In this article, I look at why scapegoating is so common within organisations, the hugely detrimental effect it can have on team performance and how to tackle this negative human behaviour.
The history of the word ‘scapegoat’ is fascinating and as you’ll see from this definition, it does originate from an actual goat. Of course, the word is now used to refer to one who is wrongly blamed for something. Indeed, it is human nature to blame others for our errors, faults and shortcomings. Often, we do this in the name of making fast progress, but the reality is that scapegoating is an everyday trap that many teams and organisations fall into. It is discriminatory, leads to mediocre performance and an inability to achieve your true potential.
scapegoat
a goat sent into the wilderness, symbolically taking with it the sins and impurities of the community.
a person who is blamed for the wrongdoings, mistakes, or faults of others, especially for reasons of expediency.
It is possible to overcome this highly damaging negative behaviour within a team and the answer is simpler than you may imagine. As a leader, you must recognise that scapegoating is a human trait which needs to be managed, it is associated with immaturity in adults, resulting in low performance within teams.
A scapegoating story
This story helps us to understand why scapegoating happens and identifies typical behaviour to look out for.
A global technology team comprising of leaders from several countries, with a broad spread of age and experience, and a balance of gender. But the team was frustrated that progress in achieving their business goals was slow.
Initially they blamed the finance director for requiring too much governance and process to get funding released. Then they blamed the HR director for requiring extensive business cases to hire new team members. Finally, the team leader was blamed for not being technical enough and too much of a generalist to understand how to achieve results.
The team leader recognised that there was a culture of negativity within the team, so as an executive level coach, I was brought in to get to the bottom of this and to find out why business goals were not being achieved and performance was so variable.
The team explained to me that the following attitudes and behaviour were commonplace, but no-one was aware that they were scapegoating their colleagues.
‘People go behind each other backs to brief against them’
‘You are either in the ‘in crowd’ or you’re not’
‘There are favourites’
‘To be a success in the organisation, that you need to think the same way as the majority does’
‘New or different suggestions would be labelled as weird, wacky or demonstrate your naivety’
‘If you are different, people would say that you are not trustworthy and malicious’
It’s little wonder that the team’s results suffered and if left to their own devices, the likelihood is that the team would have turned on their Finance/HR/Team Leader in the belief that if ‘they’ were to change behaviour then all their problems would go away. In more extreme situations than this, a team may even work to expel the individual who they identify as being the problem.
Why does scapegoating happen?
Scapegoating is the easy option when you are tired from working long hours, are under immense pressure to deliver and have limited time. You look outside of yourself for the cause of your problems, you deflect the blame on others and avoid scrutinising your own contribution to the situation.
What can you do about it?
If you have noticed that there is unproductive tension in your team, it could be that scapegoating is present. It’s useful to work with an executive coach to allow you to see what’s really happening within the team dynamics and implement a strategy to improve them.
Here are some questions/statements to consider which will help you to think this through:
- Is your team comprised of people who are all very alike?
- Do people who are different have a tough time fitting into your team?
- Do people blame others for all the problems of the team?
- If you don’t fit in, you can’t progress here!
- If you are not like the boss, your ideas aren’t welcome.
Although scapegoating is a challenging and common part of human nature, it is possible to deal with it and achieve the performance from the team that you always knew was possible. Step back, take a good look at your team, then realise that for the team to change and be successful, every member must change, grow and mature.
It is time to stop scapegoating others and for us all to take an honest and close look at our own contribution, our attitudes and behaviour.