WHY LEADERS AND MANAGERS FAIL!

For over a decade, The NBOGroup’s Leadership surveys have recorded the reasons many Leaders and Managers Fail. The financial, productivity and effectiveness impacts of poor leadership are devastating. So, what have many organizations done to achieve success in their Leaders & Managers?

February 2013. Gary Nelson and Bonnie Nelson.

management undercut this goal. Market competition is increasing and customers a re more demand ing . The need fo r effectiveness at every level of leadership and management is critical for organizational competitiveness. The 2013 book “The ORG” by Ray Fisman & Tim Sullivan reported that “variation among middle managers has a particularly large impact on a firms performance, much larger than those individuals assigned to innovative roles. Middle Managers are necessary to fac i l i ta te performance in innovative and knowledge intensive industries.” In addition Stanford’s Nick Bloom (in their world management survey) concluded that better lead and managed institutions increased patient survival rates, students achieved better test scores, manufacturing plants produced more and retail outlets profits were better than those with less attention to leadership and management.

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Lets start with the challenge. Bad leadership and ineffective management are causing an alarming drop off in performance in many organizations. With productivity improvements being called for in every corner of most organizations, the affects of poor leadership and

Organizations are increasingly looking to align themselves with great leadership and management. The opportunity is promising when a concerted effort is put forth to measure performance and to implement corrective actions. Shareholders want this, clients will make decisions on this, and talent will make choices about this. Improving leadership and management effectiveness is critical to organizational success. The NBOGroup Leadership Survey has recorded the reasons Why Leaders and Managers Fail for more than ten years. The 2013 Leadership survey documented again that Failure is:

NBOGroup Leadership Survey 2013

When asked in a different way; “ What are the leadership/management gaps in your organization? The most significant responses are:

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Leader/Managers style

Lack of vision

Not inspiring trust

Lacking interpersonal skills

Not having good communication skills

55.9%

40.9%

40.1%

29.1%

29.7%

ü  Leader/managers who communicate effectively

ü  Innovative leader/managers

ü  Leader/managers who inspire Trust

ü  Leader/managers who can build teams

ü  Leader/managers who develop others through coaching and mentoring

ü  Transformational leaders and managers

"It prevented me and the team from growing, learning and achieving more."

"It inhibited creativity."

"Prevented my career from growing and developing."

"It made them want to resign."

70.0%

53.9%

44.1%

41.1%

When you take this information and correlate it to decades of 360 Leadership Feedback results the picture becomes even clearer: Leaders, rightly so, are viewed as driven for performance and results; but fall short in the areas of Vision and Direction, Building Teams, Collaboration, People Development, Giving Feedback and Coaching/Mentoring effectively. The 360 database of tens of thousands of reports provides a clear picture of leader/managers strengths and weaknesses. This aggregation shows the strengths and weaknesses of organizations. It also becomes the roadmap to change and transformation, for correcting the bad and improving the effective.

Bad leadership and management are costly to every organization where they exist. If these weak leaders/managers harm the organizations’ results, talent is driven away, clients are not happy; the bottom line is that productivity, efficiency and teamwork are greatly affected. Poor leadership and management, not pay, are sited globally as the reason talent m ig ra tes . The des i re f o r pe rsona l development, trust, and respect retains talent more effectively than money.

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Attrition of talent hits the bottom line as well as the future leader/manager pipeline.

An additional question is asked in the NBOGroup Survey; “how did working for an underperforming leader/manager affect you?”

Not a good picture if you have high attrition of talent and skills and underperformance of individuals and teams. Good leadership and management positively impacts productivity. Good leadership and management leads to a reputation for attracting and retaining talent. Good leadership/management attracts clients, prospects, partners and talent.

What can be done?

Organizations that are consistently successful and noted for positive reputations are very clear that the answer is in sound remedies for continuous action:

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1.  Establish what good Leadership and Management are in this organization.

2.  Provide leaders/managers with annual feedback against these standards.

3.  Plan appropriate and consistent training to build needed skills, competencies and behaviors.

4.  Engage in active coaching to ensure improvement.

5.  Replace leaders/managers who are unable to change.

Engagement surveys and years of 360 data say that stakeholders want more accountability of underperforming staff. Peers know when they are carrying others workload. Bosses who don’t step up to performance challenges invite questions of courage and fairness. Formal programs with accurate metrics (360’s and diagnostics) coupled with directed learning/development and active coaching/mentoring measure if what is wrong is being corrected. Organizations that complete the loop from measurement-develop-coach-re-measure, get improved productivity and higher workplace morale. Your customers, partners, people (all stakeholders) deserve strong leadership and management. Those organizations who provide this go from “good to great”.

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About NBOGroup

The NBOGroup has been conducting leadership development, communication and interpersonal skills training across Asia since 1988. The NBOGroup is one of Asia’s most respected leadership and communication consulting firms, with offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, and with partners in Indonesia, Malaysia and Europe. Each NBOGroup program is designed to fit the specific learning objectives of our clients, who include many of the Fortune 500 companies. With worldwide experience, our programs and products are tailored for multi-cultural environments. The NBOGroup employs leading edge tools in our customized engagements the NBOGroup unique online 360° Leadership Survey, and psychometric tools including Dr. Raymond Cattell’s Sixteen Personality Factors & Five Global Factors (16PF). Our executive coaches add value in personalized experience by linking individual personality and behavior to desired performance objectives. Our trainers emphasize the development of practical competencies, not stereotyped techniques. This approach delivers greater impact, a lasting application by the participant, and a return on investment for the organization. The NBOGroup offers its clients a total learning resource with the philosophy that our client relationship is “a partnership that continues”. We look forward to the opportunity of working with you.

Head Office 583 Orchard Road #10-04 Forum Singapore 238884 Phone: (65) 6339 8733 Fax: (65) 6339 7055 Email: info@nbogroup.com Website: http://www.nbogroup.com