In management, specifically leadership, there’s a principle called the ‘chain of command’. That principle holds that instruction comes down from more senior managers to middle/junior managers, and through to their teams. Feedback on those instructions comes back up from the teams, through junior/middle management and on to the senior managers.
A related principle is unity of command, which holds that each employee must have only one person that they report to. Failure to follow this chain of command results in a bunch of problems. For example, a team member may bypass their manager either in reporting information or requesting a decision is made. This not only undermines the authority and position of the manager but makes it extremely difficult for the manager to plan, use resources and generally manage.
Having a chain of command between senior management and team members helps create a clear communication line between the top and bottom of the business, improving co-ordination and motivation since employees know what is expected of them and when. Having a single person to report to means the employee knows where to take instructions from, and avoids conflicting instructions/priorities.
Complaints, quibbles, disagreements, grumbles, on the other hand – gripes, specifically – only go up. They never go down.
This is illustrated by Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan – the scene goes something like this:
Private Jackson: Sir – I have an opinion on this matter.
Captain Miller: Well, by all means, share it with the squad.
Private Jackson: Well, from my way of thinking, sir, this entire mission is a serious misallocation of valuable military resources.
Captain Miller: Yeah. Go on.
Private Jackson: Well, it seems to me, sir, that God gave me a special gift, made me a fine instrument of warfare.
Captain Miller: Reiben, pay attention. Now, this is the way to gripe. Continue, Jackson.
Private Jackson: Well, what I mean by that, sir, is… if you was to put me and this here sniper rifle anywhere up to and including one mile of Adolf Hitler with a clear line of sight, sir… pack your bags, fellas, war’s over. Amen.
Private Reiben: Oh, that’s brilliant, bumpkin. Hey, so, Captain, what about you? I mean, you don’t gripe at all?
Captain Miller: I don’t gripe to *you*, Reiben. I’m a captain. There’s a chain of command. Gripes go up, not down. Always up. You gripe to me, I gripe to my superior officer, so on, so on, and so on. I don’t gripe to you. I don’t gripe in front of you. You should know that as a Ranger.
Private Reiben: I’m sorry, sir, but uh… let’s say you weren’t a captain, or maybe I was a major. What would you say then?
Captain Miller: Well, in that case… I’d say, “This is an excellent mission, sir, with an extremely valuable objective, sir, worthy of my best efforts, sir. Moreover… I feel heartfelt sorrow for the mother of Private James Ryan and am willing to lay down my life and the lives of my men – especially you, Reiben – to ease her suffering.”
It’s tempting for employees to bitch about their boss, managers above them, or the assignment they’ve been given. But as a manager or team leader, when you have employees under you, you can’t join in with this griping, no matter whether you agree with it or not. It’s your responsibility to nip it in the bud and tell them it’s not on. The consequences of not following this simple principle are that you risk losing the respect of your team, and you also risk losing the respect of those above you if your griping to your team members is discovered.
That applies to everything, from instructions to strategy and decisions you don’t agree with. If you have an issue with these decisions, there’s an appropriate forum for your concerns – and that’s the people above you, in line with the chain of command. If they won’t listen to you, tough. At the end of the day, you’re here for one reason – to lead your subordinates in carrying out the Company’s strategy. You can’t do that by whinging about it and your team will be less motivated and won’t perform as well if all they hear is you moaning about the jobs you’re giving them or the people making decisions for them.