LibraryScenariosWhen senior officials enable dysfunctional leadership while trying to protect their agency
Scenario

When senior officials enable dysfunctional leadership while trying to protect their agency

My deputy director and I have been covering for our commissioner's increasingly erratic decisions for eight months now and we've become really good at translating his contradictory directives to staff without admitting what we're doing. We're protecting the agency but I think we're also enabling something that's getting worse and I don't know how much longer we can keep this up without compromising our own integrity.

Aurelius
Online
The coach is replying

More people experience this than they realize.

What we've seen

You and a colleague keep covering for a boss whose decisions are getting worse, and it's eating at your integrity.

Ideas that help explain it
Worth thinking about

“Where Are You with Government — Public Administration?”

If this sounds familiar, the Library can help you find the bigger picture.