What is the role of a leader in creating a psychologically healthy and productive workplace? More specifically, what are the things a leader has to stop doing to help teams accomplish their goals?
Dr. Moira Somers answered those questions in a talk entitled, “Five Bad Habits of Highly Annoying Leaders.” Somers is a neuropsychologist, a professor at the University of Manitoba and on the faculty of the Sudden Money Institute. She spoke Sept. 10 at Bob Veres’ Insider Forum.
“The higher that people go up the corporate ladder, the more likely that the limiting factors on their effectiveness are going to be behavioral and relational ones, not the technical ones or the many organizational ones,” Somers said. “These are often just small things that need to be addressed in order to massively boost your effectiveness as well as team satisfaction, productivity and profitability.”
Somers compared bad leadership to playing Mozart’s Sonata in C major with an incorrect note: C sharp substituted for C natural. “Listening to that Sonata would be an utterly unpleasant experience for the audience,” she said. “The audience would walk out.”
“That’s what it’s like to work with a smart skilled leader who is just a little bit off,” Somers said. “It can make or break a team and it can make or break a leader.”
Somers identified five bad habits that undo leaders of what would otherwise be strong teams. Let’s look at what those are and how you can avoid them.
Why this matters
Somers’ advice applies to leaders at all levels, from corporate CEOs to financial advisors managing small teams.
Most people, Somers said, feel twice as many positive emotions as negative ones. But something “remarkable” happens, she said, when that ratio reaches 3:1. It gets people to a realm of “flourishing creativity and productivity” not available at lower levels.
This isn’t merely coincidence. There’s an evolutionary explanation for why positive emotions lead to better results, according to Somers. Someone in a positive state of mind sees options that would otherwise be invisible, and it catalyzes individuals to be creative in new ways. For example, studies of stroke victims have shown that the patients’ fields of vision improve along with positive experiences, Somers reported.
When teams get above the 3:1 level, Somers said, several things happen. They become more adept at solving internal problems and are able to shift their focus outward more easily, they ask more questions, and they are more open to creative feedback and are more curious. Retention rates are also higher when teams hit that level.
On a practical level, Somers said, it’s a lot easier and more effective to eliminate negativity than to add positive emotions. If 3:1 is the target ratio, one could achieve the same benefit by eliminating one negative behavior as from adding three positive behaviors.
The five bad habits
“Some negativity is simply unavoidable,” Somers said. Much attention – from incentive programs to bonuses to leadership training classes – is placed on eliciting positive behaviors. Far less, she said, is placed on eliminating these five bad habits she identified:
Let me show you how smart I am. This leader needs to be seen as the smartest person in the organization and will often take others’ ideas and make them better. They often talk too much, are condescending and have big egos. They dominate conversations and are unable to delegate.
Everything I do, I do for you. This leader responds to every complaint, need and idea that is presented. Their attitude is that everything must be dealt with immediately. They are unable to prioritize. They manage through committees, using an “open door” style, and are indecisive.
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What were you expecting? A parade? This leader uses contempt, neglect and mockery to achieve results. They are condescending, aloof, insecure and ungrateful. Employees are afraid to communicate
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I’m right – don’t you think? This leader needs constant affirmation of his or her positive qualities and avoids criticism. They often speak first and try to shut down communication. They don’t care about consensus.
Leadership means never having to say you’re sorry. This person leads through decisiveness and believes apologies are unnecessary. They don’t solicit ideas from others, avoid scrutiny and accept the status quo. They don’t celebrate success and lack humility.
Many of these overlap. A theme of “how smart I am” runs through them, Somers said. A pervasive trait is the need to be powerful.
Are these a problem for you?
Somers provided some advice about the worst kinds of behavior – and how to identify and avoid them.
One behavior that consistently provokes the strongest emotional reaction, she said, is when supervisors take credit for others’ ideas.
“It is a kind of intellectual fraud,” she said. “If that is going on in your organization, it needs to be addressed right away.”
Sometimes this behavior manifests itself more subtly, she said, like when someone comes into a manager’s office with an idea, only to be told, “I knew that already.” Next time, Somers said, that employee won’t bother to come into the manager’s office.
A simple way to correct that behavior is to say “Thank you” instead of “I knew that already.”
Another way leaders get themselves in trouble, Somers said, is by using talking as a way of problem-solving. Employees – especially responsive ones – can take off-the-cuff remarks as commands and investigate issues they shouldn’t.
Correcting other negative behaviors
The first step in eliminating negative behaviors is identifying them, Somers said, and that requires feedback from your team.
One way is to specifically ask for feedback on a number of important dimensions, through a technique known as 360° performance evaluation. Those exercises usually involve outside facilitators, she said, and looking for “corroborative evidence.” If leaders have negative traits, they are like to also show up in aspects of their personal lives – such as marital problems.
If you don’t have access to such a tool, Somers said, pay more attention to your team’s verbal and nonverbal behaviors, like how closely people sit next to one another and whether they make eye contact. Somers said to monitor data like absenteeism or whether employees take stress-related leaves.
One technique, Somers said, is to have a conversation with your team along these lines: “I’ve become aware that a particular behavior might be a problem for me. Is that so? Is this something that you have seen as perhaps being a barrier to my effectiveness?” It helps to give people a few examples.
To correct a problem, Somers said leaders need to make a public commitment and apology. “Everything starts with that statement,” she said. “When you get the feedback, or when you realize you blown it, say ‘I blew it. I’m sorry. I made a mistake.’ Voice your commitment to addressing the problem in the coming
months.”
Making progress
Humility is part of a larger challenge of adopting a “growth mindset,” which Somers said was documented by Carol Dweck in her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. A growth mindset is characterized by the belief we can get better at “pretty much everything,” Somers said. Its antithesis, the fixed mindset, is typified by a person who tries to maintain a status of excellence, correctness and being on top.
Adopting a growth mindset reduces defensiveness, Somers said. The art of accepting criticism and adapting it to improve oneself is a trait of strong leadership, she said.
Feedback mechanisms are important. Once you’ve identified a behavior you want to address, Somers said leaders need to ask people in their networks how they can identify signs of progress. That requires ongoing follow up. “Be clear with yourself about what’s going to get in the way of change, and address those barriers and influence,” she said.
“Behavior changes are really hard and most attempts fail because we were never really serious about them,” Somers said. “We never set anything in motion to give it anything more than that biblical parable about the seed that falls on the rocky ground.”
Be clear about what is going to get in the way of change, Somers said: “Usually it’s defensiveness.”
Being smart is what got you to the leadership role, Somers said. “But any strength can become your Achilles’ heel if it’s not kept in check by feedback and appreciation of how it needs to be modified in light of any circumstances you find yourself in.”
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