How To Be A Bad Leader

My articles usually focus on how to be a good leader or a better leader. In fact, most leadership articles available on the internet or elsewhere focus on the positive elements of leading. Many leadership writers prefer to write about completely positive things and focus on what leaders should do to be recognized as the best leaders.  In reality, the main reason we need to learn about leadership is so that we can avoid being bad leaders! With that in mind, this article will talk about how bad leaders operate and the kinds of things they do to be recognized as having highly deficient or defective leadership skills. It is intended to be a little sardonic, so watch out for the humour in it and don’t take it personally.

WARNING: IF YOU RECOGNIZE YOURSELF IN ANY PART OF THIS ARTICLE, YOU MIGHT ALREADY BE A BAD LEADER!

Bad leaders fall into ten categories. People who are not capable of establishing a solid base of loyal, devoted followers can be identified by one or more of the following traits:

1.       Command and Control leaders...It is “my way or the highway” for these folks. They fly around like chickens with their heads cut off, make a lot of demands, and rule by intimidation. Nothing is ever good enough for them.

2.      Non-leading Leaders...These are the leaders who either hide in their offices reading, emailing and holding the phone to their ear all day or leaders who are often absent from the workplace on the guise of doing important work somewhere else. They sometimes do not know the names of their employees and add little or nothing to the workplace experience.

3.      Know-nothing Leaders...Leaders who managed to get into a job leading something they have little or no knowledge of and often have no intention of learning. They try to inspire through some sort of personal style but their lack of knowledge of the department they control is evident to all. They are usually not aware that nobody is really following them.

4.      Do-nothing Leaders...Leaders who might actually know a lot about their department but choose to avoid getting involved with their employees or the work they do. They often delegate everything to lower-level line managers or supervisors because they think good delegation skills mean they don’t have to do anything. They are busy doing a lot of nothing.

5.      Suck-up Leaders...These ones are so insecure and afraid of their employees that they always appear to be begging their teams to do their jobs. Often they are simply too nice for their own good. They are usually ineffective but if they are fortunate enough to have some sympathetic employees they might actually get a few things done.

6.      Blind Leaders...These folks can see what is going on but are either too dense or too afraid to realize that it might be time for them to act like a leader. They allow bad behavior, poor performance, favouritism and employee conflicts to go on unabated. They often have high turnover rates and cannot understand why nobody wants to work for them.

7.      Insincere Leaders...In order to get ahead, these leaders will say anything to anyone, at anytime, believing that the end justifies the means. They will make promises they cannot keep nor have any intention of keeping, and they will make false compliments to avoid conflict. They delude themselves of their own self-importance but nobody believes anything they say.

8.      Gossiping Leaders...These folks gossip about their organization, their superiors, their employees, their customers, their suppliers and just about anything else that creates good, juicy water cooler talk. They do not understand confidentiality and they pit employee against employee and manager against manager, while avoiding their own responsibilities. Employees don’t trust them and nobody wants to tell them anything because they know it will be repeated.

9.      Defensive Leaders...Leaders who never take responsibility for anything. These people always blame someone else when things go wrong and take all of the glory for themselves when things go right. They are the antithesis of leadership but they think that by deflecting blame, and hoarding success, they are fooling everyone...but nobody is being fooled.

10.  Uncommunicative Leaders...These leaders refuse to tell anyone, anything. They do not feel that employees have the right to know what is going on beyond their specific work-stations or that they have any business knowing about the relative success or failure of their organization. They withhold financial information and refuse to speak to subordinates about the lofty management plans they have or the organizational decisions they might make. Every new thing that happens in the organization comes as a surprise, and usually on short-notice to the workers. Employee dissatisfaction and poor morale reign in their empires.

Everyone on earth who has ever had a job has known a leader with some of the traits indicated here. If you do not want to be a bad leader, the key is to recognize the mistakes you might be making and strive to eliminate and avoid repeating them. If, on the other hand, you are okay with being a bad leader then try out all of the ideas presented here to see which ones create the worst results.

THE 10 A’S OF BAD LEADERSHIP

Often people who operate in one or more of the ten categories of bad leadership will display some of the following behaviours on a regular basis:

1.      Arrogance

2.      Anxiety

3.      Aloofness

4.      Anger

5.      Apathy

6.      Absenteeism

7.      Annoyance

8.      Agitation

9.      Antagonism

10.  Aimlessness

Practice some or all of these for maximum morale-killing effects!

There you have it: Some great ways to be a bad leader! If you utilize as many of these secrets as possible, you too, can join the ranks of the worst leaders on earth.  

Start by showing this article to a trusted colleague or employee and ask him or her if you are guilty of any of these things...Then, get to work making a difference in yourself!

All the Best!

Wayne Kehl

What is Leadership

With a title like that you might think I bit off a little more than I can chew. You might be right, but because there are literally thousands of articles, blogs and websites dedicated to discussions of leadership, I wanted to offer a logical definition of it in a thousand words or less. Here goes...

Despite the multiplicity of interpretations we read every day, leadership can be defined simply as:

“Organizing a group of people to achieve a common goal”

A leader can be anyone. There is no need for any formal authority to lead. A person simply needs to have the will, the courage, the charisma and the ability to capture the imagination of one or more followers in order to be considered a leader.

Centuries ago, it was assumed that good and powerful leaders had naturally occurring leadership traits that set them apart from others...Hence, the term, “leaders are born not made”.  However, more recent studies have made it clear that given the right set of circumstances and with the appropriate motivation, most people can become true and effective leaders.

Some of the naturally occurring traits that make leadership ability come more easily to some people are:

·         Intelligence

·         Assertiveness

·         Diligence

·         Openness

·         Courage

 When those instinctive traits are combined with learned skills and natural talents, variable levels of leadership ability may be reached. Without all of those traits, effective leadership is possible but much more difficult to achieve.

“It is important to note that one can lead much more effectively when the leadership endeavour involves something that the leader has good expertise in so that he or she may set an example”

It must also be something in which the followers have a need for or an interest in being lead in. For example: An expert tennis player might make a great tennis coach but a lousy sales manager. In addition, there would be no point in trying to lead someone to better customer service skills when he or she works in the depths of a coal mine.

 As trite as those examples might seem, it is not unusual that people are put into leadership positions that they are not capable of handling simply because they have done well in another unrelated area. Also, self-promoting or toxic people who have no business trying to lead will often attempt to influence or lead coworkers in inappropriate directions. Both situations will create poor results.

“Good and powerful leaders need to have self-awareness and a solid grip on their own emotions”

 Leadership skill necessarily includes the ability to set a mood or tone for the team. Leaders unavoidably telegraph their moods and attitudes to their followers who will adopt the preeminent emotional tone of the leader and carry it throughout the organization.

“One must not assume the only way to achieve financial success or even team success is through servant leadership, participative leadership, or compassionate leadership”

Given the right impetus and favourable circumstances an autocratic, command and control leader can drive his team to success both in the business world, on a sports court or on a battlefield. In the twenty-first century, we tend to reject that style of leadership, but it can be an effective (albeit, potentially negative and harmful) form of leadership nonetheless. If the team is not engaged and motivated, a strong autocrat might be the only leader who can create the environment needed for success.

Modern leadership lecturers and writers also reject the term “management”, since it seems to imply a lack of compassion and favours transactional or task orientation as opposed to transformational or people-oriented leadership. In reality, all organizations have some form of tasks and a specific number of people so it is evident that management may still be an integral part of the leadership cycle in many cases.

 “In essence, even bad leadership is a form of leadership”

The efficacy of any leadership style can only be measured in results. In other words if the team meets or exceeds all of its goals, under the direction of its leader, those who benefit from those results may assume that the leadership was good regardless of the leader’s style. However, it is important to note that bad leadership in any form is usually short-lived.

The best and generally, most effective form of leadership occurs when a leader is able to maintain a high level of concern for his or her people while simultaneously keeping high-level performance paramount in the minds of all participants. This form of leadership often goes a step beyond servant leadership because it allows the leader to accurately control production and monitor results for maximum success. A leader who can juggle tasks and people without sacrificing integrity for either is a great leader indeed. That leader will almost always turn out better performance, more production and measurable growth while presiding over happy, well-engaged employees.

“It is important to recognize that groups of working people are assembled primarily to create some sort of product or service”

Great leaders are able to create buy-in to the vision of the organization while accepting and embracing the direction of its leaders. The key to buy-in and strong followership is communication.

Great Leaders are Great Communicators!

Ten ways to recognize a great leader:

1.      Great leaders create a sense of unity amongst all team members.

2.      Great leaders have strong interpersonal skills and they encourage interpersonal communication amongst team members.

3.      Great leaders have the ability to create a unanimous desire amongst team members to achieve common goals.

4.      Great leaders communicate their vision to their team enthusiastically.

5.      Great leaders constantly seek feedback from team members.

6.      Great leaders never stop learning new leadership techniques.

7.      Great leaders set fair and reasonable performance standards and assist team members in achieving them.

8.      Great leaders set a conscientious, diligent example for the team.

9.      Great leaders never settle for mediocrity from themselves or from their team.

10.  Great leaders give credit for great results to the team.

 What is leadership?

“Leadership is the embodiment of the positive dynamics evident in all great human relationships within one person or leadership team!”

All the Best

Wayne Kehl

Are You Living An Authentic Life?

There is nothing sadder than the death of someone who has never lived!

Here is a quote from the late rocker, Jimi Hendrix: “I’m the one who’s got to die when it’s time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to.”

This quote speaks to me of the human need to go along or succumb to the pressures of the groups we find ourselves being members of. In life, we tend to do what our leaders tell us to do whether or not we agree and whether or not they may be contrary to our own desires. We wear fashionable clothing that we don’t like, we work at jobs we do not enjoy, we are polite when we would rather be outspoken, and we often do whatever we are told without thought.

As Jimi said, we must accept that our leaders, mentors and critics will not be there to tell us how to live our deaths even though they constantly told us how to live our lives.

I admire people who are authentic and true to themselves; the people who do what THEY want to do despite criticism from others. As long as their actions and thoughts are positive they harm no one.

For me, success is the happiness and satisfaction that comes from doing the things that we truly want to do. After all, there is nothing sadder than the death of a person who has never lived!

I am Wayne Kehl from Dynamic Leadership

What Makes A Superstar Employee?

I am going to let you in on the secret to superstar employees: “right person-right job.” When people are placed into jobs they can excel in every time, miracles can happen.

Do you ever wonder why some people excel in their jobs, outperforming all others in the same field?
In any workplace it is quite easy to find someone who consistently does more work in a shorter period of time than the rest of their team.

At the core of every superstar is a natural motivation for the work he or she does.
People who are highly motivated will exhibit better attitudes and their behaviour is likely to be peppered with excitement and elation. On the other hand, their less-motivated counterparts will ultimately exhibit lethargy, disinterest and defeat.

Poor performers often resent over-achievers for their obvious tenacity and drive. They make excuses for their own poor performance and look for ways to make the superstars look bad.

If you want to be happier in your work, identify your passions and find a job where you can realize and cultivate them.

Remember this: “very successful people get to do what they do best everyday”

I am Wayne Kehl from Dynamic Leadership

Communication Tips For The Generations

Every generation struggles with communication. Here are a few  tips to dealing with all of them more effectively.

How to Lead Generation "Y"

The members of the demographic, commonly known as Generation “Y” were born between the years 1981 and 1994, which makes them ages 17 to 30 in year 2011. They are the young up-and-coming leaders of society. There are lot of them, and since they will soon fill most of the jobs being given up by the aging Boomers, we need to modify our methodology in order to lead them.

Generation “Y” are a new breed of people with a new way of looking at the world. They have been influenced by their parents, the education system, the media and each other. They operate with an attitude of entitlement and they prefer communication via hand-held device over the spoken word.

·         What follows are a few ideas that will help make your workplace the employer-of -choice for Generation “Y”...

TECHNOLOGY:

The first Personal Computer was introduced to North America in 1981...the same year the first Generation “Y” baby was born. Hence, unlike the Boomers and Generation “X”, these kids have never seen a world without computers. They have seen rapid advances in computerization which eliminated the bulky, beige boxes of the PC and turned them into I-Phones, Blackberries and Androids. Facebook, Google, and Twitter rule the world of Generation “Y” and there is no sign of anything but more growth in that social phenomenon in the future.

·         Generation “Y” needs computers, hand-held devices, email, texting and YouTube in their lives.

·         They want media-rich information and communication in order to remain engaged.

·         Adjust your thinking to allow for their different ways of working. 

·         Let them use the style of communication they prefer .

·         Give them the most modern equipment and software you can afford.

PERSONAL TIME:

When you hire a Generation “Y” person expect them to want a lot of time off.  All their lives, they were heavily doted on by their hovering, “helicopter”, parents and they take their family-time very seriously. They were taught that they are special and they believe that they are entitled to fair treatment. Their concept of fair treatment might be much more liberal than their older bosses, so without greater flexibility, conflicts are bound to arise.

·         Structure your business to allow for flexible schedules and more innovative time commitments. 

·         Generation “Y” values time off over money so come up with a cost-effective flex-time or job-sharing plan that is affordable for you and attractive to them.

RELAXED CLOTHING STANDARDS:

Generation “Y” does not want to dress up in any formalized uniform or business attire. They want a relaxed, comfortable style of dress that makes them feel good. Forget about business suits, frilly blouses, neck ties, and dress shoes. Expect loose fitting, sloppy shirts and pants along with casual shoes, low-cut, revealing tops and tight, mid-riff-baring jeans.

·         A decade or so ago, the business world adopted casual day which has given way to casual week and casual-all-the-time. It is a freight train that does not want to stop.

·         Have a minimal number of restrictions on clothing styles if you want to keep your Generation “Y” people happy and productive.

SOCIAL VALUES:

When you hire a Generation “Y” person, you must appeal to their social values. Their parents taught them that good people give of their time and money for charities and philanthropy. They will expect their employer to support social causes and they will expect time off to involve themselves in the betterment of their communities.

·         Ask your Generation “Y’s” what they expect your company to do for the community and for charities and then put them in charge . Let them take it over and run with it.

·         They will rally to the cause if they feel a sense of ownership of the plan.

·         Ultimately, they will become more loyal and you will become the employer-of-choice.

·         The positive notoriety brought by their activities will improve your bottom line.

OPEN, HONEST COMMUNICATION:

Thanks to the ubiquitous modern media, young people have been exposed to many tales of high level lying, cheating, larceny, bad business and crime that would not have been made available in prior decades. They watched the Enron scandal unfold, Tiger Woods fall from grace, The BP oil spill disaster, The United States bank collapse, the Arnold Schwarzenegger scandal, and the onset of global warming. They watch almost every day as the adults that run the world do every dirty, underhanded, nasty thing that only the worst human beings could conjure up. They think adults are lying to them all the time and they don’t trust them. Without trust, personal or business relationships of any kind cannot survive!

·         A more open, informative management style will hold you in good stead with Generation “Y”.

·         Give your young people all the statistical and strategic information you can about your business.

·         Keep them informed and be honest about your fears, your failures and your successes.

·         Never make promises you cannot or will not keep.

·         Most importantly, never lie to them or withhold the truth.

·         They want open, honest communication and if they don’t get it, they might resign or quit emotionally and stay around to make your life a living hell!

ADVANCEMENT AND VARIETY ON THE JOB:

Because of the huge volume of information Generation “Y” is subjected to moment-by-moment on the internet and television, their minds are flooded with a myriad of ideas and opportunities. They believe they can do anything because their parents and teachers told them so. They do not want to be slotted into boring jobs with a minimal number of activities or little chance for advancement. They want variety and an opportunity to show the world what they can do.

·         Try to match the natural talents of the individual to the job they do.

·         Put the right people in the right jobs.

·         Do skills and talent assessments in order to determine the best job for each individual.

·         Throw out or amend job descriptions and allow more job-flexibility for each employee.

·         Regularly ask each employee how they feel about their job.

·         Give them a career path and follow it.

YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE  GENERATION “Y”:

Remember that the majority of your customers will also be Generation “Y” very soon, so do not make the assumption that the people who buy your products or services will continue to expect the same type of service and decorum you have in place today.

·         The world is changing so if you want to be the best in your field, try to change with it now.

·         If you work with them and accept them as they are, Generation “Y” will carry you to a new level of success.

Generation “Y” is coming to a job near you soon. You can resist their new style of working or you can use their new ways to work for you and increase revenues. It is your choice!

All the Best

Wayne Kehl