Tall Poppy syndrome is, according to wikipedia,
‘a social phenomenon in which people of genuine merit are resented, attacked, cut down, or criticised because their talents or achievements elevate them above or distinguish them from their peers’.
Basically talented people are cut down to size because they make other people, especially their peers, look average or even worse, look bad.
Leaders can often be subject to such attacks, depending on how successful they are, and I have definitely worked in companies where it was wise not to be too successful otherwise you would definitely find yourself in a situation like this.
In one company I worked in, I was talking to one leader about the work he was doing and asked him whether he had thought about a different approach, which might save us an extra 10%. He said he had but he had decided against it, as it would push him over the limit.
When I asked him what limit, he said the success limit. He said where he was now was ok, it was good, but not too good that it made the others look bad, so he felt safe.
I was very surprised by this, I hadn’t really experienced anything like it before, every where else I had worked had always claimed to be a meritocracy; where everyone was told to try to do their best, and if successful they would be adequately rewarded.
Surprisingly, as I later learned, this was much more common that I had first thought, as I say we talk meritocracy, but in reality there is a lot of jealousy and people like success to be evenly shared, even if it means achieving less overall.
In companies where one team or one manager had a disproportionate amount of success this can, and does breed jealousy.
Whilst this approach might be common it’s not really an approach that benefits the company in the long run. Weakening the strongest does not strengthen the company overall. A much better approach is to strengthen the weakest, this way we increase the overall average strength.
As leader we are the ones who create a companies culture, and we need to ensure that we focus on creating cultures that make our companies stronger, not weaker.
We should look to grow our poppies as tall as they can be, we should look to create meritocracies where people are encouraged to do their best, as this will allow us to attract and retain the best people.
It’s up to us to cultivate and protect the tallest poppies, not let them be cut down by petty jealousies.
Have you ever worked in a company that has had a Tall Poppy Syndrome culture, or have you ever been the victim of such a culture, I would be really interested to hear your story.
Gordon Tredgold
As we all have experienced this Gordon, what are the steps to be taken by each employee to create a culture of merit?
Disheartening to know that people do not support or even appreciate other people’s success especially in a company. A successful employee, irrespective of “rank” is an asset to the organisation.
Trisha, fully agree with you, we don’t need others to fail in order for us to feel successful
very nice article! Yes I had worked in a company that suffers from TPS. It was a tech company and the there was an ocean of difference between my technical ability and that of some other technical staff or board members. In one year, I did more than they did in years and I brought so many new ideas to the company. They all admired my success and at the same time disliked me for that.
I was isolated and cut down. The funny thing is that, everyone in that company was a CEO, CTO or manager of something (often of a practically none existent sub-company or a one-member project). So at the end, the company lost major investment due to their wrong decisions over many years and hiring lots of technically poor staff who hardly came to work (let alone producing anything). Then those CTOs and CEOs held a meeting and to cut down the costs, they gave me a notice!
I was the only member of the company who did not have a management position !!! So I was the only member of the company who was not present at that meeting. And I was the only foreigner “by accident” too.. And I was the only one producing something ..
I of course immediately found a much better position with a much higher salary (had several offers). But I wonder why the top management of the company (the CEO who seemed to be a very wise leader) was fooled by those mediocre people? It is unbelievable how these people get what they want despite the fact that they are so harmful for the future of the company. How they manage to convince the management to do something so irrational ?? How they produce nothing and still keep their jobs?
Really great article. So why do company’s fire us up to be inspired to achieve more and higher goals in somewhat a competition work environment. They want us to have a core belief to (strive for excellence) however the faster you climb the more enemies you make. This is not what a successful leader wants is enemies. We want everyone to be successful and happy, its a real catch. Your upper manager look at your work as a good, but also look at your team playing role also. Its has to be worked out by the person that is exceling to watch how other team players would perceive them. Sharing ideas and let others run with them to cause a more balanced team would make greater impact and not just one to take credit always is good. I know in the past I just have did projects and didn’t have to share I was the doing them. Sometimes people toot their own horns and bring on the wrong kind of attention, because they need or want recognized.. Doing a great job and knowing your self achievements are great but sometimes can unbalance.
If you are currently sailing the whole ship, I hope your repor is good with all your team players or the ship will go down. We all dont get the choice to move to another job or higher position because becoming locked on the ladder of moving up with seniors or seasoned employees holding what is available so becoming locked from movement.
In closing be careful to pay attention to relationships and being kind and as Gordon shares approachable. Balancing takes talents also.
Sometimes senior leaders are jealous or feel threatened and this approach allows them to keep the competition at bay – sad really, we talk of meritocracy but too often its everyman for himself