How to Be an Efficient Leader?

04 Sep 2013

The problem of good leadership is more and more in the focus and it is not anymore an HR trend. Under the current economic situation, under the current challenging business environment, especially in emerging economies like Romania, the quality of leadership is directly connected with the bottom-line. All shareholders want an efficient leadership in their companies.

But what is efficient leadership? And how can they know if they have it or not? 

Robert Hogan, a famous business psychologist, believes that “people always live in groups; we evolved as group living animals. Second, every group has a status hierarchy; there are people at the bottom, in the middle, and at the top, and everyone knows who is where. This suggests that the most important problems in life concern getting along with other people and achieving some measure of status.” He refers to these concerns as “getting along” and “getting ahead,” and individual differences in these capabilities predict a wide range of occupational outcomes.

Effective leaders are skilled at building relationships and acquiring status.

During the 80’s, in US, one of the most flourishing economy at that time, a big retailer ordered an internal survey about the quality of the leadership as they faced several failures of top executives that affected the business financial results.

Although their leaders were charismatic, outgoing, good at networking, socially skilled, ambitious, determined and intelligent, at a certain point, under pressure or when bored they failed. They failed to maintain a high performing team as they turned into being self-sufficient, arrogant, bully, emotional volatile, skeptical, mischievous and attention seeking, reserved, cold and aloof, etc.

The company wanted to maintain success and therefore hired a team of consultants and business psychologists and gave them the job to find out what predicts this failure of leaders.

They have identified through a thorough methodology involving 360 feedback, performance management data, interviews, etc. 10 counter-productive behaviors that described the failed leaders:

Excitable - Concerns seeming moody and hard to please and being enthusiastic about new individuals or projects and then suddenly disappointed with them. Video

Skeptical - Concerns seeming cynical, mistrustful, doubting others’ true intentions, and feeling mistreated. Video

Cautious - Concerns seeming resistant to change and reluctant to take risks or chances due to an unusual fear of criticism or failure. Video

Reserved - Concerns the tendency to keep to oneself, avoiding meeting new people, and being indifferent to the moods and feelings of others. Video

Leisurely - Concerns seeming independent, ignoring people’s requests, and becoming resentful if they persist. Video

Bold - Concerns seeming unusually self-confident, feeling entitled, and unwilling to admit mistakes or listen to advice or feedback. Video

Mischievous - Concerns seeming charming, enjoying risk taking, pushing the limits, being easily bored, and being impulsive. Video

Colorful - Concerns seeming expressive, overly dramatic, and attention-seeking. Video

Imaginative - Concerns acting and thinking in creative, unusual, and sometimes odd ways. Video

Diligent - Concerns seeming meticulous, precise, and critical of others’ performance. Video

Dutiful - Concerns seeming ingratiating to boss, eager to please, and reluctant to take independent action or rock the boat. Video

Assessing and managing these derailing tendencies is golden mine for business and for leaders as well. A leader should understand which the impact of these inter-personal toxic behaviors is both on the teams they lead and on the overall organizational success.

HART Consulting (www.hart.ro) is on the local market since 2006, offering consulting services in areas such as: selection (ROI, internal benchmark studies, personality and abilities assessments), assessment and development programs for individuals and teams (Hogan Assessments, 360 feedback, A & D centers), organizational surveys, coaching, HR seminars. We are part of international networks Hogan Assessment Systems and CCi Surveys International and authorized distributor for Romania and Republic of Moldova for these diagnostic tools. Contact: consulting@hart.ro, +40 21.310.54.57 / 59

Madalina Balan
Managing Partner
HART Consulting

 Article published in Romania Insider