100 Ways to Motivate Others

Chapter 5. Stop Criticizing Upper Management

Two things are bad for the heart—running uphill and running down people.

—Bernard Gimbel

This is a huge temptation: distancing yourself from your own superiors.

Maybe you do this to win favor and create bonding at the victim level with the team, but it won’t work. In fact, what you have done will eventually damage the confidence of the team. It will send three messages that are very damaging to morale and motivation:

1. This organization can’t be trusted.

2. Our own management is against us.

3. Yours truly, your own team leader, is weak and powerless in the organization.

This leads to an unpleasant but definite kind of bonding, but it also leads to deep trust problems and further disrespect for ...