Since finishing my last article I decided to "return to my roots" so to speak and I accepted an offer to work for the employer that I worked for from 1982 to 1997. (editors note: man is this guy old!) When I left, I did it for personnel growth and opportunity (yes you can translate that into a better job for more money). All kidding aside I had hit a ceiling after 17 years of "moving up the ladder" at the old company. I had gotten side tracked into a business unit that supported the company business but was not the core business. I wanted to move into other areas and do different things, which had the potential for greater reward but my business unit was running well and making the company money and they wanted me to keep running it. The figured I wouldn't leave after 17 years, boy were they surprised.

Fast forward to 2005 and my old company, who is a customer of my new company asked if I was willing to come talk about things. Long story, close to twelve months talking, short answer: I agreed to go back in August of 2006. Got the title, Vice President, and all the perks that go with it, along with the headaches (doing my Joe Friday impression, "change the names to protect the innocent") the new employer is a pretty large company (top ten in its business in the US). .

I spent the first month and a half trying to get my arms around the changes made in the almost ten years I was gone. I was also trying to get to know the new folks, figure out what was broken and what wasn't, and of course keep the business running at a pretty fast pace. I'm not going to try and go into any details here, but the phrase "taking a sip of water from a fire hose" is a pretty fair description of my first couple of months back "home".

What I discovered is a pretty good lesson for everyone in leadership. I've labeled the management style of the guy I replaced as "The Wizard of Oz School of Leadership". You may remember from watching the movie that when Dorothy ventured to visit the Wizard to ask for help getting home she found a very large imposing door and heard the words "No one gets in to see the Wizard, not now... not ever". This pretty much summed up how he dealt with subordinates. Of course I am being a bit simplistic here, he was a very pleasant guy who did talk to people but if you had an issue or something tough to talk about he didn't want to see you and you better not force him to make a decision ether!

Even the Wizard has to answer questions through the door now and then and he developed a method for dealing with requests that he could not ignore. You basically got told one of the three stock answers; yes, no, or 'come back later'. No explanations, no discussions, no exceptions. This attitude also made subordinates feel that he was doing them a huge personal favor just to listen to them. Heaven forbid if the subordinate needed some help or a favor about something. Granting favors put you in debt for life and he was very good at helping you remember that you owe him.

Some folks may be saying, hey this isn't too bad a system. You do get an answer, at least sometimes, and there isn't a lot of discussion and arguing about things. The problems here are many. Having one guy, the Wizard, deciding everything eliminates communication between peers. Everyone builds their own little castle and throws fire bombs into other people's towers. The team is not a team, it is a collection of individuals and normally the guy with the most power or the one that is the loudest gets what he wants and too bad for everyone else. This tends to bring out the bully in some people who discover what it takes to get things approved from the Wizard.

Really good and smart people get frustrated and simply give up trying. They learn to settle for whatever crumbs that get tossed their way or they leave. Innovation is squelched since the Wiz would have to take a risk to try something different and the odds of getting enough face time behind the closed door are slim and none. Things pile up and no one "throws anything out" since the Wiz may get angry if he finds out. Beside tangible stuff that doesn't get tossed, processes and old ideas that have "always worked" are never questioned or thrown out either.

The Wiz is all knowledgeable so there is no need for him to ask the people he provides a service too if he is doing a good job, of course he is since he's been doing it forever. In a situation were he controls a system that lots of people have no choice but to use, no "customers" would dare to question him since it would mean they wouldn't get what they need to do the job. What is more likely to happen is customers will find a way to go around the Wiz but work hard to ensure he doesn't find out. Him and his department will eventually become irrelevant and extinct.

You might think that I believe the Wiz is the bad guy here, but I don't. His leaders are really at fault. They encouraged and supported bad management for years because the guy could sell ice to an Eskimo. He talked a good game and dazzled those with his brilliance (the guy is smart) and baffled them with his BS.

As a leader in a military type of organization it is really easy to fall into becoming a Wizard once you have enough stripes on your arm. Don't take the easy way out and become an autocrat or dictator. Learn to listen to your people, keep your door open them. Force them to communicate with each other. Don't be afraid to try new things and to bring in new ideas and new people. Push your leaders to do their job and to support you and your people. It isn't always easy but it will pay off in rewards in the long run.

As a side note, the castle builders have all learned to talk to each other. The didn't have much of a choice since I force them to come to a lunch meeting every week to discuss what is going on in their area. Senior management has come through in supporting the changes and in infusing some money into new stuff. Overhead and waste has been reduced by close to 40% simple by paying attention to what people say and managing the processes. Me, I don't have a lot of spare time on my hands to write articles (I started this one almost six months ago) but it is pretty cool to see a plan come together.