I have had the opportunity to work in a few organizations. While in these organizations the term “squeaky wheel leadership” has come up at times. I was curious about this concept and one day as I discussed it with a friend I had to ask myself: what causes this type of leadership?
Anywhere there are two or more people there is the potential for politics and jockeying for individual agendas. This is a reality of all organizations, for profit, non-profit, heck even in my own family (especially on movie night). People need to be heard and their input needs to be valued, but what causes only the whiny complainers to be the ones that somehow directly or indirectly drive leadership decisions?
For example, if I am a sport coach and I decide to change our off-season training from how we have done it for years there will be push back. Usually in this situation there are four types of people: early adapters, hesitant adapters, late adapters, and stubbornly resistant. The last two are usually the ones who will push back on the changes and often be very vocal. Now I can’t ignore them completely, but I have to continue to drive the change forward while trying to help the slow adapters understand the benefits. When I get the team to a point where the majority are supportive of the change to the point that the stubbornly resistant either participate or find a new team I know I have led well.
This is not how it always works though. I would suggest two reasons why we start lubricating the “squeaky wheels” instead of leading.
- We are managing, not leading – a manager concerns themselves with systems, processes, and just keeping the process moving smoothly. These individuals are critical to overall organizational success. On the other hand a leader sees the bigger picture and knows where they are trying to go and can help others see the vision and participate. When they work with “squeaky tires,” they help them understand the bigger picture, not just keep them happy and therefore possibly prevent the overall vision from moving forward. The coach in the illustration above would talk to the late and stubborn individuals to help them see the big picture and encourage them to participate or move on. This takes courage.
- Lack of Vision – imagine playing archery and not having a clearly defined target. How will you know if you are having success? Maybe just by letting others define it for you or base it on what feels right at the moment. This would be a frustrating game of archery. When you have a target, you can see what you are aiming at and how close you are to success. This is vision. If a leader fails to have a clear vision they will not know how much attention the “squeaky wheel” needs to receive. It may be a minor nuisance that will not impact the bigger picture or it could become a large roadblock to accomplishing the overall goal. A leader will only be able to discern the amount of attention it needs by having a clear vision in his or her mind.
So do you lead or manage? Are you spending your day primarily putting out fires or strategically moving the team/organization forward? Do you have a clear vision? How can you grow in this area? Keep leading and growing every day and hold your vision.
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