Brown Nosing and the Destruction of an Organization

Where is the line between enthusiasm and brownnosing? It is like the quality of a great painting. It is difficult to define but we all know it when we see it. A big part of the impression comes from what we think of the individual’s personality. People that are not well-liked are construed to have ulterior motives just because we don’t like them. It is fuel for the fire. But what is it that tips the balance? Is it one act or a series of smaller things?

Most people who develop the reputation, at least in my observational experience, set a pattern but it is usually one event that seals the deal. There is a common measure of what is expected in a co-worker. All jobs have some inherent unpleasant things which need to be done. That is the nature of work. People expect that. Most people want to get the job done and go home where the enjoyment is located. The brownnoser is different. An extra duty, particularly a “face time” event, where it is generally considered a pain to participate, finds the brownnoser overwhelmingly excited to be able to attend. That is one of the recognizable differentiating factors which identify the individual. Another identifying factor is the desire of those individuals to stop at any moment and tell anyone at great length how valuable the brownnoser’s efforts are and how the organization would be doomed without those efforts. Other co-workers contributions are recognized but one gets the sense of a grudging acceptance and feigned over-enthusiasm rather than real enthusiasm.

In order to make themselves part of the “in-crowd”, the brownnoser always speaks to others in a “just between us people in the know” attitude in order to give the impression that they are part of the inner circle. This usually involves dropping names of the powerful in the organization. This sucker-fish approach to riding on the coattails of power is an attempt to leverage the brownnoser into a position of more power in the organization. In Washington, DC, the saying is “The appearance of power is power”. That is because if someone thinks you are powerful, they will treat you with the proper deference, and therefore you are powerful because you get what you want. The brownnoser uses name-dropping to associate themselves with the powerful in order to appear to be part of that group.

The error in this approach with a smart boss is that the experienced intelligent boss also recognizes brown-nosing for what it is. Unfortunately, however, brownnosing often works. I remember an engineering job years ago where a peer that was universally regarded as a weak performer by his entire group of peers, with good reason, was rated number one in potential, by management, primarily on the basis of his organizing golf tournaments, which had nothing to do with his job. That is a recipe for poor morale and disgruntled employees. A number of excellent engineers left the organization because of that situation.

Communism was ultimately doomed to failure because it flew in the face of human nature. If there is no incentive to work harder, why would anyone do it? The brownnoser does the same thing to an organization. If the brownnoser succeeds preferentially, the other employees stop performing because they recognize their legitimate efforts are in vain. Their only defense is to begin brown-nosing as well and you end up with an organization consisting of two factions: the competing brownnosers and the disgruntled employees doing the minimum to maintain their jobs, similar to the ruling class and the masses in a Communist country. Unfortunately, most of us have been in an organization like that at some point. The only way to maintain your drive is to find another place to work. In fact, the most likely people to leave are the best performers because they are in the best position to get better jobs. You cannot work for long for people you don’t respect and those who unwittingly respond to the brownnoser are not respected. Therefore, to maintain the quality of an organization, managers must recognize the brownnoser and not allow their actions to reap favoritism. Only by avoiding that mistake will productivity and morale be sustained.

Teamwork and Stability

One thing that has become fairly apparent over the last few years is that teamwork and stability are pretty important in the success of an organization. There are some really outstanding examples of how not to manage an organization.

When Daniel Snyder bought the Washington Redskins, he clearly was a very successful businessman but just as clearly knew nothing about how to run a sports franchise. He thought that putting together a bunch of talented individuals from different systems would produce a great team. His teams struggled mightily despite the huge payrolls. His free agent acquisitions were routine busts. When he hired a proven coach who seemed to be turning the franchise around, Marty Schottenheimer, Snyder fired him after winning his final seven or eight games to hire Steve Spurrier from the University of Florida. There must be something cursed about Schottenheimer as he was fired from San Diego after a 14-2 season. In both cases, Steve Spurrier in Washington and Norv Turner in San Diego went on to have decidedly worse records than Schottenheimer. Snyder finally hired the legendary Joe Gibbs back and allowed several poor seasons before the Redskins organization got itself back together. Only a coach the stature of Gibbs would have been allowed to do that. When Gibbs retired this year, most of the organization was retained and little free agent action has taken place. It seems that finally Snyder has finally learned that stability is important.

There is an old saying the “The enemy of good is better” or “The enemy of good is perfect”. No where is that sentiment better represented than in the New York Yankees. Joe Torre wins three world championships and makes the playoffs in every year but one of his long tenure and he is fired. The Yankees organization laments on the old days when they won all the time. In those days however, you almost needed to be an archaeologist to mark changes in personnel other than pitchers, who generally have a shorter shelf life, anyway. There was stability in the organization and you knew every year that the team would be good. Of course, it always helped to have more money than the U. S. Mint. Mickey Mantle was offered a pay CUT in 1957 because he didn’t win the Triple Crown like he did in 1956. The Steinbrenner family is very similar to Daniel Snyder, and the US government for that matter, in that they feel money is the cure to every problem. They never take into account team chemistry. The best thing that happened to the Yankees in recent history is when they failed to sign Albert Belle who was well known team poison everywhere he went. Belle went to the Orioles and they have never been good since. Look at the response Alex Rodriguez received for one of the best offensive seasons in baseball history; he was booed by fans for the team’s finish. These are the same people who celebrated cheating the Baltimore Orioles out of a playoff game on an erroneous umpire call. It is hard to have empathy for them.

In the military, it is often said that the soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and airmen don’t fight for foreign policy but instead fight for their buddies next to them. It was well known in both Viet Nam and World War II that the replacements were thought of differently than the group that originally deployed together. There was a movie about the new Captain of a US Navy vessel who had his men build a sailboat for the ship. They were all angry about having to do it but another character in the movie recognized that by making the crew mad at him, the Captain had brought them together as a crew. Players and coworkers look out for one another when they have a relationship. Good coaches and executives recognize the need for cohesion. In the movie Remember the Titans, Denzel Washington’s coach character forced his players to learn about one another. Team chemistry is important to any organization and it takes time and stability to establish it. The people who go for the quick fix will always be left behind (and broke).

Brown Nosing and the Destruction of an Organization

Where is the line between enthusiasm and brownnosing? It is like the quality of a great painting. It is difficult to define but we all know it when we see it. A big part of the impression comes from what we think of the individual’s personality. People that are not well-liked are construed to have ulterior motives just because we don’t like them. It is fuel for the fire. But what is it that tips the balance? Is it one act or a series of smaller things? Most people who develop the reputation, at least in my observational experience, set a pattern but it is usually one event that seals the deal. There is a common measure of what is expected in a co-worker. All jobs have some inherent unpleasant things which need to be done. It is the nature of work. People expect that. Most people want to get the job done and go home where the enjoyment is located. The brownnoser is different. An extra duty, particularly a “face time” event where it is generally considered a pain to participate finds the brownnoser overwhelmingly excited to be able to attend. That is one of the recognizable differentiating factors which identify the individual. Another identifying factor is the desire of those individuals to stop at any moment and tell anyone at great length how valuable the brownnoser’s efforts are and how the organization would be doomed without those efforts. Other co-workers contributions are recognized but one gets the sense of a grudging acceptance and feigned over-enthusiasm rather than real enthusiasm. In order to make themselves part of the “in-crowd”, the brownnoser always speaks to others in a “just between us people in the know” attitude in order to give the impression that they are part of the inner circle. This usually involves dropping names of the powerful in the organization. This sucker fish approach to riding on the coattails of power is an attempt to leverage the brownnoser into a position of more power in the organization. In Washington, DC, the saying is “The appearance of power is power”. That is because if someone thinks you are powerful, they will treat you with the proper deference, and therefore you are powerful because you get what you want. The brownnoser uses name-dropping to associate themselves with the powerful in order to appear to be part of that group.

The error in this approach with a smart boss is that the experienced intelligent boss also recognizes brown-nosing for what it is. Unfortunately, brownnosing often works. I remember an engineering job years ago where a peer that was universally regarded as a weak performer by his entire group of peers, with good reason, was rated number one in potential by management primarily on the basis of his organizing golf tournaments which had nothing to do with his job. That is a recipe for poor morale and disgruntled employees. A number of excellent engineers left the organization because of that situation. Communism was ultimately doomed to failure because it flew in the face of human nature. If there is no incentive to work harder, why would anyone do it? The brownnoser does the same thing to an organization. If the brownnoser succeeds preferentially, the other employees stop performing because they recognize their legitimate efforts are in vain. Their only defense is to begin brown-nosing as well and you end up with an organization consisting of two factions: the competing brownnosers and the disgruntled employees doing the minimum to maintain their jobs. Unfortunately, most of us have been in an organization like that at some point. The only way to maintain your drive is to find another place to work. In fact, the most likely people to leave are the best performers because they are in the best position to get better jobs. You cannot work for long for people you don’t respect and those who unwittingly respond to the brownnoser are not respected. Therefore, to maintain the quality of an organization, managers must recognize the brownnoser and not allow their actions to reap favoritism. Only by avoiding that mistake will productivity and morale be sustained.