“Happy are they who can hear their detractions and put them to mending”
– William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing
You’re flying high, on the fast track to increased leadership responsibilities within your company.
Everything you’ve done up until this point in your career has been a success. In fact, you’ve never failed at anything you’ve done. Everyone that counts is telling you you’re a “high potential leader” and you’ve been given choice assignments, training, and education to develop that potential.
Your people love you, your confidence is great, and you’re optimistic about your future with the company.
And then for some inexplicable reason, you get passed over, told your potential for future advancement in the company is at an end, or summarily asked to find another job.
What just happened?
You’ve been derailed.
WHAT IS DERAILMENT?
Derailment happens when an apparently successful leader 1) is given a job beneath his or her abilities, 2) plateaus, 3) is demoted, 4) or is fired.
Derailed leaders are those who have been previously identified and having high potential for increased responsibility within their organizations. They usually have strong career track records and show a pattern of success in positions of increasing responsibility when something happens to halt their advancement. At bottom, derailment is involuntary and punitive.
On the other hand, derailment doesn’t apply to those who have naturally topped out in their company’s hierarchy or have elected to forgo advancement and stay in a particular job or managerial level. Further, if you reached the top of your particular leadership level, are promotable, but there is no room or opportunity for promotion, you’ve not been derailed.
Here’s the bottom line: derailed leaders are themselves responsible for it. Nearly 50 years of research shows that leaders who derail share one or more of the following characteristics:
– Bad judgment
– Unable to build teams
– Difficulty establishing and maintaining productive relationships
– Can’t manage themselves
– Don’t learn from their mistakes
– Are unable or unwilling to change or adapt
I bet you known at least one executive leader with a personality quirk that’s at best off-putting or just plain mind-boggling. It makes you wonder how they made it into the position. Doesn’t anyone see it?
The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) in Greensboro, North Carolina conducted a study on successful and derailed leaders. The study showed that both successful and the derailed executives were bright, ambitious, identified early for their leadership potential, were strong achievers, and committed to the organization. CCL found that the successful leaders were did well across a broad range of jobs and challenges, better handled stress, learned from their mistakes, were collaborative, and got along with people.
On the other hand, the derailed executives distinguished themselves in ten specific ways:
(1) Unable to solve specific business problems
(2) Insensitivity (abrasive, intimidating, bully)
(3) Cold, aloof, arrogant
(4) Betrayed trust
(5) Micromanaging/Not delegating
(6) Overly ambitious
(7) Failed to staff effectively
(8) Unable to think strategically
(9) Unable to adapt to a boss with a different style
(10) Overly dependent on an advocate or mentor
At a fundamental level leaders derail an inability to manage relationships and consider human needs. Further, these flaws were often exacerbated during periods of major change and increased stress—the opposite of what you’d look for in a leader.
FINDING YOUR BLIND SPOTS
If you’re a little paranoid right now, that’s good, because it means you might be interested in identifying your blind spots. We all have them.
There are two keys to minimizing your blind spots. First is developing self-awareness and the second is actively working to improve skills associated with self-regulation and social interaction. Each of this is directly related to Emotional Intelligence which I have written about before.
Although self-awareness is fundamental for any successful leader, the particular type of self-awareness referred here involves (1) how others perceive you and (2) your “dark side” tendencies. The way to know how others perceive you is through 360 degree feedback. If done well, your superiors, colleagues, and subordinates will tell you exactly where your shortcomings lie. For your dark side tendencies, you can use psychometric tests to assess what and how severe they might be.
FIXING YOUR BLIND SPOTS
Fixing your blinds spots is a process, sometimes a lengthy and difficult one. Change can be hard, especially if behavior and thought process have been ingrained over a long period of time. The process to eliminate blind spots encompasses two key steps.
(1) Get yourself assessed using proven instruments. This provides the raw data and baseline to know exactly what you need to work on.
(2) Use a coach. A coach will help set goals, focus on what needs to be done, and keep you accountable. Your coach will also help you identify your faulty assumptions, emotional hot-buttons, and self-defeating behaviors. A good coach will work with you to reframe your approach to previously self-defeating or corrosive behaviors and replace them will more productive ones.
In fact, research has shown that coaching is more effective for preventing derailment that leadership training programs (Burke & Day, 1986; Csoka, 1997). This is primarily due to the personal, one-on-one, and longer-term nature of the coaching arrangement.
In the end, derailment benefits no one: not the individual, those they work with, or the organization. It’s costly not only in economic terms but also in emotional and psychological terms.
I urge you to think this article through and take appropriate action to find and fix your blind spots.
Get assessed and get some coaching if you need it!
By Joe Scherrer | The Leadership Crucible