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:
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.”
-- The End --
