David Noer, the Frank S. Holt Jr. Professor of Business Leadership, analyzed the performance of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners in a story that appeared in the Aug. 6 edition of the Greensboro News & Record.
The board, often in the news because of personal clashes and explosive meetings, is guilty of what Noer describes as “the seven deadly group leadership sins,” listed below:
- Personalization of conflict
- Win/lose debate instead of productive dialogue
- Inability to “hear” or learn from feedback
- Failure to engage in helping relationships
- Narrow, rigid and sterotypic self-definition
- Self-referencing and internal focus
- Inability to let go of what no longer works.
“The name-calling, stereotyping and scapegoating by the Guilford commissioners only create defensiveness, animosity and mistrust,” Noer writes. “It is antithetical to responsible leadership.”
Noer, who has studied and written extensively on leadership and organizational behavior, writes a monthly column on those topics for the News & Record. He is also an honorary fellow at the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro.