5 + 5 = 10 Mistakes to Avoid

Based on a study of 11,000 360 degree surveys, leadership feedback gurus Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman have identified ten behaviors found in the bottom 10% of leaders.

The top five mistakes they make are:

1. Lack energy and enthusiasm
2. Accept their own mediocre performance
3. Lack clear vision and direction
4. Have poor judgment
5. Don’t collaborate

Pretty easy to see how leaders in the bottom 10% would have characteristics like that.  But what about leaders in the top 10% or 20%?  How do they run off the rails?  (And they do up to 40% of the time.)

In our Next Level Leadership™ group coaching program, we’ve run a 360 over the past three years on the skills and behaviors that rising executives need to exhibit to make successful transitions. We’ve run it with almost 400 high potential executives at this point and, out of 72 specific behaviors, the bottom five in our database are:

1. Paces himself/herself by building in regular breaks from work.
2. Manages workload so that he/she has time for unexpected problems or issues.
3. Spends less time using his/her functional skills and more time encouraging team members to use theirs.
4. Regularly takes time to step back and define or redefine what needs to be done.
5. Focuses less on day to day operations and more on identifying and taking advantage of strategic opportunities.

What do these low ranking characteristics of high potential leaders have in common?  One of the most important threads is that they are all behaviors of "go to people."  These are the people who are going to get the job done no matter what even if (especially if?) that means taking heroic measures at the 11th hour.  Of course, the challenge for go to people who have risen to the next level is that there is simply too much to do for that approach to continue to work. 

If you’re like me, when you see a list of ten mistakes to avoid, you immediately start scanning it with the question in mind, “OK, am I doing any of these?”  If you find one from the first list of five, my advice is to step back and examine your motivation for the role that you're in.  What could you do to reconnect to the purpose of your work?

If you find that you have an opportunity in the bottom five, pick one to work on that you think will make the biggest difference and enlist the help of some trusted colleagues for advice on how to be better.  Look for opportunities to practice some of their ideas in the "school of real life."

Comments

[Dan McCarthy]

Scott –
Nice job tying together two pieces of research to make a provocative point. At the risk of oversimplifying, it sounds like unsuccessful leaders are (1) lazy, (2) don’t give a damn, (3) clueless, (4) dumb as dirt, and (5) can’t play well with others. No surprise there.
Successful leaders achieve a level of success by working their #@%*’s off. Again, no surprise there.
The “aha”, and why I find your book to be such an important resource for newly promoted executives, is that those same behaviors that made them so successful can be their downfall at “the next level”. While they may get it conceptually, changing behaviors that have always produced results is incredibly challenging. Perhaps even trying to change within the first year is an unrealistic expectation? Whenever I take on a new job, I find myself working the longest hours the 18 months or so, because I’m learning and I’m trying to establish credibility. There’s no way I’m going to step back and slow down. But after a while, when I start to plateau and run into problems, then I might be ready to try something different.
So when it comes to “picking up and letting go” new behaviors at the next level, what advice would you give when it comes to timing? Right away, a gradual 1-2 year transition, or when you first begin to run into problems (but before it’s too late)?

[Gilbert Melott]

Scott - great post. Your ability to communicate multiple points of view on strengths and weaknesses of leaders.

My biz focuses on teaching personal and professional skills to young emerging leaders and today our post was on leadership characteristics as well. I think your writing is telling - especially in the sentence related to "am I doing any of these things?" Most young and seasoned leaders ask that question everyday - unfortunately the answers aren't always evaluated constructively, transparently and certainly not bridged as well as they could be between the senior leaders of an organization and those they lead.

I have always believed in the Jack Welch tenet that the majority of your time as a leader is spent on people and development. If you do that, the result is a skilled base who deliver results because they understand the mission and they respect the leader.

Would love to exchange some thoughts.

Gilbert Melott
@nextvoice247
www.nextvoice247.com