Impedership

Posted by admin on June 3, 2007

A new term, coined to represent the art of manager-to-employee de-motivation. An article in the Albuquerque Journal, titled People Don’t Leave Jobs They Leave Jerks was written by syndicated columnist Dale Dauten and you can read the Boston Globe published version of If You Act Like A Jerk, At Least Acknowledge It. This concept has spawned an interesting 13-minute management video, which was referenced in the article.

Naturally, the identification of impedership (or impeder management) is catching on with the working man. We now have a new Dilbertism to add to the lexicon of descriptors for bad management; but, it does nothing to improve the work place other than to provide a soon-to-be-overused term that derives an ironic chuckle followed by a half-wistful sigh and yields no alteration in management’s attitudes or behaviors. While impedership is real, the only people who can do something about it are the impeders themselves, and let’s just be honest about certain truths pertaining to the human condition:

1. No one changes behaviors they do not think are wrong to begin with.
2. Most (all?) actions are taken because there is an anticipated payoff or gain (perceived or real) for the individual.

This suggests that the impeder has a perceived payoff to de-motivating the employee. The impeder has an ingrained set of beliefs that tell them that to gain maximum productivity from the employee that they must exercise all manner of counter-productive tactics. It’s bizarre, dysfunctional, depressing, and exhausting. Most people leave bosses, not jobs. I believe it’s because they get over tired, and just can’t take the crazy whirling dervish of crap management.

The question doesn’t become “How do I identify an impeder boss?” but, “How do I positively influence my impeder boss to help them step out of the impeder role, and into the leader role?” and, if that doesn’t work, “How do I get the heck out of here?”

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