Los Angeles:
It was early in the Tony Scott film Unstoppable (2010). A railroad engineer makes a stupid mistake with a train
he was maneuvering in the yard. He was nervous, said he didn’t want to get
yelled at by his boss again, and resultingly did the wrong thing. His
anxiety-rendered behaviors produced a runaway freight train that might
still be hurtling somewhere if not for the heroism of Denzel Washington, Chris
Pine and Rosario Dawson.
I have never yelled at a colleague and
can’t recall ever being yelled at myself. It’s only natural, right? None of us
wants to be humiliated and dehumanized in such a manner.
More important, people shut down when
they’re being verbally excoriated and shut out what is being said. They stop listening and crawl into a protective shell. It’s not
exactly the best way to engage in a tough-minded inquiry or a teachable moment. As with our railroad
friend, the victims of constant yelling can become dysfunctional, too, in ways
that put plans, operations and even lives at risk.
I consider frequent yellers to be
self-indulgent, emotionally immature creeps and, as such, strategically
impaired when it comes to leading and developing their people. Besides, keeping
control of your emotions with a low and firm voice and direct eye contact can
be a tougher, more demanding way to address a performance matter than simply
blasting somebody.
Apologists for screamers often equate
melting down abusively with somehow being tough. Yelling at a subordinate - or
at least doing so regularly - is anything but tough. It’s a profound
weakness. These same folks like to point to the
success of screamers in sports and performing arts such as Sir Alex Ferguson,
Vince Lombardi, Pat Summit, Herbert von Karajan, Leonid Bernstein and Stanley
Kubrick as proof that constant yelling works. Well, most of us don’t lead and
work in sports and performing arts and most of us reject the idea that excessive yelling in any context is ever warranted.
It’s different in office life. Or is
it? The folkloric business success attached to screamers-in-chief such as Steve
Jobs, Larry Ellison and Martha Stewart seems to suggest that there’s a place
for it there, too. Okay, MIT Sloan School’s Michael
Schrage, could this be true? I'm reminded of Schrage’s 2013 Harvard Business
Review article, “Is It OK to Yell at Your Employees?”
He argued that “high-decibel intensity”
has its place. “To be sure, yelling doesn't make someone a better leader or manager," Schrage wrote. “But the
notion that raising one’s voice represents managerial weakness or a failure of leadership seems to be prima facie nonsense.
The empirical fact pattern suggests that in a variety of creative and intensely
competitive talent-rich disciplines around the world, the most successful
leaders actually have yelling as both a core competence and brand attribute.
These leaders apparently benefit from the acoustic intensity of their
authenticity and the authenticity of their intensity,” he added. I love it ... yelling as "a core competence," no less.
Schrage was supported by Stanford’s
Robert Sutton, too, whose 2007 book “The No Asshole Rule” I thoroughly enjoyed.
Sutton wrote to Schrage at the time, “Much of it (yelling) comes down to intent and
impact, so does it leave the person feeling demeaned and de-energized? Or is it
taken as acceptable and expected, and even as a sign of caring?”
Schrage responded in his 2013 HBR article, "When I look at the
organizations that seem to have the greatest energy and drive, the
conversations aren’t whispered and the disagreements aren’t polite. Raised
voices mean raised expectations. The volumes reflect intensity, not
intimidation.” Of course, we sometimes raise our voices a bit. Of course, we don't whisper. Of course, there are moments not to be especially polite. None of that makes truly yelling at somebody acceptable or effective, however.
I don't agree with what seems to
be enabling rationalizations among scholars for people who can’t behave themselves decently. Besides, some of this may be changing generationally, too. On the other hand, I'm not yet ready to dismiss their point fully.
Image courtesy of Philadelphia Employment Lawyer