THE DEFENDER: ANOTHER ENEMY TO LEARNING

Mark challenged Jim to defend his position in a meeting. Jim snarled at Mark, shutting him up. After all, Jim was the boss. Jim's response, reported to us later, was to feel pressured, combative, and annoyed. We say that Jim's response was sourced by the "Defender" or automatic (reaction) component of human beings.

The automatic mode has an important purpose&emdash;to make sure people survive physically. Obviously, basic survival is critical to any next steps people intend to take in their work. The automatic mode also works to keep people's identity intact by making sure they are operating inside the bounds of the sort of person they say they are and, sometimes, that the corporation says they should be. The automatic side works continuously to keep people’s "sense of themselves" intact--for better or for worse.

The defender is natural and needed so our intent is not to make the defender wrong but rather to see whether it is supporting our stated intentions in any given moment. In this case, Jim later realized he had suppressed Mark, who simply wanted to open up a dialogue and begin to participate more fully by "thinking with" Jim. Interestingly, Jim had requested that his managers join him in thinking through issues in a previous meeting.

Emotions and Reactions

The defender prizes certainty and answers. Emotional reactions are triggered when we are challenged. If the challenge brings up feelings of uncertainty, we may begin to defend our position. Like many people, Jim had learned to attack whenever his direct reports questioned or challenged him. He made it a habit to be fully prepared with his own solutions to problems prior to attending his own meetings so that he would leave little room for questions. We have observed other people turn inward or get quiet when they feel they are being challenged. Being challenged revealed something interesting about Jim's automatic side. That is, as problems arose, he would figure out a solution on his own and then make a decision. We call this unilateral decision-making. Whenever Jim went into a meeting after previously spending considerable time resolving the problem on his own, he was quite naturally upset when anyone dared question him.

Unwittingly, Jim backed his unilateral decisions with emotions. These emotions manifest as righteousness when we are questioned, especially when we are strongly attached to our solutions. "Being right" becomes an effective control method. This can be an especially strong response when someone has hierarchical power or authority. However, this strong tendency to be right destroys efforts to collaborate.

Without your realizing it, your automatic side can keep you from moving forward in your projects. Unwittingly, you accomplish the purpose of protecting your identity, but you have not spoken or acted from an appropriate concern for or attention to the project. In these moments, people do not "...keep the end in mind," as Steven Covey tells us in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Team members are not available for collaborating or cooperating with others when they are on "automatic". They are simply reacting from their history, attempting to defend themselves. The problem is that when people are not aware of this phenomenon, they don't see why projects slip or fail.

Over time, everyone learns how to control situations as a defense against being overwhelmed by various demands. In corporations, the authoritative or patriarchal model of leadership stems from this need for control. Managers think, make decisions, and command. The rest comply. High-level managers often unwittingly control the flow of requests from people seeking their ideas and/or decisions simply by regulating or limiting their availability or the time they take to respond to subordinates' requests. This, of course, is the classic "bottleneck" and leads to breakdowns in delivery.

We are not implying that control is a bad thing. Rather, we are suggesting that control as an automatic, undesigned, defensive managerial response to various situations does not usually lead to productive outcomes. As noted earlier, the defender, with its emotions, negatively impacts our ability to coordinate actions, collaborate with others, and draw out the best from our people.

The Collaborative Side

Humans possess a collaborative side that works to share understanding. Yet there are times when collaboration is unwittingly blocked by various factors, one of which is the defender. Becoming aware of the defender allows you, as a manager, to recognize when you are stopping the forwarding of discussions that might lead to productive action. Recognizing that you have been triggered and that you are operating in the defender mode gives you the opportunity to shift to your more collaborative side. Doing this allows you to design conversations that lead to increased productivity, satisfaction, and long-term well-being.

As an assignment, we ask that you do two things. One is to observe others being triggered into their defender mode over the next few days at work or at home. Second, begin to observe when you have been triggered. You'll know that you are defending because you will not be receptive to the speaking of another and you will more than likely react or at least want to react in a negative way. We are not asking that you do anything about your defender reaction at this time, simply observe that you are operating from what we call the defender mode.

Oh, by the way, as you observe the defender's reactions, something magical happens. You will become more aware of yourself in the moment and you will become more powerful! People around you become even more productive and innovative.

Next month we take our first look at what we call Committed Communication, a system for producing and innovating through the efforts of others. Large companies and small have used this system to increase buy-in for projects, productivity, satisfaction and morale.