Risk & Business Magazine California Fall 2017 | Page 20

DIMINISHERS VS. MULTIPLIERS
Are You An Accidental Diminisher?
Diminishers Vs. Multipliers
G
regory Pal hired Michael,
a talented individual
with rich foreign trade
experience, to help
his renewable energy
company’s efforts to expand rapidly into
Brazil. But in an effort to help Michael,
Gregory would often jump in to solve
problems. Because Michael was still new,
Gregory gave him the easy assignments
and piecemeal tasks that were not suited
for someone like Michael with highly
developed skills. Then, because Michael
was the only team member working
remotely, Gregory would often end up
representing him in meetings. After a
few months, Michael was using just 20
to 25 percent of his talent on the job.
DIMINISHERS VS. MULTIPLIERS
Michael’s case is hardly an isolated one.
In fact, it illustrates an all-too-common
workplace phenomenon, leadership
poorly exercised. Consider these two
questions: Have you ever worked
for a leader who underutilized your
20
talent or made you question your own
intelligence? Or, have you worked for a
leader who drew on every ounce of your
brainpower and even made you smarter
and more capable?
We call the first type of leader a
Diminisher and the second type a
Multiplier. Diminishers tend to assume
that “people will never figure this out
without me,” while Multipliers believe
“people are smart and will figure it out.”
After analyzing data from more than
200 leaders across four continents, our
research showed that most managers
underestimate how widely employees’
talent is underutilized. When we began,
we expected that Multipliers would get
more from their people. However, we
were surprised by just how much more
they actually received: Multipliers
accessed employees’ capabilities 1.97
times than Diminishers, nearly twice
as much. In other words, leaders who
are Multipliers essentially double the
intellectual power of their workforce at
no incremental cost.
Imagine what your organization would
be like if everyone led like a Multiplier,
successfully enabling the team to apply
the full range of its intelligence and
depth of capabilities? The problem,
however, is that most leaders think they
are getting more from their people than
they really are.
THE ACCIDENTAL DIMINISHER
While the stereotypical Diminisher is
the tyrannical bully and know-it-all, it
turns out that Diminishers actually
aren’t all jerks, and some are really good
people. While the narcissistic leaders
grab the headlines, the vast majority
of diminishing happening inside our
workplaces is done by the Accidental
Diminisher — managers with the best of
intentions, good people who think they
are doing a good job leading.
How might we, with the very best
intentions, be having a diminishing
impact on the people we lead? Can