Identifying Bad Leaders

About a 10-minute read

It is not a bold statement to say that good leaders can make an organization and culture. That is a teed-up softball of a remark you would be hard-pressed to argue. Good leaders also have a decent degree of self-awareness. They may not outright consider themselves good leaders, instead being in a place of always identifying ways to improve, but they are certain they are not bad leaders or have poor leadership qualities. On the other end of that spectrum, however, those who are bad leaders, or have such traits, often lack the awareness to realize what they do erodes the world around them and that there is any need to change. I have worked with leaders (in an organizational hierarchical sense) in varying capacities across different industries and have experienced the gamut from wonderful to woeful. Top-of-mind experiences of the negative variety spurred the idea that we should explore those qualities of a poor, or just plain bad, leader. This is not a unique topic, so I will pull in some perspective from more far-teaching articles and provide “on-the-ground” color from my experiences. One thing I’ve noticed from working in environments that nurture poor leadership and perpetuate its presence through inadvisable promotions, is that individuals in these organizations may not always recognize what they are dealing with. If an organizational culture is infested with lackluster leadership, it becomes part of the accepted culture. So, think of this article as that opportunity to ask, "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, what makes the worst leader of them all?”

There are three articles highlighting poor leadership qualities from which I will pull references in addition to my own:

·      Forbes – 17 Traits of Ineffective Leadership (And Ways Leaders Can Improve)

·      Forbes – Leadership Weaknesses: How To Spot The Qualities Of A Bad Leader

·      BambooHR – 10 Signs of Bad Leadership – And How to Become a Better Leader

The traits from these articles we will examine are:

·      Not Differentiating Leading from Managing

·      Believing You Have All the Answers

·      Behaving Inconsistently

·      Lacking Accountability

·      Poor Integrity

·      Fails to Provide Direction

From my own perspective, I am going to include:

·      Lack of Professionalism

·      Absence of Feedback

·      Disingenuous

There is a lot here, so let’s get rolling.

Not Differentiating Leading from Managing

Forbes’ point with this trait is, “Leaders inspire with exciting visions and innovative strategies while considering the big picture; managers implement.” Right or wrong, the term “manager” does not necessarily conjure the image of leadership, where managing more directly relates to putting pieces in the right spot to get stuff done, but that is an antiquated view of the term and the role. Whenever there is responsibility for other people, providing good leadership should be a paramount responsibility. Organizations need to have a people-focused culture for this to be a viable approach, so people-focused leaders are promoted and empowered to grow the talent that will keep an organization successful in perpetuity. I have worked and led in this type of environment, and it is extremely rewarding to see the time and effort invested in your own work and the growth of others pay dividends and bring satisfaction to your team. On the other side, in organizations that are purely work-focused without talent management or a competent management structure, leadership is an unknown quality. Managers have no other responsibility other than to ensure work gets done, and they are put in manager roles because they demonstrated that ability. Consequently, this does not create a supportive environment for employees, nor does it help build the talent the organization likely needs. In these organizations, I noted the absence of communication, accountability, and role expectations. Despite managing trumping leading here, there is more dysfunction and lack of optimism for the success of future endeavors.

Believing You Have All the Answers

In well-led organizations, employees and teams will be able to convey the goal of their work and describe the approach to get there. This ability typically stems from being empowered to find solutions and craft the approach to achieve the stated goal. Leaders are not interfering with that work, but they are present and supporting it and the people when necessary, helping set up the people and organization to best handle the future. If leaders feel they must direct every action and believe goals cannot be achieved without their intervention, then they are signing up to invest their time in every project and task while never allowing employees or team members to internalize the purpose and goals of their work so they can independently achieve positive outcomes. This creates a strain on the “leader’s” availability and ensures a shallow talent bench. When I see this happen, projects and work never flow smoothly due to team inefficiencies created by an unavailable leader who left the team or individuals without enough information or know-how to move forward. Essentially, these dependent groups are stuck waiting for the leader to make a decision or direct the next action. Compounding the challenges, the leader is often juggling multiple responsibilities and unable to devote enough time to make the proper decision, further inhibiting the team’s progress.

Behaving Inconsistently

Throughout my leadership experience, I found a good operating guideline to be, “Leaders don’t like surprises.” This is intended to encourage good communication and the building of strong relationships. While the saying references a leader’s distaste for the suddenly unexpected, the same can be said for those not in a formal leadership position. Midday or mid-project surprises seldom lead to desired experiences. Consistency in leadership provides others with clear expectations and guardrails for how to operate, which allows teams, departments, and organizations to run more efficiently through the efforts and decision-making of those closest to the work. When a leader’s approach, demeanor, or expectations are regularly in flux, the uncertainty can paralyze those same teams, departments, or most disastrously, organizations. Beyond creating an environment where nobody is confident in what to do next, or feel they need direction and approval before taking any action, a leader’s incongruous behavior saps the energy and positivity of those stuck deciphering the nonsense. One moment, the leader may be acknowledging a team’s challenges and praising their persistence while promising to provide better support going forward, only to turn around and demand immediate results after forcing rework or an overall change in direction. It is impossible for a team to achieve its goals when those goals are always moving or, most distressingly, disappearing like a mirage. As a leader, find your true style and seek to continuously improve, be clear in direction and transparent in intent, and support those of which much is asked.

Leaders who behave inconsistently may wear many masks

Lacking Accountability

Leaders, if they are truly leaders, are responsible for outcomes. There may be missteps or failures outside a leader’s control, but ultimately, a leader needs to take responsibility for the results and the necessary actions to move forward. This is easy to do when everything is positive, but a leader’s true colors show during challenging moments. How are they going to respond personally? What are they going to do to lift their people up and support their growth and continuous improvement? Good leaders will lean into these moments with introspection and awareness to seek input from others, provide coaching, and tirelessly examine what they, as a leader, need to do to support positive trends. Severe and sudden change is not always necessary, and pointing blame elsewhere is never going to nurture a good organizational culture. Leaders are the vanguard into unknown territory and set the tone for all who follow.

Poor Integrity

Brian Tracy, from the Forbes article Leadership Weaknesses: How to Spot the Qualities of a Bad Leader, sums up this detracting quality the best by stating, “Sooner or later, a lack of moral integrity almost always leads to a person’s undoing...” Leaders who do not keep their word or lack follow-through say hollow things that lead to hollow actions. I like to believe a paucity of integrity is one of the first things noticed by others, and for me, it lays bare the type of person I am interacting with. Do words align with actions? Is there a trend of two-faced behavior? Those are questions I reflexively ponder with every interaction, and while it may be possible to mask poor integrity for a bit, the ruse is not sustainable. Trust is so important in the professional space, and each false engagement spends some of the capital we have in our relationships. A foundation of integrity should be commonplace amongst leadership and easily identifiable in good leaders. The presence of Integrity, paired with accountability, indicates concern for others, forward-thinking, and someone who will support those who need it. Those are traits I want in the leaders I follow and what I strive to personally demonstrate.

Poor leaders deflect blame and accountability

Fails to Provide Direction

I am a strong believer in Agile principles and the empowerment of self-managed teams to find the best way to reach an objective. For such teams to be effective, however, they need to have a clear understanding of their goals and the limits of the sandbox in which they work, and both are most effectively delivered by a leader. The benefits of guidance (without micromanagement) are not exclusive to Agile; any individual, team, or organization working toward a goal should know why they are doing it, what resources are at their disposal, and what success looks like. If a leader does not provide this level of direction, they likely do not know the appropriate direction themselves or did not allow an idea to incubate long enough before making it actionable.

Lack of Professionalism

One of the great mysteries of the professional world is how anyone without that very thing, professionalism, can be placed in a leadership position. From a lack of decent courtesy toward other people, to the use of coarse (sometimes inappropriate) language, the absence of professionalism in a space where it is expected is disruptive and corrosive on organizational culture. I have attended meetings where curses fly and comments made to specific individuals, possibly intending to touch upon prior relationships (professional or otherwise), leave the recipient and others present in the awkward position of determining how to respond or ignoring the interaction altogether. Professional settings still allow for colloquial language and the building of relationships through humor and relaxed interactions, but when behavior makes others feel uncomfortable and clearly steps outside even a broad understanding of acceptable, there can be detrimental consequences. Is the leader expecting that behavior of others? Do team members know when to take the leader seriously? Does the behavior create a toxic environment? If any of those questions arise, then there is an obvious issue that could lead to greater problems. To avoid such a situation, be a decent human being to others, remember the settings in which you operate, and maintain that integrity.

Absence of Feedback

Akin to providing direction, a good leader will also provide feedback that helps guide a person or team toward a better direction, whether that is identifying new skills to build, correcting actions, or helping identify ways to continuously improve. A leader helps refine guardrails and desired outcomes while supporting the development of those doing the work. Purposeful, intentional feedback is vital for strengthening organizational culture, creating psychological safety, and facilitating organic improvement. Feedback loops may exist as individual one-on-ones or other regular touchpoints, project check-in meetings, or even performance evaluations/discussions (though hopefully feedback is provided more frequently in more comfortable circumstances). Essentially, leaders should provide feedback regularly enough that there are no surprises during year-end evaluations or at project-end. Leaders should not allude to the presence of feedback and then not provide it or take potentially disruptive action without first providing those impacted with the necessary information to evolve and then the opportunity to do so.

Disingenuous

My number one, most important quality, whether it is for a leader or an employee, is genuineness. Like integrity, this is one of the qualities that stands out whether it is present or not, and it answers important questions about the type of person or leader someone can be. Are they honest? Do they believe in what they are saying? Are they only looking to maximize outcomes for themselves? While being disingenuous can create hassle and conflicts among individuals or within teams, in a leader, it can be lethal. Successful relationships and interactions are based on trust; trust is what allows people to purposely give of their time and effort. If trust erodes or is absent, then what reason do people have to move forward with something that does not immediately benefit themselves. Being genuine should be a given, and its benefit in building strong relationships and culture should be easy to understand. Remove that component, and a strong foundation is replaced by toxicity and instability.

Good leadership is one of an organization’s most valuable resources. Those in leadership roles have tremendous responsibility in ensuring their quality. It is easy to overlook that commitment and slip into behaviors that may be good enough to get by but provide little value for others. Being people-centric with a mind to supporting others and creating a positive, empowering culture will help land you on the right side of what makes a good leader.