With reports of discontentment in American Vice-President Kamala Harris’s staff coming to the fore, experts share their insights on how leaders facing a similar scenario can turn the situation around
Kamala Harris’s office has been described by staffers as ‘not a healthy environment’. Pic/Twitter
It’s been a little over six months since Kamala Harris assumed office as Vice-President of the US and, already, rumours of unhappy staff are making the rounds. Former staffers and interns have come forward to describe her working style as snappy and disrespectful, with many pinning the blame on chief of staff Tina Flourney for creating a working environment that is dismissive of new ideas and suffers from delayed decision-making. Although Harris suffers the additional pitfall of being in the constant, critical and unforgiving public eye, the dynamic of a workforce that is at odds with the boss is all too familiar in the corporate world, experts say.
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The VP had hosted a staff party at her residence on July 4; critics panned it for being a cover-up for the negative press. Pic/Twitter
“In today’s day and age, the cult of a charismatic leader who is set in his/her ways and demands unquestioning compliance from the team is unrealistic. The challenges that modern leaders face are so complex that to pull through successfully, they must rely on a capable and united team. I often say that it is no longer successful leaders but successful teams that steer organisations to new and greater heights,” explains Brajesh Bajpai, leadership coach and director of international business at Vodacom.
What’s causing it?
From feeling as though their efforts are not recognised or credited, to perceiving that the tasks that have been assigned are either too demanding or unsuited to their talents, the reasons for discontentment can be numerous, says Akash Shukla, a leadership mentor and founder of Uprise India Initiative Foundation. However, underlying all these is a lack of open communication channels between the leader and his/her team. “I’ve found that in most cases, tensions arise not because of personality traits but how challenging scenarios are handled by the leader,” he adds. Bajpai insists that the first step towards restoring a fractured relationship is engaging in awareness-building exercises as, in most cases, leaders are completely in the dark about the problems being faced by their teams. “The best way to do so is to seek feedback directly from those who are impacted, whether through skip-level meetings or formal 360-degree feedback sessions during which leaders receive feedback from all stakeholders,” he says.
Akash Shukla
Don’t complicate it
Contrary to popular wisdom, Bajpai advises against seeking the intervention of HR unless completely essential. “If the leader is acting in good faith and has the best interests of the team at heart, a one-on-one session with the disgruntled employee can be much more beneficial than involving yet another stakeholder such as HR; in the latter case, employees may be more worried about the implications of this meeting on their career than on resolving the challenges at hand,” he continues.
Brajesh Bajpai and Rishi Piparaiya
Inspire trust
Rishi Piparaiya, a leadership coach and former C-suite executive, asserts the importance of not letting the situation fester but actively engaging the team in problem-solving. “Especially in the case of young managers, it’s important for them to understand the value of active listening. By this, I mean conducting no-agenda meetings with the team at least once a quarter where the role of the leader is to simply listen to what the team has to say, without attempting to offer immediate resolutions. I also believe that one-on-one meetings can be more impactful as employees can feel emboldened to speak freely in the absence of peer pressure,” he adds.
Happy people make successful teams
During the early part of the lockdown, I noticed that one of my team members was frequently absent from calls while we were working on an important deal. I decided to engage him in a confidential and honest conversation about his poor performance, at which point, he confided that he was struggling with the as-yet unfamiliar digital workday and feelings of isolation. Recognising that others might be grappling with similar challenges, I proactively initiated bi-weekly informal calls with my team where we discussed everything else except work — from how they had been spending their time, to new recipes they had learned or hobbies they had taken up. I found out that our office had a mental health resource that employees could use as necessary, and encouraged my team to take advantage of it.
Debaditya Roy, 38, director of sales at DCX Technology
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