Page 95 - HBR Leader's Handbook: Make an Impact, Inspire Your Organization, and Get to the Next Level

Getting Great People on Board 85

• Team members competing for plum assignments, complaining
that they are not getting sufficient opportunities, or actively
looking for other jobs, which may suggest a lack of development
options

• Increasing backlogs of work without a clear sense of how to get it
all done or problems with quality or ability to meet commitments,
which may mean that some of your people are not up to the task
or you don’t have sufficient resources

• Conflicts between team members, either openly or in passive-
aggressive ways, which may indicate that the social and working
environment is not healthy

• Withholding information others need to succeed or setting others
up for failure, which can be signs of a toxic workplace
As a leader, you can’t always make everyone happy while achieving
your goals, but you can watch for indicators that the social contract isn’t
working. So take a look at your team and ask yourself whether the social
contract is being met or is showing signs of wear and tear.

passionate, is not upholding your end of the social contract, and is actually
doing a disservice to that person and to the rest of your team. (For more on
how the social contract can play out on a team level, see the box “How solid
is the social contract on your team?”)
What does the combination of dispassion and compassion look like?
Years ago, Welch asked one of his top leaders to come to his office dur- ing
the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. The leader, who ran a
multibillion-dollar business and had met his revenue and profitability
targets for the year, thought that the meeting was going to be about his
bonus or possibly even a promotion to run one of GE’s larger units. Instead,
Welch told him that he was being let go because his leadership style was
autocratic and based on fear, completely contrary to GE’s values. Welch