The Dangers Of Complacent Leadership

08 August 2014, Singapore: Yesterday, one of my colleagues reminded me that I have not been posting articles at my HR blog since May. I guess it is a good time to share this article, it is a reminder to potential HR Leaders and myself on "The Dangers of Complacent Leadership" by Glenn Llopis.

Click the hyperlink for the source:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2014/08/05/the-dangers-of-complacent-leadership/ 

Glenn Llopis

The Dangers Of Complacent Leadership

It’s easy for MARKET leaders to grow complacent when they feel  the alternative is to take two steps back before taking one step forward in  an effort to find their footing in today’s changing terrain. As a result, larger corporations in particular become more vulnerable to competitive pressures because they lose strategic focus and don’t see the opportunities their emerging competitors are seeing and seizing.

Changing times require a change in one’s LEADERSHIP STYLE and approach. Here are a few early warning signs to avoid the dangers of complacent leadership.

1.  Fear Settles In

When leaders begin to fear what is required to move the company’s agenda forward – this is cause for concern.  For example, many leaders don’t want to manage through the political and/or employee dynamics that are associated with changing times for fear of being left exposed and placed in a vulnerable position.

While many leaders may not admit to being fearful, it is becoming more common as the MARKET becomes more uncertain.  As a leader, uncertainty must become your best friend and you must tackle it head on by anticipating the unexpected and taking action to solve for what lies ahead rather than waiting for others to determine your fate.  Adversity can make or break you, but it primarily reveals you. Fear is a by-product of not always knowing what the consequences of your actions will be in a changing marketplace.

The more complacent you are as a leader, the more unpredictable the environment becomes and your ability to control and lead  in it.

2.  Attention to DETAIL Fades

When the pressures mount, details fade.  This is an early warning SIGN that complacency is kicking in.  Managing the DETAILS is critical to maintaining your focus and keeping your eyes locked-in on the moving parts around you.

You can see the lack of attention to detail in meetings and in a leader’s preparation – or lack thereof.  When leaders cut corners, quality erodes.  If they don’t know how to manage speed in execution, their good intentions can spiral out of control and they can potentially create negative consequences for the team and organization they serve.

The devil is in the DETAILS.  Don’t allow them to escape by becoming a complacent leader.

3.  Tension Unknowingly Begins to Mount

When leaders grow fearful of becoming exposed and begin to lose the required attention to detail to effectively perform, they begin to unknowingly create tension with others. When this happens, leaders lose executive presence, and become disruptive and restless from the mounting demands of their growing complacency – which begins to reverberate throughout the rest of the team and amongst their colleagues.

Leaders are always in the spotlight and collectively everyone is WATCHING everything they say and do. Don’t allow complacency to disrupt your momentum.

4.  Reactive Thinking

Leaders are expected to be proactive and timely with their decisions, their outlook for the business, and the potential of their people.  When leaders are complacent, they become slower, less decisive, they begin to accumulate bad habits and the lens with which they see through gets blurry and full of blind spots. As such, over the COURSE of time they become reactive rather than proactive to the opportunities that are right in front of them.

Complacency can cloud a leader’s thinking – making it more likely for them to miss a potential OPPORTUNITY

5.  Stop Leading

Complacency can reach a point where a leader begins to follow more than lead.  Over time, complacent leaders begin to play it too safe — losing respect, trust and loyalty from their employees as well as other leaders in the organization.  When this happens, they begin to lose confidence in their own abilities, trust in themselves and in others.  This behavioral shift makes them feel too vulnerable to lead and more COMFORTABLE following.

Complacency can mark the end of a leader’s reign when people stop valuing and respecting their authority.

Leadership expert Warren Bennis, who passed away last week and wrote one of the most popular BOOKS on leadership, “On Becoming a Leader,” was well ahead of his time when it came to not giving in to the dangers of becoming a complacent leader. These are the types of leaders who “get companies stuck in outmoded ways of doing things while the world changed around them,” he said, according to his obituary in the LA Times, 8/3/2014.

Looking at things from this point of view, complacency makes you more of a manager than a leader. And as he often said: “The manager does things right and has their eye on the bottom line; the leader does the right thing and has their eye on the horizon.”

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