Talent Acquisition, Executive Search for high performance teams

What Causes Leaders To Fail? Predicting Leadership Success.

Most Presidents, CEO's and COO's we speak with tell us they have plenty of scar tissue when it comes to making hiring and promotion errors. They admit to making hiring or promoting a person they thought would be a good leader and that person did not work out. They then asked themselves:

• Why did that person fail?
• What did I do wrong in the selection or promotion process that casued me to make that mistake? How do I prevent it in the future?

In today's brutal business climate, top management is also faced with a new series of challenges with their leadership team and are asking additional questions:

• Why are some of my leadership team not performing to expectations?
• What do I have to do to assure my leadership team has the competencies to outperform our competition in this business climate?

FAILURE RATES IN TODAY'S DIFFICULT BUSINESS CLIMATE

1. FAILURE RATES: Newly hired or recently promoted manager's failure is averaging nearly 50% in the first 18 months of employment.
2. FAILURE RATES EXPECTED TO GO UP: This failure rate is expected to be higher in today's economy, some say as high as 75%, because many of today's leaders have only managed in good economic times, not in economic uncertainty or turbulence.
3. WOMEN & MEN ARE FAILING AT ABOUT THE SAME RATE
4. COSTS OF LEADERSHIP FAILURE

• When leaders fail, it cost time and resources to recruit, select and train new ones.
• There are the costs of golden parachutes or severance pay.
• There is the cost of lost intellectual and social capital.
• There is the cost of missed business objectives and the cost of destroyed employee morale.

CAUSES OF LEADERSHIP INCOMPETENCE/DERAILERS
What causes leaders to fail or "derail"? What can we do to identify those possible failures before you promote or hire the person? The following reasons are often cited for failure:

• Insentive, abrasive, intimidating, bully [this is most frequently mentioned]
• Not able to solve specific or complex business problems
• Failure to consider human needs; has troubled relationships
• Cold, aloof, arrogant
• Betrayed trust; lacked honor and integrity
• Failed to influence or develop subordinates
• Over manages; failed to delegate; can't manage themselves
• Inability to deal effectively with conflict or learn from their mistakes
• Overly ambitious
• Failed to make good staffing decisions; can't build teams
• Unable to think strategically
• Unable to adapt to a boss with a different style
• Overly dependent on an advocate or mentor
• In family businesses, not able to resolve complex issues with siblings or succession management issues.

CORE COMPETENCIES: Most executives tell us they do not know how to define the "core competencies" required for successful performance in each of their direct report's positions. Without this knowledge, it is very difficult for them to know if there is a gap between the competencies required in the position and the skills possessed by their managers.

ASSESSING LEADERSHIP TALENT: Every person brings to the job:

• Business skills [evaluted during the interview]
• A "bright side" personality that we observe in the interview
• A "dark side" personality that we do not see in a normal interview and seldom pick up during reference checks. This is the "dysfunctional side of the person. This is how they behave when they are stressed, tired, or angry. This is what causes them to "derail" or underperform, especially in today's difficult business climate.
• Motivators and drivers that are "must haves" if the person is going to be happy and successful in ther role. [seldom picked up in the interview]

FOR INFORMATION ABOUT HOW TO REDUCE/AVOID MAKING HIRING AND PROMOTION ERRORS OR HOW TO ASSESS CURRENT MANAGERS WHO ARE UNDERPERFORMING, contact Career Consultants Group. We are Business Consultants who assist clients assess and build high performance leadership teams that outperform their competition. For more information, contact Dick Butz at 317-264-4164 or email him at rbutz@cciindy.com or visit our web site at www.careerconsultantsgroup.com