Page 127 - Becoming a Successful Manager

118 ESTABLISHING A SOLID DEPARTMENTAL FOUNDATION

noxious plant growing wild, especially one that grows profusely
or on cultivated ground to the exclusion or injury of the desired
crop.”
In business, weeds are not people but attitudes, behaviors,
and actions, either yours or your employees’, that are toxic to
your departmental garden. It is your job to recognize them and
remove them quickly, consistently, and systematically. When many
weeds come from the same source, you might need to remove the
source.

Identifying Departmental Weeds

Departmental weeds take a variety of forms; some are easy to iden-
tify and some are less obvious. Nevertheless, the key to removing
them is learning to recognize them. Again, weeds are attitudes,
behaviors, and actions that are:

• Not aligned with your departmental objectives and problem-
solving culture
• Nonproductive and prevent the betterment of your
department
• Noncollaborative and promote “siloed thinking” within
your workgroup

Following are descriptions of the most toxic weeds. To best
understand them, read each description and refl ect on specifi c
examples that exemplify these weeds in your own department.

• Defensiveness. Defensiveness of any sort is potentially the sin-
gle most pernicious weed. It usually grows from fear or insecu-
rity. Examples of defensive behavior are blaming, fi nding fault,