise, you're enabling
it."
Chris Penttila is a freelance journalist in Carrboro, North
Carolina. Her Web site is www.sitting-duck.com
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Originally published in the October 2001 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine
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