Marcia sat and reflected intently on her direct reports’ assessments of her leadership performance. She’d taken the unusual and risky step of giving her team permission to provide feedback to her about her management style. She promised them no repercussions for their honesty, and she assured them if there was consensus on any behavioral issue, she would consider making changes. Initially, her team was reluctant to share. She found this odd since she thought she’d created a culture of transparency and candidness. Eventually five of the eight came forward and shared their observations. Much to her surprise, she heard words like “overbearing”, “pushy”, “blunt”, and “demanding”. They said everything but “micromanager”, she thought, which she realized had been thinly veiled by the other words they’d used. Marcia was dismayed. She hadn’t realized she was perceived...
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