‘A bad leader can take a good staff and destroy it, causing the best employees to flee and the remainder to lose all motivation’. Jim Collins, author and consultant.
Collin’s truism comes from his 2001 bestseller, ‘Good to Great’[1], yet some 17 years later two surveys released in the last few weeks show little if any learning over that time making unpleasant reading for the leaders of UK businesses.
The first by the leading jobs board, Totaljobs, of some 5,000 employees[2] concluded that ‘poor leadership could fuel an employee exodus in 2018’ based upon the stark facts revealed in their research that found that:
67% of employees said they ‘were not heard at work’;
61% felt that they ‘could do their job in their sleep’;
54% admit to ‘obsessively clock watch’;
50% acknowledge ‘researching alternative job roles during the working day’;
63% saying that ‘their friends and family have voiced their displeasure about how often they have voiced their displeasure about how often they moan about their roles’;
Only 12%, some 1 in 8 employees, described themselves as being ‘fully engaged’ in their roles; and
Over 66% ‘didn’t see themselves remaining in their current role in the next 12 months’
The second piece of research from Investors in People similarly found through their ‘Exodus Poll 2018’[3] that nearly half of workers they interviewed said that they are ‘on the move’ and looking for a new role in 2018 with 49% citing poor management as the main reason – an increase of 7% on their previous year’s survey.
Paul Devoy, the Chief Executive of Investors in People, in the press release[4] of his organisation’s research points out that: ‘It is vital for management strategies to evolve to meet the demands of employees, with research suggesting that employee disengagement costs the UK economy £340billion annually, bad leadership is eroding UK productivity.’
Professor Cary Cooper, the President of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), speaking at the CIPD conference[5] earlier in 2017 was very focused in his view that there is one thing that many companies are failing to take into consideration by saying: ‘It’s about the management style of your line manager. The line manager is incredibly important from the shop floor to top floor, all the way up the organisation.’
Another academic, associate professor Scott Taylor in the McKinsey Quarterly of October 2017[6] makes a further key point: ‘ I don’t know too many managers who wake up and say “I want to make life miserable for my people.” Even so, we treat people at work in ways we’d never treat our family and friends. So the issue may not be that people need to learn how to care, it’s that people need to learn how to care at work.’
Most business leaders do understand the importance of leadership style and significantly the very high cost of a poor leadership style in generating wellbeing issues that directly impact both their people and the bottom line.
If leaders are to be effective in their role they need to understand their leadership style and its effect on others. More often than not, this means changing behaviour and in turn mindset - the beliefs and attitudes - of a leader, which can be a discomforting experience for many people, which is why many organisations avoid it and why so many leadership development programmes fail.[7]
The key components of a leadership style are comprised of a leader’s beliefs and attitudes, which are expressed through their behaviours in: what they say; how they say it; their body language; the example they set; their general conduct; and their demeanour.
An appropriate leadership style helps a leader to build trust, establish rapport, build good working relationships, and engage team members in effectively performing their roles in turn earning the respect of their team members who will support and work with their leader now and in the future.
Not until leaders take the time out to examine and think consciously about how their ‘below the surface’ beliefs, feelings, assumptions, and attitudes impacts their behaviour (see blog ‘Know Thyself’, June 2017) will they take on board what they need to change to improve their leadership style.
From an organisational perspective an investment in developing leaders with an effective leadership style is low cost, focused, and a far less time consuming exercise in comparison to many expensive leadership-development programmes. Significantly measurable returns can be quickly realised through better employee and organisational wellbeing that in-turn positively impacts the bottom line.
The ‘Beliefs and Attitudes Mindset Questionnaire’© has been created to help people understand how their beliefs and attitudes impacts their effectiveness and what they can change and develop to heighten their performance as leaders, sales people, team members, and in most fields in life. The questionnaire can be purchased for internal use or facilitated in bespoke development interventions.
[1] Collins, J.C. (2001) ‘Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t’, Random House Business, NY.
[2] Totaljobs (2017), press release 19th December, 2017.
[3] Investors in People (2018) ‘Job Exodus Trends 2018’
[4] Investors in People press release 4th January 2018
[5] CIPD Conference address, 1st June 2017
[6] Associate Professor Scott Taylor of Babson College, Boston, reported in McKinsey Quarterly, October 2017, that reports on the Consortium for Advancing Adult Learning & Development 2017 Annual Conference.
[7] McKinsey & Co (2014) ‘Why Leadership-Development Programmes Fail’, McKinsey Quartely, January 2104.