Getting the work done is always a winning card. In a world where only fifty-nine percent of people can do the amount of work they are loaded with, it sounds tempting to look consistently winning and always ready on time. However, people need good leadership or a great example to achieve that. Because the work is ongoing on different levels in the organization, even those holding leadership roles often fail to deliver results within the expected deadlines and quality. To answer the agenda, leaders usually work with efforts above their maximum capacity and teach themselves how to be chameleons. The chameleon is an interesting animal. With their specific skin and structure, they can adapt to the environment and look like they are not there for the surrounding environment. The same goes with the leaders. While trying to fight the overwhelming agenda, they often learn to adapt to the environmental pallet and disappear from the radar until it is too late. That type of behavior includes first showing off, followed by quietly disappearing. While this may look like a balancing strategy for the leader, for people in their team, or those engaged with the work agenda with the leader, it may be a reason for stress and anxiety.
It is hard to recognize the chameleon leadership because leaders who demonstrate it often mask it like something else happening in the environment. But still, if you look at the details, some signs can help characterize the chameleon behavior. Some of them are even listed below.
The big show-off in the beginning
This one is essential. Maybe you have seen people in leadership roles coming to the company or joining a team with big ideas and loud words about how they will change everything for good. This show-off behavior without knowing the environment and some details is a prerequisite for a chameleon behavior. While showing insecurity, such loud talk about what will change may be a way to demonstrate their presence, but for sure, it is not an element of a sustainable leadership change agenda. The leader demonstrating such behavior often compensates for internal insecurity and tries to start too many changes simultaneously. Then, most of the changes and plans announced quietly receive delays, just to be forgotten or become unimportant because of the lack of activity against them. All this is because the person who communicated with them became inactive in the direction of implementation.
Minor but constant delays that do not disappear in time
Now, let’s be honest. Every one of us can delay something. No matter how organized we are, the number of tasks or projects is higher than our ability to handle them. With the rise in the structure and the roles and responsibilities, the number of functions rises again. But for the chameleon leader, this one looks different. They do it because they think the effect won’t be seen or acknowledged. It may be easily spotted during a review of the unfulfilled tasks or promises that failed to materialize. Initially, this starts innocently with a task or two that are forgotten or delayed without explanation or information shared with the other side. Then, the list grows further to reach impact across the whole organization.
Do it my way attitude.
The chameleon leader often needs to be stronger and more experienced. No matter the show-off role, they need help finding balance and involving others to put effort into helping them achieve what is already promised. In the end, those leaders who have been outstanding individual contributors in the past turn to what they know best and try to “teach” others their way of doing the work. When this happens, the team sees tools from the previous workplace, approaches transferred from the prior environment directly to the current way of leading meetings that are not in line with the company agenda but have been used in previous employments, etc. All these tools and techniques, created for a different environment, often create clashes and discrepancies, making people unsupportive and sticking to the minimum expected from them to save themselves from “the upcoming change.”
The “I” and “Them” in the game
The chameleon tries to adapt, but often, when failing, they blame the environment. It is what they see as an exit from the situation. When this happens, evaluation marks of the environment of the team show up in words like lacking capability, hostile environment, comfort zone, low capacity of team members, etc. Trying to save themselves from the blame and insecurity it creates, the chameleon leader uses all the tools they have seen without even recognizing the impact these tools may make in a positive or negative direction. It is a type of behavior that always starts with “I” statements. It is me and then the others. I show that I am doing the right thing while others’ behavior and actions may be irrelevant to my high standards.
The “overprotective” behavior toward the team
Trying to find a way to be likable to the team, the chameleon leader often changes their attitude and talk. At one moment, you may see them blaming people and talking about their capability and capacity. Still, when someone outside the team has their point in a specific situation, the chameleon aggressively behaves to “protect the team.” This behavior is not unusual, but it creates more tension in the team and between the team and other departments because people feel that it is not authentic but a theatre designed to blind them. No matter how the chameleon tries, this behavior creates more distance than close relationships and ruins trust.
The “hidden agenda” is available only for levels above.
The chameleon leader needs to feel safe and secure like everyone else. It is why they create two agendas – one for the masses and the team and a hidden agenda they discuss with those above them. Often, both agendas are different. In front of the people, the chameleon leader pleases and shows appreciation, while on their hidden agenda, what is seen is that these same people have their black points on most of their profiles. Whether it is going to start with a lack of skill or knowledge, then it turns.
The” I am here for one thing” attitude
Easily spotted, this type of behavior shows immaturity and, at the same time, individual limitations. Basically, others see that the leader makes everything to point out that they lack one of the privileges they have been granted with the role. It may be more time for them if they need to be aligned with the organization’s values and culture agenda. They are easily spotted talking about how they are here for the money, for the freedom not to be asked for their presence, for the role as a name, etc. In most cases (actually eighty-seven percent according to Gartner ), the chameleon talks much about what they are lacking and turns it into disappointment, just as a dramatic theatre scene in front of their level and subordinates affiliates, while showing fake commitment and effort in front of the more senior leadership. This attitude and strategy often don’t work in their favor and create silos in others the chameleon works and communicates with. Senior leaders should pay attention to this focus because they risk hitting morale and lowering standards based on values across the organization by allowing such behavior. On the other hand, by misinterpreting this behavioral threat, senior leaders in the company may witness the chaos that a chameleon creates and look at how they depart with a groom and boom at one moment.
The” personal worthiness” mindset above all
While wanting something way too strong, the chameleon works toward the plan to receive it in or outside the organization. They try to make senior leaders and organizations think about what treasure they have gotten from the market and how inexperienced they are to keep them in the organization. However, in contrast to that feeling, others may not see the worth of the chameleon leader. For example, the leader may communicate what unique value they can add by proposing changes without being familiar with the organization’s culture, base, and flow of steps and processes. It may be seen as innovative behavior, or, often, it is seen as someone who neglects the environment and is not connected with the organization.
IN CONCLUSION:
The journey toward change in life and professional environment has always been a starting point. Knowing what to look for is an excellent place to start with the transformation. The faster and better the chameleon behavior is recognized and acknowledged, the more influential the strategy will be to help the person change. The longer it takes, the more damage it can create. In the next part, we will explore how to make the curing pill for the chameleon behavior and its impact on the team and the organization.
The Human place - a path from you to yourself 