The sorry state of leadership…..
Why The sorry state of leadership is still prevailing in most organizations? is there any solution to The sorry state of leadership?
Here are some leadership statistics to ponder
- Only 1 in 3 employees worldwide trust their leaders – Gallup
- 58% of people said that they trust a stranger more than their boss – A Harvard Business Review survey
- 65% of employees would instead chose a better boss than get a pay raise – National boss day survey
- 57% of the employees leave because of their bosses – DDI research
- 70% of the employees are disengaged at work – World Economic Forum
Most employees say that the leaders they have worked with are mediocre at best and toxic at worse. But, unfortunately, being mediocre is not enough in today’s fast-changing business world. In many organizations, leadership is simply uninspiring. Often it is even worse – leadership is merely lame.
There are countless examples of leaders who disappoint us. This is true for leaders in business, politics, religion, or any other area. Newspaper headlines are filled with business leaders who misbehaved, put their self-interest ahead of the greater good, or stole money from their companies. In politics, most people have to vote for less evil candidates compared with other candidates. People often wonder this is the best we have in our political leaders. Religious organizations are replete with scandals and cover-ups – no wonder most people have lost faith in organized religion.
How did we reach here?
In his book – The Leadership Contract – author Vince Molinaro cites four main reasons for the sorry state of leadership in organizations.
1.The heroic model of leadership
We love to believe in heroes. A solo, all accomplishing hero is great for a movie plot. But unfortunately, when it comes to leading, the “heroic leader’ model is long dead. But we still believe in it.
A single person usually at the top of the organization knows it all and can single-handedly lead the organization to success. However, in fast-changing, globally-connected, complex organizations, this is simply impossible.
It is also risky to put all your faith in a single individual. It takes away the focus from developing leaders at all levels of the organization – from C-suite to frontline leaders.
2.Glorification of charismatic leaders
To compound the problem of a few heroic leaders at the top, we glorify charismatic leaders and turn them into celebrities. Business magazines and social media have turned many CEOs into charismatic leaders with a great fan following. As a result, companies give them eye-watering compensation packages and too much power. While charisma in itself is not bad, but worshiping charisma has a darker side.
Jim Collins, in his book “Good to Great” warned of the dangers of charismatic leaders. None of the leaders of the most outstanding companies identified by Jim Collins were charismatic. Instead, all of them had a rare combination of humility and discipline.
Walter Isaacson describes Steve Jobs as a “colossal asshole” who succeeded despite his destructive behaviors. We see leaders glorified even when they are jerks. We reward and celebrate these jerks.
Consequently, we forget what good leadership is all about. Agreed that leadership is about getting results and not a popularity contest, but good leaders get results and engage people simultaneously. While it may be OK to be harsh when a situation demands it, being a jerk all the time doesn’t make sense.
3.We promote technically brilliant performers into leadership positions
Most organizations tolerate mediocre leadership. One of the primary reasons is that organizations promote technically brilliant performers into leadership positions. For example, the salesperson who sells the most becomes the sales head. The programmer who performs better than others becomes the project lead.
There is a flawed assumption that technically brilliant people will make good leaders. However, as an employee, becoming a team leader is probably the only choice to move up the career ladder.
Read: What are the ego traps and Leadership Derailers leaders fall for?
Leading people is an entirely different ball game. Most people fail at it as they are not trained. Often technically sound leaders have big egos. Hence they may not admit that they don’t know how to lead. They don’t ask for help. Organizations rarely support them properly in their leadership role. Offering E-learning modules or sending them to a two-day leadership program is not sufficient.
4.The quick-fix mentality of leadership development
We are seduced by quick fixes and overnight success in all walks of life. Whether it is losing weight fast or getting rich quickly – we get attracted to such false claims. Books, magazines, self-development programs promise such overnight success. But, unfortunately, it takes hard work and months and years of consistent effort to lose weight or get rich. Chasing the latest fad doesn’t work.
Leadership is no different. But companies still chase the latest fad in leadership development. They want overnight results. They send leaders to a three-day program and think that they have done enough to develop their leaders.
The leadership development industry hasn’t done enough to educate companies that quick-fix solutions are a complete waste of time, money, and effort. Companies don’t want to hear the bitter truth, and consultants don’t want to disappoint their clients by refusing solutions that provide “quick fixes” and “overnight success.”
The quick fixes fade away quickly. Instead, it takes consistent effort and hard work over many years to develop leaders at all levels within the organization.
It is time to expect more from leadership.
Many years of mediocre leadership have lowered leadership expectations. The more we live with uninspiring leadership, the lower our expectations will become. It is time to change that.
Expect and get more from your leaders. Develop them to go from average leaders to inspiring leaders.
Develop them with our award-winning leadership coaching program that has a success rate of 95%
NAL Triple Advantage Leadership Coaching
That delivers guaranteed and measurable leadership growth. It is based on a stakeholder-centered coaching process with a 95% effectiveness rate (a study of 11000 leaders on 4 continents). It is used by companies ranging from startups to 150 Fortune 500 companies to develop their leaders.
Here are some of the salient benefits of NAL Triple Advantage Leadership Coaching
Time and resource-efficient: The leader does not have to leave work to attend training programs. We go to the leader and her team. And it only takes 1.5 hours per month. The rest of the time, the leader is working to implement with her team.
Separate and customized improvement areas for each leader: Every leader is different. One size fits all approach doesn’t work. Instead, individual development areas for each leader are aligned to the business strategy.
Involves entire team: Unlike most leadership programs, NAL Triple Advantage Leadership Coaching involves the leader’s entire team. As a result, it has a cascading effect – increasing the team effectiveness and improving organizational culture.
The leader becomes the coach: for continuous improvement for leaders themselves and their teams. It is like kaizen for your leadership development.
Cost-Effective: Our entire one-year coaching engagement often costs less than sending the leader to a short-duration leadership program at any reputed B school.
Guaranteed and measurable leadership growth: as assessed – not by us – but anonymously rated by the leader’s own team members.
Pay us only after we deliver results!: We work with many of our clients on a pay for results basis. What does it mean? If the leaders don’t improve, you don’t have to pay us
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Reference:
The leadership contract – The fine print to becoming a great leader by Vince Molinaro