The Heroic Slavedriver

FAILURE BEHAVIOR: 

DOING TOO MUCH, PUSHING TOO HARD. You, the heroic slavedriver, compulsively do too much, push too hard - not only yourself but all your reports. Nothing is ever enough. You're always calling for more or better or faster - obsessively. And you're often oblivious to it. The unattainable motivates you, not money.

IDENTIFY IT: People will not work for you. You stress people to 'burn-out'.  Talented people leave the company. They realize they are going to be driven into the ground if they don't get out. The pattern shows over time. Word spreads.

Routine upward feedback performance evaluations will identify you.

FIX IT: Do not eliminate this behavior pattern, - which is highly rewarded and therefore strongly reinforcing - moderate it.  Don't turn off, just judiciously 'ease off the throttle'. Assign an assistant the responsibility to act as an observer and feedback provider who tells you immediately when you go over the top.

Some can not change. This behavior is their way of life. They work incessantly. That is the way they normally function. They may best be encouraged to operate as self-employed independent contractors.

BENEFIT: This behavior pattern, when properly modified, has great potential for enormous career success. The heroic slavedriver is highly valuable and very successful in many industries, particularly where machinery rather than people are the key assets of the company or where brawn is more important than brains. Where the company's assets are primarily intellectual, that is, people, it is even more important that you understand others. When you do then you and your group become even higher performance people.