Rebellion

Rebellion is behaviour drastically out of line with the acceptable pattern of group behaviours which cannot be controlled either by power, punishment , inducement, influence or by any other mode or method by the leader.

The leader fails to control and the others in the group seeing the drama, see it unfortunately as leadership ineffectiveness.

Rebellious behaviours in the team are not easy to manage.

If traditional leadership sees conformation to the accepted norms and loyalty by acceptable behaviours as the key critical competencies and indicators of good followership, they would be left in the cold-bay being unable to control such rebellious behaviour.

How can one control 'rebellious' behaviours in real time ... the million dollar question.

My Corporate & Social Coaching experiences suggest :

1. Stay calm and be in control. Do not feel frustrated and lose your cool. Let your frustration not show in your unacceptable behaviours in reciprocity. Let his shortcoming not be deflected to appear as your inability.

2. Determine appropriate rules and get the larger group buy-in. Call out rebellious behaviours and build a group resistance and rejection to such behaviours.

3. Determine rules and punishments for non-compliance. Do not molly-coddle. Bravely call out the rebel for such indulgences. There has to be 'Consequence Management' for indulgence in rebellious misbehaviours.

4. Keep your Senior/ Top Management briefed of the reality and the line of action you are adopting to control the rebel. They should not see rebellious behaviour of your subordinate as cause of your inability to generally control non-conforming behaviours and thus question your leadership.

5. Communicate with the rebel and let him know that such behaviours, without any doubts in his mind, would not be acceptable nor tolerated.

6. Get counseling help for the rebel. May also need Coaching help and the two are indeed, different.

7. Get counseling help for yourself. Handling a rebel is very stressful and may make you feel distressed and even depressed.

8. Identify the rebel's friends, well-wishers and advisors and muster their help in controlling such rebellious behaviours.

9. Give warnings and agree on a time-line for change in behaviour and action.

10. Work on a graceful exit plan and beyond the time line, if no change is observed, exit the rebel with suffecient information to the team.

Let the team say by sustained observation of your behaviours that what you did was not only the most appropriate action but was actually a real display of firm and committed behaviour. With that as the brand, you could actually emerge as the winner all the way !!! That is called converting a set-back into a success by planned actions.