Who Are Your Allies in Your Organization?

al·ly
noun
1 — a plant or animal linked to another by natural genetic or evolutionary relationship.
2 — one usually a sovereign or state united, banded, or associated with another in a common cause or by treaty or league.
3 — someone or something associated with another as a helper.
(Source: the Unabridged Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

There is an easy way to identify who your allies really are in your pursuit of organizational transformation —

All you need to do is to see, in a time of crisis, who actually:

Supports and helps you altruistically and consistently,
Chooses to save you instead of saving themselves, and
Trusts you and honours your trust consistently

The three defining factors of a real ally is selfless compassion, genuine integrity and reciprocal trust.

Let’s look at several different cases across the organizational hierarchy.

Working-Level Employee

If you are a working-level employee, then your allies are likely to be the people you invest in building relationship with, across the organization.

Your manager can become your ally. Possible, but improbable, because — let’s be honest — how many of your managers:

Support and help you altruistically and consistently?
Choose to save you instead of saving themselves in time of crisis?
Trust you and honour your trust consistently?

My guess: not many, if at all.

More often than not, your managers are not your allies in organizational transformation.

Middle Management

If you are a middle manager, then who are your allies?

Some may think that, as middle management, your executives are your allies. Possible, but improbable, because — let’s be honest — how many of your executives:

Support and help you altruistically and consistently?
Choose to save you instead of saving themselves in time of crisis?
Trust you and honour your trust consistently?

My guess: very few, if at all.

More often than not, your executives are not your allies in organizational transformation.

Your team of people is far more likely to become your allies, because if your leadership is not a problem, then your team is the most likely bunch of people who choose to believe in your cause, choose to trust you and honour your trust, and, most importantly, choose to stand with you in time of crisis.

Executives

If you are an executive yourself, then who are your allies?

Some may think that, your allies may be shareholders and other higher authorities inside or outside your organization. Possible, but improbable, because — let’s be honest — how many of your shareholders and higher authorities:

Support and help you altruistically and consistently?
Choose to save you instead of saving themselves in time of crisis?
Trust you and honour your trust consistently?

My guess: very few, if at all.

More often than not, your shareholders and higher authorities are not your allies in organizational transformation.

Your management team of people is far more likely to become your allies, because if your leadership is not a problem, then your management team are the most likely bunch of people who choose to believe in your cause, choose to trust you and honour your trust, and, most importantly, choose to stand with you in time of crisis.

The Middle Management Dilemma

As middle management, you want to be the ally both to your executives and to your team.

Consequently, you may have two sides to save in time of crisis: your executives and your team. If you can only save one, which side would you save, your executives or your team?

That’s the ultimate leadership dilemma to middle management.

Or is it?

When a team stand behind a manager to save the latter, they might as well also be able to save themselves.

In exactly the same sense, when middle management choose to save their executive instead of saving the team, they might as well be saving themselves.

While choosing to save their team instead of their executive doesn’t have the same benefit.

That’s exactly why, far more often than not, middle management, in a time of crisis, choose to stand with their executives instead of standing by their teams, and they tend to choose to save their executives — in hope it also saves themselves — instead of saving their teams.

Leadership is generally very hard.

Middle management leadership is particularly hard when you truly care about your team. Extremely difficult when you sincerely want to save them in a time of crisis.

Thus the incentive structure is clear:

Executives have no incentive to save their middle management
Middle management have no incentive to save their teams
Consequently, their teams have no incentive to give their best, trust and loyalty to their leadership

That vicious circle is very hard to break as long as the organizational system is not designed to change its misplaced incentives.