When Thomas Hardy wrote “Far from the Maddening Crowd,” the nineteenth century writer was taking his readers right to the heart of the dynamics of a group that can be harmful when it’s ineffectively enlargening what we call the performance gap. Contrary to popular belief which often states that single individuals are the ones liable to suffer from neurosis and strange behaviour, the group has been found to be guiltier of the trend than we really know. Take for instance: supporters of a football team or any other popular sport team shouting obscenities at the opposing team; political parties who know that their policies are doing more harm than good, but insist that all is well; the inner circle of leadership of a business or government that is failing, but is having its leadership urged on by people who have their own agendas. All these spot a sense of the insane. Friedrich Nietzsche, German Philosopher rightly observes: “Madness is something rare in individuals, but to groups, peoples, parties and ages, it is the rule!”
If you find yourself in the middle of madness that is difficult to cure or handle, you should try to keep your sanity while you look for a plausible way out.
In business and politics, groups and teams normally have their goals and sub-goals set to achieve over a period, but if they are not true to themselves, they might end up getting so deeply involved in political smooching and needless crises that there is a tendency for them to lose sight of their goals and blame circumstances, their enemies or “situations beyond their control” for their failures. The performance gap therefore becomes a form of measurement to determine what the group has done wrong or right or where they have veered off the targets they set for themselves. Project managers have often tried to use their skills of keeping projects of all kinds on target and on budget by drawing up tools such as gnat charts and timelines that keep targets in sight. But unless the project manager has the power to ensure that the group or the persons invovled are kept to heel, individual differences, in-fighting and personality clashes can still deter progress and make major actors on a job veer off target.
For the performance gap to be closed, an authority figure with the fortitude to keep his head above wrangling and distraction is required. It helps if that person is at the very top of the power pyramid so as to ensure that all nuances and tints of disagreement that could serve as distractions are either taken care of totally or ignored in a bid to meet targets. In the autobiographical movie Coach Carter, Mr. Carter (played by Samuel Jackson), resumes as basketball coach at Richmond High School, his alma mater, only to find a very peculiar situation. The school is high on indiscipline and the basketball team he is supposed to coach places a priority on winning matches over academic work of players. A college graduate himself who played basketball at Richmond, Carter moves to change the rules of the game. He makes an above average CGPA a condition for playing on the team, insists that players should wear a tie to all games before changing and tries to force each team member to respect the other. Unable to cope with Carter’s new rules, chaos breaks out, first in the team which loses two of its top scorers due to indiscipline and later at the school. Parents and teachers object to Carter’s handling of the team. The madness of everyone that comes against Carter can be summarised in his frustration when he tells the school board: “It seems that basketball is more important to people in Richmond than academics!” Carter tells his players in private: “There is no reason why all of you should not qualify for a college education and play basketball at the same time and I’m going to make sure that happens!”
In the madness of the crowd we might find out that the majority can be wrong. As odd as that sounds, the majority is often wrong. Popular beliefs and demands are not always altruistic in nature. They are often selfish and self-serving. The example of Richmond High School plays out in many environments that we find ourselves in today. Business executives take the leadership of large companies and institute policies that are questionable, but since they are in charge, who will question them? If regulatory bodies do not have such decisions under their purview then the business could be put in danger by the selfish yearnings of individuals. Commenting on the havoc some bank boards wrought in different parts of the world, one writer wrote: “The best way to rob a bank is own one!” He was referring to the perfidious practices of bankers who were taking out illict toxic loans and using depositors funds for personal business. The tendency for one to be swayed by the group mania is large and infectious. Those who cannot conform to the thinking in the environment become outcasts or rejects and have to find their way out.
If a conscientious person finds himself in a maddening environment, he has to be very careful not to run foul of the majority, especially if his career or livelihood depends on him retaining his position. Analysts advise that in order to maintain harmony with the maddening group, the level headed person must outwardly conform but inwardly keep his sanity and be as forthright with his thoughts and actions as possible. This might seem like manipulation. But what can be done?
Group madness is easy to identify, but not always simple to resist. Keeping your head could help you progress in the future.
In the kingdoms of old Europe, the courtiers had to conform to the ego and thinking of the king or whoever was in charge. Anything contrary would appear to be treason and could be punishable by death. Modern democratic societies expect those members of cabinets and the various aides that surround a president, prime minister or governor to be loyal, even when the leader is wrong. Horrendous schemes have been hatched and initiated because nobody in the maddening group had the conviction to blow the whistle or neutralise the leader. One of the greatest examples of this madness in the history of mankind is Adolf Hitler and his bid to exterminate jews. Hitler was believed to suffer from an acute form of megalomania. He actually believed that it was the will of God for Jews to be killed and even though many members of his cabinet had plotted to kill him, they just could not carry the scheme out. It took the allies to defeat him in battle before his scheme could be put to an end.
Being the only sane one in a crowd of madness can be a challenging thing. Options of coverting the group are very slim. If there is a leader whose authority is absolute then perhaps converting him to saner thoughts could be a strategy. But this has to be done carefully, through flattery with the conversion done so subtly that there are no suspicions. A courtier could be sophisticated and clever enough to create a scheme where he makes the leader think the rational ideas originate from the leadership. It takes winning the confidence of those in charge and carefully selling ideas to them.
If you find yourself in the middle of madness that is difficult to cure or handle, you should try to keep your sanity while you look for a plausible way out. Blowing the whistle could mean career dissolution since even though your superiors are going wrong, your loyalty would be questioned in the future. Group madness is easy to identify, but not always simple to resist. Keeping your head could help you progress in the future.
*Ogundadegbe is a renowned management consultant. He trains managers and executives in the arts of Customer Service, Human Resources Management and Management strategy ([email protected]).
