Control Issues
Is one of your employees building an empire right under your nose?
Last year, the management team of a small technology firm was
trying to understand why projects were coming in late and over
budget. The company hired Leslie Kossoff, owner of Kossoff
Management Consulting in San Mateo, California, to find the
problem. All roads led her to the firm's lead software
designer. Only he knew the foundation code for the company's
software programs. Even worse, he refused to share it with other
designers. His secrecy was a huge drain on productivity.
"Designers were always waiting for him. They could read
only aspects of his code and didn't know if their work would be
compatible," Kossoff says.
Once management understood the situation, the other designers
felt empowered to crack the code. Once they did, the lead designer
left the firm. "He didn't have his power base
anymore," Kossoff says. "His way of having control was
through this foundation code. He built his empire this
way."
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This software designer was a classic "empire-builder,"
someone who tries to become indispensable by gaining exclusive
control over a piece of knowledge, a project, even a whole
department. For the empire-builder, being the one in the know is
the key to job security. But this person will eventually hold your
company hostage. "CEOs rationalize this and make excuses for
it, but it will get to the point that they no longer can because
productivity drops," says Bob Turknett, president of Turknett
Leadership Group, an executive and team leadership consulting firm
in Atlanta.
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