5.Stop Criticizing Upper Management

Stop Criticizing Upper Management

 Criticism is the judgement (using analysis and evaluation) of the merits and faults of the actions or work of another individual. Criticism can mean merely to evaluate without necessarily finding fault; however, usually the word implies the expression of disapproval.

This is a huge temptation. To distance yourself from your own superiors.
Maybe you do this to win favor and create bonding at the victim level with the team, but it won't work. In fact, what you have done will eventually damage the confidence of the team. It will send three messages that are very damaging to morale and motivation:
1. This organization can't be trusted.
2. Our own management is against us.
3. Yours truly, your own team leader, is weak and powerless in the organization.

This leads to an unpleasant but definite kind of bonding, but it also leads to deep trust problems and further disrespect for the integrity of the organization. Running down upper management can be done covertly (a rolling of the eyes at the mention of the CFO's name) or overtly ("I don't know why we're doing this, no one ever consults with me on company policy, probably because they know I'd disagree"). This mistake is deepened by the repeated use of the word "they." ("They want us to start...." "I don't know why they are having us do it this way...." "They don't understand what you guys are going through here...." "They, they, they....")
The word "they" used in excess soon becomes a near-obscenity and solidifies the impression that we are isolated, misunderstood victims.
A true leader has the courage to represent upper management, not run it down. A true leader never uses the word "they" to refer to senior officials in the company. A true leader says "we."

Two things are bad for the heart—running uphill and running down people.
—Bernard Gimbel
Hence be in team and always analyse rather criticise.
If you ever you feel to do so remind your self with "“I have no right, by anything I do or say, to demean a human being in his own eyes. What matters is not what I think of him; it is what he thinks of himself. To undermine a man's self-respect is a sin.”"