A few of the leadership behaviors I considered before I gave my final answers included such things as poor communication skills, poor delegation skills, poor team building skills, too much tactical thinking, poor coaching skills, poor empowerment skills, and poor feedback skills. Any of these behaviors could be the three worst leadership behaviors, but I opted instead for things that I had personally observed as being highly destructive to not only people, but also to things, activities and processes.

My three answers were: 1) Personal Arrogance, 2) Inflexible Position, and 3) a belief in Self-Resolution. Inasmuch as these three attributes constitute a wide range of specific behaviors, permit me to describe each one in more detail.

1. Personal Arrogance. Another way to describe arrogance is pride. Although there are clearly good aspects of being proud, pride can also be a handicap to effective leadership. First, let’s look at the good side of pride. Leaders, managers and individual contributors can take pride in their job, an assignment, a task, or even a procedure. And such pride can be a motivator to perform well, thoroughly, and with a high degree of quality. So taking pride in one’s job can be a positive attribute for any worker.

But unfortunately, there is a negative side to personal pride that I call unhealthy pride. When a person uses pride to the determent of others, then it can be a destructive rather than positive trait. Ezra Taft Benson said, “The proud make [people] their adversary by pitting their intellects, opinions, works, wealth, talents or any other device against others.” In the words of C.S. Lewis: “Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next [person]. It is the comparison that makes [a person] proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition [or comparison] has gone, pride has gone.” So at the heart of unhealthy pride is judging oneself as superior to others.

The truth is that pride is often a liability that people often see in other people, long before they are willing to admit that it exists in themselves. This makes the proud unteachable, untouchable, and often unreachable when it comes to leadership development. Excessive pride in a leader can create executive isolation and insulation where lines of communication are disrupted at the most, or faulty at the least.

It is executive pride and the lack of personal humility that causes a leader to be convinced that his or her decisions are infallible and unchallengeable. Over time this creates in an organization a climate of fear, blind obedience and compartmentalization. Organizational compartmentalization occurs when workers feel most safe with their chin on their chest doing only what is necessary to keep from being disciplined or fired. There is in this dysfunctional climate no creativity, empowerment, risk taking, or free speech. Decision quality is, therefore, very poor. Chin on chest mentality negates the possibility of employees thinking or acting in a strategic manner.

2. Inflexible Position. I currently teach leadership development workshops for several clients. Within these courses is a module titled, “Flexible Leadership.” The primary learning point of the module is helping leaders understand that “one size does not fit all.” People are individuals and situations are situational. So when a leader approaches a situation in an organization he or she must demonstrate enough flexibility of position and ability to treat each person and situation differently. Rigid thinking and inflexible positions typically shut down lines of communication.

It’s surprising how many leaders become dogmatic with their personal opinions, preferences and biases and as a result struggle with flexibility and adaptability. This might relate to unhealthy personal pride, or it could be insecurity, or it might even be inexperience. Whatever the cause, holding fast to an opinion or belief in the face of unconsidered different courses of action seriously limits decision quality. We know from mountains of evidence that decision quality usually follows a path of divergent thinking, following by facilitated convergent thinking. Stated another way, the best idea usually follows many considered ideas. Conversely, the worst idea often follows a leader’s unwillingness to consider the ideas of others.

3. Problem Self-Resolution. Several years ago a large portion of my consulting practice was helping organizations implement a system of process improvement. While assisting literally hundreds of functional and cross-functional teams as they endeavored to create and modify organizational processes, I observed an all too often tendency of some leaders who were supposed to empower the teams. These ineffective sponsors of teams had a belief that if a problem was left alone long enough that it might spontaneously fix itself. Some of these leaders clearly lacked enough courage to confront broken processes and uncooperative employees. Others just didn’t want to upset the apple cart, so they would drag their heels in challenging and motivating teams.

Jack Welch said, “Leaders must face reality as it is and not as they may have constructed it.” The reality is that very few organizational process problems ever fix themselves to an effective level. Rather, most problems dealing with people and processes typically get worse over time, not better. Indeed, sometimes problems may go on vacation for a short time and give the appearance of being resolved, but a few weeks later they crop back up with even more steam.

Effective leaders must have the courage and ability to recognize problems when they occur, acknowledge that they need to be resolved, and work diligently to make them go away. Anything less than that will add fuel to the fire and the problems will grow into major disruptions.

Summary

I am unaware of what happened to the information I gave to the writer who asked for my list of the worst leader behaviors. Perhaps it ended up in a book, leadership development class, article, or trashcan, I don’t know. Nonetheless, the exercise of deciding on three negative attributes gave me an opportunity to consider not only good leader behaviors, but also the bad ones as well.

Perhaps the lesson in this article is to ask the following questions: “Am I guilty of any of these ineffective behaviors? Do I diligently create a climate for my followers that is open, honest, positive, motivating, and beneficial to both people and the organization? Am I willing to self-assess my effectiveness and make appropriate changes?” Give it some thought and tell me what you think.

Dr. Richard L. Williams is a business consultant specializing in leadership development, organizational development/diagnostics, performance coaching, quality improvement, and team development. If you would like to learn more about Leadership Development, contact Dr. Rick Williams or the CMOE team or contact us at 888-262-2499.

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We have all seen leaders who are not managing their life very well. They are leading, but they are not giving their best. Their leadership skills suffer. We have also seen leaders at the top of their game, who manage their lives well. Their leadership skills thrive and those around them are inspired.

Here are some elements of personal leadership:

Balance

Balance is a state of equilibrium among the various demands of your life. Balance is dynamic as opposed to static. For the most part, you are constantly making adjustments, sometimes minor sometimes major, to achieve balance. Maintaining balance allows you to function effectively and productively as you lead.

Fulfillment

Fulfillment comes when you are living the life you want to live. You are able to give your all and be energized by your work. Your being and your work are a match. Your work flows and what you need comes to you. You are aligned with your destiny.

A Positive Relationship with Time

For years, management consultants and self-improvement experts have advised you to “manage” time. Planners, organizers and linear structures are useful, but in reality there is too much information and too many demands on your time to properly manage them. Time cannot be managed, you have to manage yourself.

Focus

Focus allows you to channel your energies to create the life you want. Without focus, things do not happen. Creating focus begins with identifying the top priorities in your life. Once your priorities are identified, spend your time honoring those priorities and getting them done.

Confidence

Confidence attracts people. As a leader if you project self-confidence, people will want to follow you. Confidence involves self-knowledge and appropriate humility. A lack of confidence belies problems that sabotage your personal leadership.

How are you doing with your personal leadership? Here are some things you can do to build your personal leadership skills.

CONDUCT A PERSONAL LEADERSHIP ASSESSMENT

Ask yourself the questions below. Analyze your answers to help you determine how you are doing and if there are any areas you need to work on.

• Are there “energy drains” you would like to eliminate from your life?
• Is your life in balance?
• Do you choose what the components of your life will be?
• Do you focus on priorities?
• Are there elements of your life that are not fulfilling?
• Do you live in the present moment?
• How is your relationship with time?
• Are your relationships and friendships supportive and fulfilling?
• Do you like the way you present yourself to the world?
• Are you maximizing your impact, using all you are?
• Are you healthy?
• Are there any fears that have gotten the better of you?
• Are you speaking your true voice?

OBSERVE EFFECTIVE LEADERS

The power of observation cannot be discounted. Identify several people that you think are effective leaders. Turn the lens of your observing from how they lead to how they manage their life. Read about them. If you have the opportunity, interview them. For each person you observe, do your best to determine how their self-management affects their ability to lead. From this observation identify your key learnings about personal leadership and how you will apply them to your life.

CREATE FOCUS

Identify the top three things you want to focus on in your life. For each thing, identify what you need to do over the next year to achieve it. Set a plan.

ELIMINATE IMPEDIMENTS

What is holding you back from being the best you can be? Answer this question and let go of what no longer serves you.

Your external leadership skills need a strong foundation within. Personal leadership can provide that foundation. Change within will lead to change without.

Ann Vanino is a business coach, consultant and trainer who specializes in helping people find fulfillment at work. Ann’s book, Leadership on Trial: Lessons from The Apprentice offers leadership lessons from the popular TV show. You can learn more about Ann and her work at http://www.MovingForward.net . You can reach Ann at E-mail: Ann@MovingForward.net or Phone: 661-944-6329 (US.)

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In the perfect work environment, whenever a promotion opportunity became available, the most qualified person would always be selected for the available promotion. Unfortunately, as you know, such an environment does not exist; it may seem to you that job promotions regularly go to people who are not always the most deserving. Well, to quote Clint Eastwood in the classic Western Unforgiven, “Deserve’s got nothin’ to do with it.”

The biggest mistake that most employees make with regards to promotion opportunities is to consider them an entitlement. In other words, they assume that if they reasonably meet their employer’s productivity expectations, then they are “entitled” to a promotion. Making such an assumption is probably the worst career mistake you can make, because in most cases it simply doesn’t work that way.

Doing a good job does not “entitle” you to advancement. Instead, itqualifies you for consideration for advancement. Once you become qualified for consideration, a nasty little word creeps into the equation that, like it or not, plays a significant role in promotion decisions. That nasty little word is, of course, politics. Collectively, I define ‘politics’ as the other, subjective factors not directly related to job performance that either work for you or against you — and, like it or not, they can be a significant determining factor in promotion decisions. How does one learn to play — and win — at the game of promotional politics? Listed below are they most important political factors that come into play when evaluating a person for promotion:

1) Are you dependable? Next to loyalty, dependability is the most desirable attribute that an employee can have. For example, when your boss asks you to do something, does it always get done — on time, every time? Or do you have to be repeatedly asked, over and over, to get a task completed? All things being equal, the employee who has demonstrated dependability has a huge advantage over their peers when promotions become available.

2) Do you get along well with others? I once had a sales person on our team whose customers loved her and who was our top producer — and was a walking, talking nightmare to every other department in our office. Guess who, in spite of their sales performance, was always at the bottom of the list for promotions? I rest my case.

3) Are you a problem-solver? Companies today place a premium value on take-charge, motivated employees who confront problems in an organization and make a positive impact. Conversely, negativity is simply not tolerated, and for good reason.

4) Do you demonstrate leadership within the office? Are you looked at as a “go-to” source by the others who work with you? Do peers come to you for advice and counsel? Are you willing to take risks, even when the chance of failure exists? Are you fair and ethical in your dealing with your peers?

5) Is you workspace well-organized? My rule of thumb for promoting an employee into management is to take whatever is on their desk, multiply it by a factor of 10, and use this new figure to arrive at a reasonable estimate of what their desk will look like with the new responsibilities. How would your work-space measure up?

As a final point, never forget that the most important job that you have is to please the person that you work for, because no one has a more direct impact on your career advancement than your supervisor. Too many employees forget this simple but important point. Don’t be one of them.

© 2010 Landy Chase, author of Competitive Selling: Out-Plan, Out-Think, and Out-Sell to Win Every Time

Author Bio
Landy Chase, author of Competitive Selling: Out-Plan, Out-Think, and Out-Sell to Win Every Time, founded his own sales training and consulting firm in 1993 and has clients in more than sixty industries on five different continents. He has delivered more than two thousand paid presentations as a professional speaker and holds the Certified Speaking Professional (CPS) designation from the National Speakers Association, the highest earned level of excellence in the industry. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Let’s Talk: A guide to resolving workplace conflicts (pdf 3807 KB)

Now, Peter Legge, President and Publisher of Canada Wide Media Limited, has published the Canadian edition of Robert Watson’s book. I’ve not had a chance to read this new edition, but have read the American version and recommend it. It is not a how-to on leadership, but rather gives the reader an idea of the networks, processes and systems the Army uses that makes it so effective.

The Salvation Army in Canada website has posted a Podcast of an interview with Peter Legge where he talks about he talks about his involvement with the Army and the book.

Direct Link to the MP3 file
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This is from Dale Carnegie’s personal summary of his book, How to Win Friends and influence people.

Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment

A leader’s job often includes changing your people’s attitudes and behaviour. Some suggestions to accomplish this:

1. Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
2. Call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly.
3. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
4. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
5. Let the other person save face.
6. Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be “hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.”
7. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
8. Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
9. Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

BEST PRACTICES FOR ONBOARDING: ENSURING SUCCESSFUL ASSIMILATION OF LEADERS IN NEW ROLES

All sessions presented online, HRCI approved, 90 minutes, no charge.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007
9am Pacific / 12pm Eastern / 16:00 GMT

The statistics about the high number and cost of failed promotions and mis-hires are sobering. However, staying competitive in today’s marketplace requires companies to be nimble in moving key talent and integrating newly hired executives. Successful onboarding is a key strategy for meeting this challenge.

But, when it comes to mission-critical roles in the  organization, onboarding takes on new meaning: comprehensive understanding, cultural alignment, longer-term retention and accelerated contribution. Realizing a short-term return on your hiring investment requires a thorough onboarding plan beyond a typical orientation process.

This session will discuss onboarding strategies successful HR professionals are using to reduce risk and expense of failed assimilations and contribute to their organizations’ results. We’ll discuss:

    * Situations where onboarding effects the bottom line
    * Statistics that make a compelling case for onboarding
    * Proven, specific onboarding tactics you can replicate
    * Common pitfalls to avoid

REGISTRATION REQUIRED

Wednesday, October 31, 2007
9am Pacific / 10am Mountain / 11am Central / 12pm Eastern / 1pm Atlantic / 16:00 GMT

    * Presented online
    * 90 minutes
    * No charge
    * HRCI approved

Register Here

For assistance with registration, please dial: 1-866-538-1909.

When discussions come around to what it is that makes an excellent workplace, the answer could fill a library. But most of us don’t have time to read hundreds of books. Sure, book summaries are available, and there’s a lot of valuable nuggets in those books. But I also believe that some central truths exist that apply to just about any business.

Ten universal principles of the workplace

My biggest problem with sports metaphors is the concept of team in the workplace. It’s not that I think the idea of team is inherently bad, but rather, it is a weak metaphor.

When I look at teams in the sporting world, it strikes me that teams are more about losing than about winning. The NHL has 30 teams; one wins the Stanley Cup, 29 lose. Major League Baseball has 29 teams; one World Series winner, 28 has beens. The only teams that can experience broad success are those that cross a number of sporting disciplines: such as a country’s Olympic team.

I work with a manager who lives and breathes team. His staff have team meetings and team jackets. They go on team retreats where staff are forced to endure team building exercises. The manager is highly competitive and his department performs consistently well. However, he has the highest staff turnover rate of any of our managers. His employees get tired of the constant pressure to fit the team concept.

I would replace the team metaphor with one of community. There are a number of ways where community works is a better metaphor:

• It’s cross-cultural
• It supports both group and individual endeavour
• It is consensus driven
• It provides common infrastructure
• It is adaptive
• It encourages the highly competitive
• It nurtures and protects the weak
• It rewards effort as well as accomplishment
• and much more

Over the next little while, I’ll post some expanded thoughts on these and other points, and why I think community is a better workplace metaphor.

1. Everything communicates.

2. The Golden Rule works.

3. Stand for something.

4. Everyone wants to be heard.

5. One size does not fit all.

6. They both end in “tion” but there’s a big difference between “information” and “communication.”

7. Communicate courageously.

8. Remember the competition.

9. If it looks important, it must be important.

10. Good communication is a good investment.

Read the article: Hewitt Associates – Ten Principles for Leadership Communication