We continue to hear news stories of business leaders who have fallen from grace, from a once enviable position but now disconnect from the people they were leading. A hubris seems to set in and the success formula that was working seems to fail them. So how does this come about and how can it be avoided?
Like an organisation itself, a leadership team can also be subject to a life cycle and without evolution or revolution will decline and face eroding success. Investment in the people dynamics of the business are often at their lowest when this crisis occurs. The dynamics in most organisations today are very sophisticated and rely on a balance of many business strategies. David Guest (2000) used a simplified model to link Human Resource practices to the bottom line/results of an organisation, a view developed through the ‘new thinking’ of Peters & Waterman (1982) where the rising and successful corporations were observed to be more focused on style, staff and skills as opposed to strategy and structure.
Here are some observations to avoid decline, and protect the senior leadership team.
- Refocus or Rewrite your Vision: Often we lose track of our key value chain and proposition as a company and we may become distracted or drawn away from key competencies. Through proper evaluation and listening, find out if those diversifications are worthwhile or whether they are an unwanted drain. Have we stopped ‘seeing the wood for the trees?’ It will not take long to re-evaluate and clarify the Mission & Vision so do it fast.
- Acknowledge Others: It is good for Leaders to remember how they got there: It can be very easy to become disconnected from the stakeholders who made you successful in the first place – the company’s customers and staff. Hubris can arise out of naturally taking the credit for the causes of success and blaming the reasons for failure elsewhere. This is explained in psychology by the Fundamental Attribution Error which has been tested in many different settings, including the workplace. Put over simply, we are likely to take the credit ourselves when things go right and we look for situational reasons to explain failure. Performance related pay, when based on individual achievement, can exacerbate this. Just try saying ‘Yes, you are right’ and seeking opinion from others will get you back on track.
- Give back and Invest: A good leader continues to act in the interested of the whole and therefore maintain trust and integrity. A good way to make sure leaders recognise the wider strengths of an organisation, is to allow good opportunities for people development and training. Successful companies not only reinvest in direct areas to maximise future talent but also see the wider benefit in motivating and developing people as a whole.
- Lead by example: Remaining respectful and mindful of the welfare of the whole team often takes courage and conviction. When a leader demonstrates through their actions that they are charged with the welfare of their whole team and not just their own agrandisement, they demonstrate integrity and trustworthiness. Good communication and improved relationships come as a result and only leaders with humility are recognised as Great Leaders (Jim Collins, 2001). From Jim Collins’ book, he wrote of the founder of Hewlett Packard and a key to success:
In 1949, 37-year-old David Packard attended a meeting of business leaders. Fidgeting while they discussed how to squeeze more profit from their companies, he was finally unable to contain himself. “A company has a greater responsibility than making money for its stockholders,” he asserted. Eyes turned toward his six-foot-five-inch frame. “We have a responsibility to our employees to recognize their dignity as human beings,” Packard said, extolling his belief that those who help create wealth have a moral right to share in that wealth.
