“When we feel good, we do much better at work” ~ Raine Eisler, The Power of Partnership
Over my years in corrections, I have been exposed to many leaders who were very dominant and aggressive in their approach to management. Usually, this caused people to become uncomfortable around them because they were constantly in competition with staff to stay smarter, stronger, and more aggressive about correctional business and life in general.
Somehow, these types of leaders feel this approach to human relations in corrections will inspire staff to higher levels of performance. Instead, under most conditions, staff tend to dread working with them. This, in turn, leads to them withholding the sort of voluntary work effort that they would be capable of offering under more agreeable circumstances.
I will always remember the Warden yelling and brow beating their targets in the presence of other staff. Recently, I heard the sad tale of a correctional leader taking some sort of sick pleasure in threatening to “fire” people in public forums.
Use words as tools not weapons
The greatest leaders I have known in corrections did NOT see themselves as leaders in the traditional sense. Although they wouldn’t hesitate to exercise their authority when needed, most of the time staff saw them as a partner and equal participant of the team rather than as the leader in a more dominant/submissive relationship.
These are the leaders that harness the power of partnership. They show a sense of respect and sensitivity towards others. This difference may seem subtle, but has major positive effects on staff and organizational performance over time. It opens doors to possibilities of greater success when staff feel better about their work environment. As Eisler notes in The Power of Partnership, scientific studies show that “when we feel good, we do much better work”. Likewise, Steven Covey, author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, says that highly effective people forge effective relationships with others.
Restructuring correctional leadership
It is my opinion that private, world-wide, corporations have long since operated through effective partnerships rather than traditional, dominant/submissive leadership. For most, it is the basis for survival in the difficult world business market.
In Finding Our Way – Leadership for an Uncertain Time, Margaret Wheatley indicates that in relationships where leaders forge partnerships instead of dominance “productivity gains are at a minimum 35 percent higher than in traditionally managed organizations.”
It seems to me that this gain in productivity and success without adding additional resources would be a welcome relief to corrections in the midst of the enormous challenges it faces today. Leadership in corrections is often stunned by the urgent and immediate tasks that present themselves continuously, and fail to comprehend the long-term losses by not attending to the quality of the relationships that matter.