A short interview-style video exploring the "gatekeeper" mind game in organizations: what gatekeepers are, appointed vs self-appointed varieties, examples (IT admins, executive assistants), why people play the game (power, indispensability), signs its happening (approval bottlenecks, partial information, compartmentalization), the difference between gatekeeping and leadership, and the trade-off between necessary filtering and obstruction.
Chapters
Welcome to episode 11, the last video of the mind games that people play within the organization. Now obviously there probably quite a few more mind games, but we've only done these ones and the last one is the gatekeeper, which is actually quite an interesting mind game that people play. Peter, what do we mean by the gatekeeper?
Gatekeepers essentially do what they say. They do what the name suggests. They control access and information and tools within organisations and to people wanting to interact inside or with that organisation.
Are there sort of different levels of gatekeepers?
You can literally divide gatekeepers up into appointed. In other words, this is their official duty and self appointed gatekeepers. So self appointed gatekeepers are people who take it upon themselves to restrict access or restrict information or restrict time, those.
Sorts of things you mentioned. Like for example, the IT admin, for example.
So the IT admin is a. Their role is to restrict access? No, you need to go through the IT admin as a gatekeeper if you want to have your password changed, if you want to have anything simply because you want to keep the IT environment intact. There are some sysadmins who take that a little bit further. But in generally speaking they are appointed gatekeepers, as are for instance, EAs. So not everybody has access to the boss.
Correct. Executive assistance for those.
That's correct.
I suppose a question then is, you know, why do you. Well, let me sort of go back. We're looking at mind games that people play, which is gatekeeper informally toxic.
From a toxic perspective. Yes.
Yeah. So why do they play such a game?
It's a power game. In a toxic situation, people get a sense of power about being able to mete out the resources that people need and that makes other people dependent on them.
Yeah.
To do their job. It's a very powerful position to be in. To have people come begging for you. Oh please, can I now have my next data for my next project? Pretty please?
Yeah, pretty please. What is the underlying issue here? I mean, the behavior side of things, you know, why are they craving for power?
Potentially? Because they're creating power for themselves in an environment where they may not have as much power as they would like. The other thing too is it becomes they're creating a position where they're making themselves look indispensable. If it wasn't for me, I wouldn't be out. You wouldn't be able to do it.
Correct? Correct. Yes.
So there is, there is a fair bit of gain out of that.
Yes, exactly. What are some examples that you've seen of gatekeepers?
So people who give you Only half the information. So for instance, you're on a project and the person who's laying out the project says, so I want you to do this, this, and this, and you go, okay, and then what? No, I'll tell you when we get there. The other one is to compartmentalize elements of the project so that you have a team working on a project and you get given a certain part of that project, but no visibility on where it plugs in with everything else. I'm sorry, that has to go through the gatekeeper. Yes. So those are the kinds of games that are being played.
What are the sort of. Maybe it's the same question or not, but what are some of the telltale signs? So how would someone realize, oh, look, there's a gatekeeper here, when you constantly.
Have to go back to this source for the next step, for the way forward, for the approval? Actually, an approval process is also a gatekeeper process.
So that's true.
You know, let me review your work. Okay, so let me. I give you my work and it's three weeks down the track before you sort of think, did that ever get approved? Yes, that's a gatekeeper function in itself as well, too.
Yeah, yeah. Here's a side question. What is the difference between. And this is quite funny different between a gatekeeper and a leader?
Well, the gatekeeper derives their power from the leader. So the leader is the visionary who says, let's take the example of a bus. The leader says, we're taking the bus and we're going to the coast. Okay, fantastic. So the gatekeeper says, oh, okay, yes, wonderful. I'll find out. I'll designate who gets the seat on the bus. And before we do that, before we can actually get there, we might. We need to take a task, we need to get it serviced, we need to check the tyres. And maybe Wednesday is not a good day. Maybe we should do it on a Thursday. So all of a sudden there's a huge amount of control. Now the difference between the leader is. The leader says, this is our vision. The gatekeeper says, ah, but that's a.
Really good way of putting it. But what is the downside for an organization by having people act in this way?
There's a tip point. You must have people who do sanity checks. Inside of any organization. When it becomes a power game and it's a struggle to do your work past those people, then all of a sudden your productivity falls down. You disjoint what it is that you're doing. Things don't hang together, things tend to drop off, you may end up being sidelined onto another project and you're split timing all the time.
Someone argued that it is important to have gatekeeper because you need someone to do that. Verification.
Absolutely, yes. And you also need to have somebody who has an overview of what's the next step? What's the next step? So a good gatekeeper will function and say, okay, like let's take the executive assistant, for instance. These are the people that are useful to give access to the next person up the chain. These people, you know, they're just time wasters. They're just trying to sell us. So you need that filtering function and that's a very positive way of doing things. Whereas if it becomes obstructionist, then you have an issue.
Good. Finishing it up. What is the key takeaway?
Key takeaway is gatekeepers are useful, but they can also become a game. And it's that fine line. You have to be able to bridge that fine line. Yes.
Well, I hope you liked it. I hope you've enjoyed all the videos and if you did, great, and if you did, don't forget, you can get your own free copy of the Human side of Cyber. I wrote it, it was published this year, so get your free copy. You'll find it on the Naked Insider website and also anywhere that someone else would recommend it. So with that, again, I thank you.
Thank you very much, guys.
And we'll see you next time on another set of videos.
