Perspectives in Decision Making
The Impact of Management Archetypes — Yes Men
This article is aimed at providing perspective into various forms of leadership and management. The first few iterations will work through various archetypes or management styles. These archetypes were selected from the internet and are not meant to be comprehensive or complete — merely illustrative and thought-provoking.
This article will tackle those managers commonly referred to as Yes Men.
How they rose to leadership?
Say what you will about the typical Yes Man, they are dependable. Yes Men can be counted on to support management. For able executives, they are able lieutenants.
This is also their path to promotion. As their executives succeed, so do they. They are elevated to leadership roles in order to continue to rally the troupes to managements scheme.
How are their decisions influenced?
The biggest liability of the Yes Man is that they rarely make their own major decisions. Their high-level views are a mirror image of their bosses.
Minor decisions are influenced by their loyal and consistent support of leadership. They will say and do whatever is required to support their managers.
As denoted by their name, Yes Men only say No to asks that contradict their original Yes. And even that exception only exists if the question did not come down from on high. Yes Men have little issue in contradicting themselves in an effort to support their leaders.
How does this influence prioritization?
Theoretically, a competent Yes Man is immensely focused on prioritizing the activities required to support the executive team. Unfortunately, their willingness to contradict themselves rather than management also means they are willing to deploy resources against contradictory efforts.
Yes Men are highly reticent to independently evaluate their prioritization. In their view, the boss has already evaluated the situation. Why create noise?
How can businesses best make use of Yes Men?
The answer lies in leveraging their loyalty and focus while protecting them from their unwillingness to question authority. These managers will be hard pressed to deal with heavy volatility and uncertainty.
On the other hand, Yes Men are rarely phased by adversity. They are not easily bored or distracted. If your company needs a leader who can focus and deliver, they may be the perfect fit.
Don’t underestimate the value of these dedicated leaders. Just don’t depend on them provide perspective, critical feedback, or innovation either.
Miss our first article on Micromanagers? Read it here.
Perspectives in Decision Making is a series created by Corsair’s Institute to provide the reader with a perspective on the decision-making process. For more articles like these — please subscribe to Corsair’s Business.
