When asked how he felt about his former club becoming champions of Europe Jose Mourinho replied that it was achieved by the team he put together.
What must it be like to be sacked and then to see those who couldn’t get anything right suddenly delivering the very things they were unable to do when you were in charge. With no additional resources and no change in personnel suddenly anything is possible. Is it just a new managers honeymoon period? Are people who stopped trying, now trying to impress the new boss? It’s all come right but too late. Was the right strategy just not given sufficient time? Are the tactics so very different and is that sufficient explanation? Or did certain key individuals deliberately sabotage the operation, the ones who tried to undermine your authority, who questioned your decisions ,who thought they knew better. Did they go behind your back to let others know that they were unhappy with what they were being asked to do? Did they express their doubts and concerns in private knowing they would be leaked? Did they brief against you with talk of dissent and disquiet within the team? Demonstrate your not just the manager but the leader
At every level of management, whether first line or senior management , team manager or director I have encountered the situation where it has been necessary to assert that I was not only the manager but the leader. At its most troublesome this was more than a genuine difference of opinion but a power struggle where the individual would routinely take a sceptical or negative position. Outside of any team meeting the individual would question my leadership with a whispering campaign.
The standard response to this is to alienate the individual from the rest of the team. Once the loyalty of the others is assured, the individual must either be won over or removed. Their loyalty may be secured by giving them some enhanced official status or simply being seen to listen to their suggestions. If however if they persist in challenging your authority then may be its time for them take on a more responsible role, somewhere else! Which of course you will help them do as clearly their future lies elsewhere. This is all a lot easier if you have the support of your boss/ board. Which means letting them know that this individual is a negative influence, disrupting the team. You are of course hoping that they value you above an individual who may be popular and highly rated. It’s a risk, after all you are expected to be able to manage talented and opinionated individuals.
If things are going your way, your changes are working, progress is being made, then the odds are in your favour and you may yet be able to harness that talent. If however the promised progress has yet to show itself, the additional resources you requested are not forthcoming and your explanations are met with increased skepticism, then your days may be numbered.
Blair Mcpherson former Director, author and blogger www.blairmcpherson.co.uk
