The Final Death of a Leader.

This week I have shared four out of five deaths of leadership which takes us to today’s release of this edition—the final death.

To ensure I give a reference as to why I use the word death, I am referring to the actions, words, thoughts, and attributes that often lead to the downfall of once-great leaders. These concepts are more defined as behaviors and not so much the person. These behaviors drive motivators for crushing employee engagement, stifling creativity, and, overall, why many people hate working for their boss.

In case you missed the post this week, here are the four deaths that have been talked about.

(1)    Leading with a title, not relational equity.

(2)    Leading as a know-it-all.

(3)    Ignoring the biggest problems… ignorance as a leader.

(4)    Layoffs- did leadership do everything possible?

This takes us to today’s final topic.

Self-Preservation.

John Maxwell shared early in his career as a speaker that leaders who lead with assumptions about their employees will get it wrong every time. I couldn’t agree more.

I’d like to consider this differently and bring it forward to more current relevancy.

There are leaders in this world who selfishly seek to keep themselves above and before their employees. There are two sides to this, as every story has three sides—each person and the middle, which is the truth.

Some leaders may not realize they are in a pattern of self-preservation which is stifling their team’s success and may even be suffocating their teams.

Some signs would be…

• ·         Never fully explaining all the details- might leave out the very important bits.

• ·         Fails to accept misdoings. Shifts blame away from them and onto something/someone else.

• ·         Stays stuck on the dumbest things- yes, very blunt.

• ·         Fails to recognize others and make it about themselves most times.

These are mistakes that leaders make every day, and some do not intentionally do it but rather just lack self-awareness of what is really taking place.

As the other side of the story goes, some leaders internally leverage themselves to be above their teams.

Some signs would be…

• ·         Declining the path to leadership (if applicable) without detailed and specific reasons.

• ·         Can’t deliver valid/specific feedback on job performance.

• ·         Does not accept responsibility along with the employee when something is wrong.

• ·         Gossip to others about their employees to lower-level management, or about their direct-level peers.

It is sad, but many leaders feel threatened by individuals and do not like to be “outshined” by them. They create a competition vs. a collaboration. They lead with a bias and often overpower that employee by leading with a control factor vs. a relationship mindset.

This is very dangerous if not caught in the early stages of the problem and can lead to a massive exit that hurts the company in the long run.

If you are in a position where you have leadership that reports to you, then this article is 100% a possibility in your organization. I will also state that many leaders do not wake up every morning to be bad leaders… it’s the fact that no one has told them.

This applies to many industries, including those in higher education who interact with those who manage the day-to-day systems.

Are advisors connected to the mission?

Are faculty members engaging for the right reason and not for personal gain?

Are those departments who engage with student enrollment seeking feedback and allowing for creative energy, or is it a “must be done this way” attitude?

The telling signs are often seen in numbers and surveys if there are major program declines but no reasons to support the data.

This applies to real estate and those who manage as brokers/owners. Often individuals in high-volume sales become so fixated on numbers that some simple development practices are overlooked. Feedback becomes very vague when questions are asked, “How can I be a better agent” and the response is to “be more visible”.

This applies to healthcare and the functionality of dealing with people who care for people. Senior care centers, disability centers, hospitals, and healthcare providers. Gossip is driven from the top down, and there is zero reflection on the outcomes of those conversations.

This applies to the corporate landscape, where leaders fail to take accountable action to have tough coaching conversations, provide valuable training programs, or ignore the problems.

In many of these cases, there is some level of self-preservation that has taken control of the inability to act accordingly.

Solution?

The solution is simple- becoming aware of these behaviors and not ignoring what is going on. Leaders need to pay attention to the chemistry of the environment and understand what is taking place if there is a gap in alignment. The understanding is that leaders do not always aim to be “bad” leaders, but they might fail to realize they are not doing what is right.

The solution is for leaders to have the courage to speak up to their leaders and ask difficult questions to help them realize that a change in behavior is needed for them to be successful. Shifting from annual surveys to quarterly surveys to seek real-time results allows for better strategic planning for development.

Provide an outlet for those leaders you may lead to focus on their development and not become 100% task-driven only. Provide a valuable mentor, executive coach, or effective training material best suited to serve them.

Failing to do any of the above is the ultimate death of a leader.

Leadership is never a title. Employees are not titles; they are people.

Leaders lead people, not titles.