Month: May 2017

What it Looks Like When Leadership Goes Wrong

On May 31, 2017

I’ve written many times about what it takes to be a great and effective leader, but I’ve never really explored what it looks like when leadership is ineffective or, even worse, just plain bad. Often, it’s difficult to know exactly what’s going wrong so you can fix it; however, by taking a look at what really happens when leadership goes wrong, you can identify it when you see it and help more easily craft a solution to move forward. Here are some of the red flags you may encounter when dealing with poor and ineffective leadership.

Someone’s always playing the blame game.

Things are going to go wrong every once in awhile; these things just tend to happen when working with humans and human error. However, the important thing to remember when there is a mishap is that it’s not about who’s at fault but rather what can be done to move forward. When you’re dealing with poor leadership, though, you’ll often see that problems are followed by a department- — or even company- — wide game of ‘who did it?’ If assigning blame is more important in the process of recovering from mistakes than the actual plan to move forward, you’re likely dealing with bad leadership.

Any change is met with resistance.

Repeat after me: change is good; change is natural. Change is required to keep a company running smoothly and up-to-date on latest industry happenings and trends. That’s why it’s incredibly difficult to succeed if you have a leader who is reluctant to adopt new policies and changes. Say your entire company has decided to go paperless, but your department head prefers to use paper and doesn’t want to update. It’s going to throw the productivity of the company entirely out of line and waste more time than had the changes just simply been implemented.

There’s a total lack of empathy.

You’ll hear people say that it’s important to keep a separation between your work and home life and not let personal matters seep into the workplace. However, there are obvious exceptions to this rule when it comes to matters of death, illness, or other urgent situations that arise; this is why sick time and bereavement time exist. As a leader, you definitely don’t want people to be walking all over you, but you also need to recognize that your team members are human beings with problems that will arise from time to time. Be accommodating with your team and they’ll be more likely to trust you and less likely to abuse the system. If a leader is unable to put his or herself into someone else’s shoes and see from their point of view at least a little, they’re going to fail very quickly when it comes to earning the respect of their team.

There are a lot of flip-flops.

I’m not talking about the shoes; I’m talking about people who are indecisive and unable to make a decision and commit to it. In business, there are not the time and resources available for you to keep going back and forth when it comes to difficult decisions. Bad leaders will be unsure if they’ve made the right choice and may change course several times throughout the process, but effective leaders will make the best, educated choice that they’re able and continue forward knowing that they made they best choice they could have, and that making a choice is better than not.

Miscommunication runs rampant.

Poor leaders will place very little value on the importance of communicating with their team. They may be the type of leader to give unclear instructions and expect you to figure out the rest. They might be the type that goes absent for long periods of time and is unavailable for guidance or assistance in tumultuous times. It’s also likely that any complaints voiced to these leaders will go in one ear and out the other, causing problems to persist and delaying solutions that will make operations run more smoothly. Someone who places very little importance on communication is someone who, instead of being the leader and the point of cohesion within the group, will serve to exacerbate confusion and frustration.

There’s a huge emphasis on hierarchy.

Hierarchy exists for a reason, so people know who to report to and what the chain of command is. That being said, hierarchy is not something that you should use as conversational punctuation or as a reason why someone should do something; poor, ineffective leaders like to play the rank card any chance they get. They’ll consistently put their team down by flaunting their position any chance they get rather than using their knowledge and leadership experience to guide their team along the right path.

There is no sense of autonomy or trust.

As a manager, it all falls back on you to make sure that everyone is doing their job and things are running smoothly. However, at a certain point, you need to develop enough trust with your team to believe that they’ll get their work done without hovering over their shoulders. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t check in with your team members to make sure they’re juggling their workload effectively; this just means that you can’t micromanage people and expect them to still perform well.

It can be difficult to tell if leadership is going awry if you’re constantly stuck in the middle of it. By keeping yourself alert and knowing what it looks like when things are falling apart, you can help the team better recover and address the issue before it becomes a passive problem.

The Best TED Talks on Leadership

By Nicole Monturo

On May 25, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

If you’re a frequent internet user, especially on social media, you’ve likely seen videos posted and shared of conferences called TED Talks. Maybe you’ve watched one here or there on various subjects — TED Talks have a lot more to offer than purely entertainment — think of them more as edutainment.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design and was incepted in 1984 by Richard Saul Wurman; although the conferences initially only addressed topics in the areas of technology, entertainment, and design, they now cover a wide variety of topics. These conferences host influential leaders from different industries around the world to speak on their knowledge and inform others.

One subject of TED Talks that I find to be particularly insightful and inspiring are the ones that cover matters of leadership. I watch them for knowledge, inspiration, and self-development so I can lean how to better lead others on a day-to-day basis. Although I really can’t limit my favorites to a single list without rambling for a million words, there are a few that have particularly struck me. Here are a few of my (carefully selected) favorite TED Talks on leadership.

How to Make Work-Life Balance Work – Nigel Marsh
- Nigel Marsh is a well-known author, giving us titles like Overworked and Underlaid and Fat, Forty, and Fired that explore the interaction between work and personal life. In this talk he discusses the importance of having a healthy balance between your work and personal lives and offers some advice on how to reach that balance.
The Key to Success? Grit. – Angela Lee Duckworth
- Angela Duckworth worked for years in a high-pressure consulting job until one day when she left it to take a job teaching mathematics to seventh graders in the New York public school system. It was at this job where she realized that textbook intelligence isn’t the only thing that sets the successful students apart from those had a difficult time; that other ‘secret’ ingredient was grit, which she explores in her talk.

8 Secrets of Success – Richard St. John
- If you want a strong shot of inspiration but don’t have the time to sit through an entire lecture series, marketer and analyst Richard St. John’s presentation is exactly what you need. The talk condenses years’ worth of interviews and a two-hour lecture into a three-and-a-half minute talk that gets real about what exactly it takes to succeed.

How Being a Mom Helps You Be a Better Leader

By Nicole Monturo

On May 21, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

Motherhood is often underestimated in today’s society. You are responsible for taking care of another human being, making sure he or she grows up in the best environment with all of the knowledge they need to succeed in life. While people try to minimize the commitment it takes to raise children, they don’t see the everyday battles and obstacles you have to overcome, which not only makes you a better mother but a better person all around. No matter how I look at it, one constant remains true: my experience with motherhood has helped me to be a better leader, and here’s how.

I realized no two people are the same.
- There’s a huge difference between having your first child and your second child. Your first child comes, and you’re brand new at the whole parenting thing so you learn along the way. Then, when your second child comes, you think you’ve got everything down pat and are prepared for whatever life throws your way, but there’s a catch: your second child is an entirely different human being with his or her own temperament, attitude, likes, and dislikes. Your second child may love the things your first child hates and vice versa. It taught me to realize that no two people are the same, so there is no one-size-fits-all approach to leadership; you need to handle each person and their own unique set of problems or concerns individually.
I learned how to juggle… a lot.
- Like being a mom, when you’re a leader in any capacity, you need to be able to multitask and balance a lot of plates at once. As a mom, you need to stay on top of your own life as well as your kids’ lives. If my daughter had ballet and my son had soccer practice after school at two different times, I need to be able to keep everything organized and get everyone where they need to go in a timely manner. Looking back, I can see all of the little ways that handling motherhood has made me a better multitasker, more organized, and more confident in both of my roles.
I learned how to tough it out.
- When you’re a mom, there are no sick days. You can’t call off of parenting because you have a cold or were up all night throwing up. No, you need to remain the fearless leader and take charge of the day. When you’re a leader, you also have people depending on you; you can’t just decide not to show up and expect things to run smoothly. You need to be able to weather the storms with your team, rather than jumping ship.

How to Lead Unwilling Followers to Success

By Nicole Monturo

On May 16, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

There are many ways to lead followers to success. Depending on your line of work or the reason you are leading a group of followers, will determine what type of leadership style you are going to take on. Some consider there to be good leadership styles and some consider other styles to be bad and not beneficial for anyone involved. Regardless of style, how do you make someone follow you when they are not willing to?

One of the first things that needs to be done is to get down to the level of the follower and determine why they are unwilling in the first place. Does the follower not agree with the way you are leading them? Are there other external factors that are taking them in a different direction than you would like?

According to Dr. Karen Keller, a clinical psychologist, there are about five common reasons for your employees to not follow you: being frustrated with how they are being treated, feeling rejected, unsupported or misunderstood, feeling scared, angry, or powerless, possibly they are experiencing personal problems, and lastly that they are impatient.

How do you combat these issues from happening or continuing to happen? Everyone has a different way of connecting with their followers and getting them to trust you; this guide will show you some of the more common and effective ways to take control of your followers.

Lead with passion.

Followers want to be lead in the right direction. But they aren’t just going to follow anyone that comes through the door. They want to be certain that their leader understands and is passionate about the work that they are doing. If a leader shows passion for their work, it will in turn rub off on the followers, who will hopefully become passionate about the work as well.

Take a stand.

While it is important to be mindful of the your followers and hear their requests and their ideas for improval. Followers don’t want a leader who is going to fold under pressure or have their mind changed all of the time. They want and need a leader who is going to hear them out, but ultimately take a stand and make the decision that is best for them.

Lead by doing.

The worst thing a leader can do is bark orders at their followers, without either showing them what they are doing or doing the task with them. Unwilling followers need to be shown why they need to do something rather than just being told to do it in the first place. A common saying is that a boss will shout orders from the back, while a leader will be at the front showing the followers the way to success.

Be Trustworthy.

Lastly, and one of the more important ways to get a reluctant to follower to be on your side, is to be trustworthy. It’s possible that the reason they are resisting your leadership in the first place is because they have experienced leaders who were dishonest with them in the past. Being trustworthy and following your word is the best way to gain your followers trust, which will in turn have them follow you willingly and passionately.

10 Leadership Philosophies

By Nicole Monturo

On May 2, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to leadership. Every person and every situation is different, so it stands to reason that each individual leader would attack leadership with a different approach.

Think back to great leaders throughout history. Think of Martin Luther King Jr., with his awe-inspiring speeches; think of Winston Churchill who commanded a nation amidst global turmoil; think of Margaret Thatcher, the first female prime minister of Great Britain. Throughout history, great leaders have demonstrated a number of different leadership styles that have proven effective for the given time. There will be periods that require a soft hand and a gentle voice to lead you; there will also be times when a stern discipline and firm hand are necessary to elicit change. There are no “right” and “wrong” ways to lead. Rather, there are effective methods and ineffective methods for tackling a certain problem.

Let’s break down the fundamental differences between these different leadership philosophies.

Participative Leadership

This leadership philosophy is characterized by allowing input from all levels of team members across the company or group. There are four subsets of participative leadership: autocratic, collective, consensus, and democratic. The authority for making the final decision lands differently for each style as these each have their own characteristics and nuances.

Autocratic Leadership

Also called authoritarian leadership, this participative philosophy of leadership has a single figure in charge who is solely responsible for all decision-making for themselves and for the group. While typically severe, this style is most effective when order needs to be restored in the face of chaos. This includes completing important tasks with urgency and navigating situations that do not allow for the time necessary to discuss moving forward.

Collective Leadership

Collective leadership, as the name suggests, is a style of participative leadership in which a number of individuals convene in order to bring about a certain result. Because of the necessity of input from every demographic, the very nature of this philosophy style is inclusive to all people. There are four principles of collective leadership that help guide groups in their decision making processes. They are 1) preparing, 2) planning, 3) implementing, and 4) sustaining.

Consensus Leadership

In consensus leadership, the leader relinquishes all power and control, leaving all responsibility and decision-making on the group. Then, as a whole, the group must consider the input and opinions of each member and then come to a majority decision. While consensus leadership can be great for placing accountability directly on workers, it can often marginalize part of the group and lead to discontent. Since the decisions are made by the majority, the minority can feel as though their opinions and contributions aren’t valued.

Democratic Leadership

This final style of participative leadership is one that is great for keeping your whole team engaged and active. Here, the idea of involvement on every level is crucial. The inputs of individuals are all considered and valued, and influence the ultimate goals of the organization as a whole. Demographic leadership is excellent for completing day-to-day tasks, but on the whole can be less effective than some other styles when the pressure is on and quick decisions need to be made. Since the emphasis is placed on discussion to reach a common agreement, when it comes down to the wire there can be a lot of confusion and misunderstanding.

Delegative Leadership

Also known as laissez-faire leadership, the delegative philosophy involves a very hands-off approach and is generally found to have the lowest rates of productivity among members of the team. Here, the leader has very little to do with the decision-making of the team, and rather provides the resources necessary for the group to make its own decisions. While it can be effective with a strong, well-built team, the reasons delegative leadership typically fails is a lack of clear instruction to an inexperienced group and a lack of cohesion among the members.

Servant Leadership

Servant leadership is perhaps the oldest philosophy of leadership, dating back more than two millennia. This style is one that cannot be easily taught but rather comes from within. In his iconic essay, The Servant as Leader, he describes a servant leader as one who feels compelled within his or her being to serve others, and serve them first. The best test, of course, is to look at what the leader and team both are getting out of the relationship. Do those lead by the servant leader gain knowledge and understanding and grow as individuals? Is the leader him or herself better for having served others? Greenleaf writes about how the servant leader, a servant by nature, is bestowed with the powers of leadership. The servant leader has a desire to serve and a calling to lead.

Charismatic Leadership

The charismatic leader is one who whose focus is typically more holistic. While other leaders want to induce change within a particular group or team, the charismatic leader seeks to make change on a large scale. Think of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and how he strove to improve the status quo with his moving rhetoric. Here, the leader holds a lot of power in influencing their audience and followers.

Transformational Leadership

Transformational leaders are also called quiet leaders, because they lead by drawing out the best in others. They lead others by connecting with them and engaging with them through empathy and compassion. Rather than pushing their team to excel, they guide their team along a path to excellence, helping them develop internally to perform their best externally.

Situational Leadership

The Situational Leadership model teaches leaders the importance of flexibility and adaptability when it comes to handling stressful situations. It operates through four core leadership competencies: diagnose, adapt, communicate, and advance.