All hands on deck, hopefully

What do you do when someone will not follow your lead?

Just after the Costa Concordia cruise ship grounded near the shoreline of Italy, I received an email asking me to listen to a voice recording conversation, posted online, between Captain Francesco Schettino and Captain Gregorio De Falco. The emailer was interested in hearing my view on how Mr De Falco, the shore captain who was giving orders, behaved from a leadership point of view.

With Mr Schenttino safely in a lifeboat, he received the now famous command from Mr De Falco: "You go aboard, captain. It is an order." And the world knows of Mr Schettino's obstinate refusal to fulfil his duty and be on board the sinking ship.

After listening to this conversation, one might wonder what a leader should do when a subordinate refuses to follow. Obviously, this is a situation every leader hopes to avoid but is inevitably confronted with at some point - even on a small scale.

The refusal to follow may not be as blatant and clear as it was with Mr Schenttino's outright insubordination. But it still shows up in the workplace, often in subtle or below-the-radar ways.

Unfortunately, the typical leader's reaction mimics that of Mr De Falco - repeating instructions again, but with more force. I've never understood why the default action when a direction is not followed is to say it slower and louder.

As a leader, the first step to take when confronted with a team member who is not following your lead is a bit of introspection. Why use introspection, when it is the other person who is not following?

The primary onus of leadership resides with the leader - not the follower. So, if what a leader is doing is not working, then the first course of action should be on determining if there is a better way to lead the follower that will deliver the desired outcome. Often, the reason people do not follow is related to one of these four scenarios:

They do not understand what the leader is asking, so the follower needs clear direction.

They do not have the capability to do what is being asked. Here, the follower understands the direction, but does not know how to do it so they need improvement and confidence.

They do not trust or respect the leader.

They are not motivated to do what is asked.

But there does come a time when, if someone does not want to follow, you cannot force them.

As a leader, after making sure that you are doing all you can, you may have to give up on the follower and find another way to achieve your goal.

Tommy Weir is an authority on fast-growth and emerging-market leadership, the author of The CEO Shift and the managing director of the Emerging Market Leadership Centre

business@thenational.ae

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