Mark Murphy

By Mark Murphy, CEO of Leadership IQ

Do you worry your employees are too passive? Do you get a sense that they sit around waiting for the world to be handed to them? Do they seem to expect too much without taking responsibility for making things happen? If so, your culture may suffer from a sense of entitlement.

Roots of Entitlement

Where does a sense of entitlement come from? The typical dynamic in most organizations today is one in which managers, executives or the organization as a whole play a “parent” role. They give criticism, permission and even security. Whether it’s a performance appraisal, compensation or work assignments, managers think they have to give assignments or give feedback. Meanwhile, employees play a “child” role. They are dependent on the parent for what they think and how they feel. While managers give assignments and feedback, employees are left to take. Rather than act, they react to what is given. A sense of entitlement is not just the fault of the employee or the manager; it is fostered by both of these groups playing their respective roles.

Fortunately, there is a third option: the “adult” role. The adult is logical, independent, self-sufficient and rational. The adult says, “I will solicit my own feedback. I will go out into the world and figure things out for myself, and I’ll do it calmly and rationally.”

In our new webinar, "Overcoming a Culture of Entitlement," we'll show you how to create a culture where employees are accountable, proactive and take responsibility for themselves and the organization. You'll learn how to transform an entitlement culture from the inside-out, how to radically improve accountability and ownership, and do it so smoothly and subtly that employees actually welcome your efforts. Follow this link to learn more.

Growing up: Transitioning into the Adult Role

Eliminating a sense of entitlement requires both parties to mature into adult roles. However, it isn’t always easy. For managers, leaving the parent role means giving up control. This perceived loss of power can be terrifying. Because self-sufficient employees may be more challenging and freethinking, managers worry, “They might figure out that I don’t have all the answers.” By the same token, for employees, leaving the child role means they have to exert more effort. They have to go out and procure the information they need rather than have it handed to them.

Ease the transition with baby steps. A great way to begin the evolution into the adult role is to develop self-awareness. In order to grow out of the parent role, managers must become aware of how their behavior impacts a sense of entitlement in employees. Before each task, managers should ask the question: Is what I’m about to do going to help this person be more self-sufficient and accountable?

The next step to outgrowing a sense of entitlement is to develop skills. Becoming an adult takes practice. An action-based approach encourages employees to grow out of a sense of entitlement and into a sense of responsibility. A great program for transitioning both managers and employees into adult roles is the “manager for a day” program. Here's how it works: The manager identifies a few (3-6) of their top performers and delegates parts of the managerial role to the person whose turn it is to be “manager.” For a few months, each person will (on their assigned day) shadow the manager instead of doing his or her normal job. The manager takes parts of the job that can be delegated and gives employees a sense of what the management role is really like.

This program does a number of things. As employees begin to see things from the manager’s role, they begin to appreciate the manager’s perspective and choices. They may also realize how difficult the manager’s job is because they experience it firsthand. Employees will also gain a greater sense of self-sufficiency. Instead of acting like an entitled child waiting to take what the parent gives, they have to grow up; they have to procure their own information and make decisions. Another benefit of the program is that it pulls the manager out of the parent role by forcing them to delegate and to share. Through this experience, managers learn how to create peers as opposed to employees. In addition to outgrowing a sense of entitlement, the organization will also be developing a managerial talent pool by fostering a group of employees who appreciate and have an understanding of the management role. It’s a ready-made succession plan.

A sense of entitlement is more than an irritation. Left unchecked, it can become a serious problem. So the message for managers is: Stop playing parent, and even though it's scary, help employees mature into future leaders.

In our new webinar, "Overcoming a Culture of Entitlement," we'll show you how to create a culture where employees are accountable, proactive and take responsibility for themselves and the organization. You'll learn how to transform an entitlement culture from the inside-out, how to radically improve accountability and ownership, and do it so smoothly and subtly that employees actually welcome your efforts. Follow this link to learn more.