The downward dog leader

Welcome back.  So in the last episode we were looking at catalytic leaders.  Leaders of people who radiate energy outwards and enthuse others with the sense of the possible.  I’m sure you’ve met someone like this.   I’m also sure you’ve met many leaders who felt at least at the time like the complete opposite.

Finding the opposite of the catalytic leader

What’s the opposite of a catalytic convertor?   Given I will find myself typing catalytic convertor a lot in these blogs I feel like I want to short them to cats and since we need a good bit of rivalry and what’s better as a rival to a cat than a dog, we’ll call the opposite of a catalytic convertor a downward dog.  Unfair on the dogs, I have a dog sleeping happily next to me whilst I write this article – I don’t judge and to be honest as long as he’s fed and walked regularly neither does the dog.

As we looked at in the last article for a cat, the concept of the idea is paramount.   A cat’s super strength is in spinning the ball so you can see a new angle, perhaps one not seen before and then bringing in some new players to add more energy and more perspective.   The cat motive is to grow the idea, not grow themselves and it’s all about positive forward momentum.

The dominant voice is not that of the cat, but of the best person placed to hold the room at that point in time.  Ego is left at the door.  Status is an enabler, not a symbol.  What matters is the idea finds fertile ground to grow.

Introducing downward dog

For our downward dogs, the ego is quite central.  Dogs were often raised in the competitive pack mentality searching for the alpha and now they’re it and not letting go.  Whether an alpha with stripes on their shoulders or an alpha with lots of knowledge, when a new idea is introduced, their judgement on the idea is critical as often is their approval.

Alpha dogs weigh up the idea for its merits but also its reputational impacts and this means sometimes ideas that have organisational merit but do little for the reputation of the alpha don’t spark attention.   If you work around an alpha dog then you will know they are in charge, they will critique the idea to improve it and be in no uncertain terms that they’ll not risk their reputation on anything less than either perfect or the realisation of their own idea.   It’s a bruising experience.

If you work with a catalytic leader, you’ll see behaviour that is all about elevating your thinking.  The whole process is additive.

If you work for a downward dog, you’ll see behaviour that is defensive and critical, often in the pursuit of improving the idea but casualties abound along the side of the road in the pursuit of excellence.  The whole process is reductive.

Traits of the downward dog

Downward dogs take on many traits.  They can be very intelligent.  But unlike the catalytic leaders, this intelligence is used coupled with ego to ensure everyone recognises and respects that intelligence – all hail me the smartest person in the room.   Even why attempting to be helpful, it’s important you know that they are well read, well-educated and well-connected.    Sometimes this happens without any malice or intent – I’m just made this way.   On occasions though it is a deliberate action based around ego and in extreme cases it has been known for leaders to purposely select new folks entering the team based on a perception of ability which needs to be good enough but not so good that it could be a survival threat. 

Downward dogs sit at the centre of decision making, nothing moves without their say so

Our downward dogs sit at the centre of decision making.  If their name is associated with this thing then it has to be right as far as they are concerned.  And this has a tendency of producing a whole side industry of approvals, revisions and people scurrying around second guessing what our friend the dog will think of it, what it will take to get their approval.  

In the background a lot of energy is being expended less on enhancing the idea and more around how to match the expectations of our leader.   Downward dogs inherently don’t trust their team as much as they trust themselves.  In extreme cases this mean filtering messages that the downward dog is known to find tricky to accept.   It’s entirely counterproductive as it means the dog trusts the team even less and seeks to compensate by tightening their role as the master approver of everything and in response to that often middle managers, fearful of their own exposure, start to take on the downward dog psyche too.

Downward dogs always have an opinion, and they’re usually right of course

Our downward dog always has an opinion and will be vocal in sharing that opinion.   They’ve been there, or been somewhere and are keen to ensure people recognise their superior networks, knowledge or experience except it’s not always used in the service of improving the idea.  

If they’ve a contact who can improve things – they’ll likely make the call because remember, ego comes first.  What this means is often teams around our downward dog wait for direction because they know it will come, even when not asked and going ahead without direction or agreement often results in re-work.  So once again the downward dog, despite not being able to be everything, everywhere all at once has locked up the organisation through his own ego.

Our downward dog often works at speed and vocalises working even faster.  Unaware of necessary detail and caring even less, downward dog ploughs ahead with people running to keep up.  There’s something to be admired around a pace setter but this behaviour has two diminishing effects, it place pressure on the team to maintain a sustained yet exhausting pace and rather than focussing on the idea, resources are expended behind the scenes cleaning up the mild damage and putting things right as our downward dog leader proudly proclaims we have to break a few things around here.

When downward dogs collide

What happens when a downward dog meets another coming the other way?   Well it’s rarely the ground for collaboration so things can get territorial – whose idea was it anyway.  Or competitive and a race to the finishing line to see who comes first.  Not the best overall use of organisational resources but for downward dog once again, ego comes first.

It’s not great to be working for downward dogs for a sustained period of time but we’ve all had to and lived to tell the tale.  It’s just we look around and reflect things could have been so much better, more productive, more innovative, more collaborative because these are words that aren’t usually in circulation around our downward dog.

Retraining the downward dog

So what can you do if you’re here and want to try and pivot your downward dog to a catalytic cat?

Firstly get curious about where they’re coming from and of their intentions.  Lots of downward dogs act out this way because that’s all they’ve known, it’s how they were born and raised since being a young pup and how they learned to survive in the pack.  And in a bygone age where things worked a lot slower, learning and copying pretty much what your mentor did was a way to get on. 

Things are different now.  Often downward dogs are micro-managing out of fear of irrelevance and need a bit of support to see they are still valued for their experience, just done in a different way.

Next take ownership instead of indulging your downward dog’s love of rescuing the battlefield and then telling everyone about it afterwards.  So set out your ground, what you’ll own, what contribution you want from them.  If things are going wrong, own up to it, explain the strategy you’re going to pursue, create the space around you and put your new plan into action.  Tell your downward dog what role you want them to play to support you, give them limited space to come in and play the rescuer.

And thirdly for now, learn from an leverage the strengths they have.  If they are a perfectionist, create the conditions specifically for that critical review of detail to ensure things are right – box it it and make sure your Downward Dog knows you want them to work within that box.  If they’re a speedy pace setter then set up your encounter specifically with that objective in mind.  State your mission – to get their input on how to make things work faster and hold them in that space.  You’ll get some valuable input, just ensure they don’t step in to play the rescuer.

Remember however frustrating it is working for a downward dog, it’s likely down to how they were raised rather than who they really are – it’s how they learned success and survival.   But rest assured, with care and training, you can always teach the old dog new tricks.