If you’ve been in an office meeting recently you’re probably aware of the “hippo” and it’s impact on how your group makes decisions. Hippo, standing for “Higher Paid Person’s Opinion” is a typical way for decisions to be made. Your group discusses the pro and cons of taking an action, but ultimately just waits for the “hippo” to determine the course of action.
As much as we’d love to have that leader who is self aware and believes in meritocracy, we often aren’t in a position where this is the case. If you don’t speak up against this process, it will continue to happen and you and your team will become more and more disengaged. Other more formal feedback systems could be in place to make sure other ideas are being heard.
What’s surprising about this (or maybe not), is that when projects were run by more junior managers (vs senior managers), they were more successful because others in the group felt like they could provide honest feedback. And if you’re culture won’t break this “hippo” spell, then it may be time to move on.