4. Forced awareness (exposure) is undesirable and usually ineffective.
Forced awareness tends to trigger reduction in the level of trust regarding intentions (and even competence), which in turn leads to increased anxiety. Forced awareness also tends to be interpreted as an evaluation of our own competence by another person or group of people. We can resist this interpretation by showing that we are competent. This usually produces an increased level of stress in us that, in turn, produces incompetence—a closed loop “deskilling” process that yields self-confirmation (“I told you he was incompetent”).
Case Example: Molly has been identified as an incompetent manager. She has been in charge of a department that prepares and prints many different kinds of forms for her large corporation. While the work gets done, there are often major delays in getting new forms printed and the turnover in her department is quite high.
Molly often gets unfavorable reviews from those reporting to her as well as her colleagues in other department who must coordinate activities with her. She is often described in annual reviews as being “stubborn” and “in denial” about her managerial dysfunction. Even with all of these bad “grades”, Molly remains on the job. Most people say she remains because the man who is her boss is “soft-hearted” and hates to fire anyone. Furthermore, he seems to be “blind” when it comes to an evaluation of Molly’s behavior. Other people in the corporation who know both Molly and her boss note that they often go out for a “drink” following work and have become good friends.
The managerial dysfunction crisis has come to “a head” with Molly’s boss being pressured by many of his own C-Suite colleagues to remove her from her managerial position. The soft-hearted boss can’t bring himself to confront Molly. Instead, he asks a member of the HR Department to confront Molly. This HR specialist (Doug) is noted as something of a “hard-ass” who doesn’t hold back when meeting with someone who is “not doing their job.”
Doug sets up a meeting with Molly and brings along all of her negative ratings over the past 3 years. He throws them down on the table in front of Molly and asks her several very difficult questions: “Tell me why these negative reviews are justified. Why should you remain as a manager? What are you going to do in order to keep from getting fired?” Doug has placed responsibility for improvement on Molly’s shoulders (knowing that Molly’s boss is not likely do anything about her dysfunctional behavior).
