How to Disengage People the Elon Musk Way!

Elon Musk’s recent acquisition of Twitter has not been without controversy. First, a number of top executives stepped down, then followed an initial sacking of 3700 staff (more recent reports say the number is now 4400), charging for blue ticks, the end of remote working, and now according to an article on the BBC news website he has told Twitter staff that they have to commit to working “long hours at high intensity” or leave and they have a couple of days to decide.

Where to start! The owner of a company cannot expect employees to have the same level of commitment as them – according to the BBC article, he is known to work 100 + hours a week and occasionally sleeps at the office. Good on him but to assume that others should be willing to do the same is unbelievable!

As a result of his takeover, Twitter is undergoing a huge culture change and it’s not for the better. Until now, the staff have enjoyed working in a culture which, according to their careers website was all about flexibility and equity. The culture was probably one of the things driving people to work there. One can only imagine that making, what looks like, sweeping uninformed changes without consultation is only going to have a huge demotivating affect.

Business Insider reports that Musk routinely fires people that disagree with him and there has been several accounts of bad behaviour. He obviously gets results with his methods, after all he is a billionaire and has a number of successful companies in his portfolio. However, he has a reputation for being an autocratic leader, and whilst this style of leadership can have its advantages, in terms of employee engagement it is a definite no-no.

According to Carl Lindberg, author of Leadership Styles: the Classics: Autocratic, Democratic, and Laissez-Faire Leadership “Employees are generally motivated through involvement, empowerment, and transparency. A great vision, a noble cause, an impact on society… can build further motivation and belief in the importance of work. Autocratic leaders generally do the complete opposite.”

An autocratic leader will use fear and punishment as a motivator, they make all the decisions without the involvement of others which can lead to micromanagement, and they create a lack of trust and a system of dependence. It has a negative effect on team morale, limits creativity and innovation and working in an atmosphere of fear is not going to encourage people to do their best. Put simply, it ruins employee engagement.

One can only imagine the disquiet at Twitter at the moment.  Will they turn it around or will this be the end for Twitter – or indeed Musk at Twitter?