In general, your satisfaction with work is driven in part by whether your organization has a mission that is aligned with your values and goes about its work in a manner that is consistent with how you choose to live your life. I have written about the impact of values conflicts at work broadly before, but there are several specific problems that arise when you are a leader and the organization wants to do things that are a mismatch to your deeply held commitments.
When your organization wants to do something or pursue a project that violates a value you hold dear, it creates a significant impact for leaders. For one thing, you are more strongly identified with the organization by others than people lower down in the food chain. For another, you are likely to feel pressure to conform by other leaders. In addition, leadership roles are well-respected and well-compensated, so there are pressures not to rock the boat.
In addition, as a leader, you may feel like you have enough influence to change the direction the organization is going, so you may continue to do things you find problematic in the hope of blunting the impact of what you see as a bad path. Here are four steps to take if you find yourself in this position.
1. Understand your red lines
The problem is that the longer you do things that conflict with your values and engage with colleagues who have no qualms with that work, the more that psychological mechanisms of conformity begin to influence your thinking. At some point, you come to think of the world more similarly to your colleagues and may be less likely to see what you’re doing as problematic.
So, if you’re going to go down the path of continuing your work as a way of trying to provide resistance, you should write out a list of lines that you do not want to cross. Keep that list handy, because you will find yourself compromising. Rather than being led down a path in which you slowly give up on your values, use your initial list as a reminder of what your past self valued. That may help you to know when it is time to throw in the towel and leave the organization.
2. Maintain a firewall
It can be a noble effort to work behind the scenes to change a course of action you find problematic, but you have to be careful to protect the people who work for you. You should engage with people in parallel roles and those above you in the food chain. Have discussions. Argue your views. You may even ally with others in leadership roles you find to have similar views to your own.
Resist the urge to engage your team members in this effort, though. By virtue of your position, you are going to be persuasive to others who want to please you because you are their boss. If the organization persists in doing things you disagree with, you may ultimately find yourself leaving the organization (of your own volition or otherwise). You will not be able to protect anyone on your team from the repercussions of their actions. It is one thing if people choose to act on their own accord, but another thing entirely to encourage people to act along with you unless they understand the potential consequences of their actions.
3. Listen, empathize, and counsel
If you have a values conflict with the organization, it is likely that others share your reservations. They may even come to you to discuss it. For the reasons I just discussed, you should be careful sharing your own opinion on the situation. Start by listening with empathy and letting those team members know that you hear their concerns. You can advise them on the courses of action they may choose to take and counsel them on the potential consequences of what they choose to do.
If you choose to share your own opinion about the situation, then also share the approach you are taking. There are risks and benefits to speaking up about courses of action you disagree with. It is important that you and others in the organization be willing to stand up for what you believe in. But, everyone should do so with full awareness of the consequences and a willingness to suffer those consequences. For many people, the prospect of losing a job because they disagree with an organization’s course of action seems abstract, but it can have a significant impact on someone’s life when it becomes a reality. People who want to resist should ensure that they are mentally and financially prepared.
4. Respect different decisions
Finally, recognize that values conflicts also create true internal conflicts. People who choose to fight a course of action they disagree with should respect those who make a different decision. Your internal calculus and risk tolerance are different from those of your colleagues. You would certainly want others to respect the decisions you make, and you should accord others the same respect.