This topic can be talked about in several ways. There are quite a few reasons why there are bad leaders in every type of organization.
Many are bad leaders because they have misguided values and manipulated their way to the top. These types of leaders are really good at managing up and kicking down, and they report to bad leaders who don’t bother to see this, or only care about business results, not people and team culture results (which inevitably bring you better business results…)
When you really stop and look at the reasons, I believe a fundamental reason for bad leaders being in key positions at companies is because there’s a cycle that has been perpetrated for years, stemming from old school practices.
The sad reality is people either don’t realize leadership skills and independent contributor skills are two completely different skill sets, or they don’t have the ability within the constraints of a company structure and practices to promote and recognize good independent contributors without giving them direct reports.
So many companies still follow a singular, linear hierarchical ladder climb for career progression.
When an independent contributor does well, they’re promoted, often resulting in being given the responsibility of people to lead. More often than not, they are not properly equipped or trained to learn to lead, and they certainly aren’t going to turn down the opportunity. It’s a promotion after all. A common misconception is that positional leadership is power, which is not that the case, but that will be a topic for another podcast.
So now you have someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing, and who doesn’t lead properly, so they’re not creating leaders.
They’re just creating more followers. Followers who don’t learn proper leadership.
And because it’s so hard to move forward in this vertical career path, they start to develop terrible habits of throwing people under the bus, taking credit for other people’s work, keeping things to themselves and not working as a team to pitch ideas, getting ahead by orchestrating opportunities for themselves playing games with whoever it takes to get seen. They adapt a “by any means necessary” way of getting ahead. They rationalize, if this is what it takes and everyone else is doing it, what’s wrong with it?
Nobody is demonstrating integrity or role modeling leadership behavior, so there are no hood role models, and the cycle perpetuates. People who are good humans and show empathy and compassion as a leader are deemed weak and not influential, so they either leave or go to the darkside…
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen this happen. It especially makes my heart hurt when I see interns fresh out of college working under these types of managers. I won’t call them leaders. They learn the wrong way to lead from the beginning. They never stood a chance. This is when they need to learn what real leadership and workplace integrity means.
The same bad behavior begets the cycle of bad behavior and perpetuates the cycle of bad leadership.
If I have to tell you why we should care about this, then I’m glad you’re reading this post.
Whether or not it looks like bad leaders get rewarded, I promise you, what goes around always comes around.
Bad leaders never finish well. You won’t always see it, but I’ve personally seen evidence of this time and time again.
When leaders climb to the top on the backs of others, did they really think those same people were going to keep working hard for them? They might be compliant, until they can find another job, but there’s no commitment there. They won’t do or innovate anymore than they have to because they know you don’t care or have their backs.
I’ve seen executives have massive failures because they burned bridges with peers and partners when they single-mindedly raced to the top. You might be at the top, but it’s going to be awfully lonely. And BTW you needed those peers and partners to be successful. Oops. And if you fall and have nobody to catch you, it’s a long way down. It’s gonna leave a mark.
Bad leaders inevitably take down people, teams, and companies. As John Maxwell says, everything rises and falls on leadership.
So how do we stop the cycle?
First and foremost, before you promote someone from independent contributor to a leader of people, make sure they have the ability and desire to be a leader.
When I’ve asked people on my team why they want to get promoted to leading others and if they tell me because they want a certain title, more money and because they have all the answers or the best ideas. I won’t promote them.
If they don’t understand that leading people is a big responsibility, that they need to be a role model, help other’s grow, be humble, be a champion, coach and develop them, then they don’t get it – so they have more learning to do or they may never get there, and you as their leader have to be real about that with them.
A great quote by Jack Welch sums up what it means to make the transition from Independent contributor to having direct reports “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” Whoever is promoting someone into a leadership position, should be telling them this long before the ability to promote even comes along so you can ready their thinking and outline expectations.
I recognize as a leader, you can only lead a horse to water, it’s up to the person you’re coaching to drink. I’ve actually told someone after coaching them for a long time as an independent contributor, that they will never lead people on my watch. They are a good independent contributor, but they don’t get what it means to lead people. If someone else somewhere else begs to differ, that’s on them, but as I said, not on my watch.
This may not feel good when you are in an organization with no other culturally-embedded way to recognize someone except through promotion, but I believe that’s a cop out too.
I’m not going to give someone responsibility of others just because they are good at their tasks and projects. That perpetuates the cycle, and if you promote someone to lead others, and they’re not ready or equipped, you will lose good people. People leave people, not companies. Get creative and reward them with stretch assignments, work with your leadership to do in role promotions. Continue to coach them and hopefully they prove you wrong. At the end of the day, if they want to move on, that’s ok too.
Another critical thing to do, is when you see that leadership potential, and interest, then train, and equip them BEFORE you give them a position with direct reports and only continue – not start – after you do. This is more important than anything!
Would you hand someone who knows nothing about dogs, a puppy and say good luck, figure it out? No, you’d give them advice, maybe a book, suggest watching YouTube videos, talk to other dog owners, take a class, all BEFORE they get a puppy…
So why aren’t we doing the same thing with people before you give them a huge responsibility of leading others? Send them to classes, give them a John Maxwell book, “21 Irrefutable Laws” or “Leadership Gold” are both good starts, counsel them, mentor them…
Then when they’re in the position, you’re only continuing to coach; observe them in team meetings and give them feedback, check in often, make sure you do a 360 with their team members to see how they’re doing, how it’s going.
It will also grow your skills as a leader to teach others how to lead. Being a leader has nothing to do with having direct reports. Start by being a leader where you are.
I love this Tom Peter’s quote, “Leaders don’t create followers, they create other leaders.” That is the job of a leader.
Lastly, not everyone wants to be a leader of people and that’s ok. I commend and respect people who have self-awareness to know when it’s not for them.
However, That shouldn’t keep someone from being recognized, or from the opportunity to advance in their career.
Some companies – mostly tech – have finally implemented a variety of career paths for people throughout a company. These types of tracks for movement are good for the individual and good for the company.
Say for instance, you have independent contributor roles and tracks for promotion separate from leadership roles and tracks for promotion.
You can better right fit and retain talent in your organization. It also promotes internal movement across teams and departments which moves careers forward at a much quicker pace, gets fresh and varied experience within the company rather than the archaic ladder climb where you grind until the person ahead of you dies or retires.
Vertical movement like that takes many years. With the pace of technology and the attention spans of people, especially our youngest generation entering the workforce, ain’t nobody got time for that. Long gone are the days of one company, one career. People go where the opportunities to grow are, and who can blame them?
So if you want to stay competitive in attracting and retaining talent, you have to do creative succession planning and make pathing zig zag and multidimensional. You also need to open your mind and take chances on people with transferable skills. Some of the best career stories are people who have moved around laterally across different jobs and teams, and they have so much more in depth experience, diverse skills and adaptability!
If we are a diverse workforce, and we recognize an inclusive environment isn’t one size fits all, then why would a career path?
I really do believe if we could take greater care in who we promote and put a bigger priority on leadership skills in every role, we can break the cycle!
Maybe bad leaders won’t see it this way, because they’re likely not listening to this or anything else to learn how to be a better leader.
But you are.
And now we know better, so let’s do better!
Karlynn Holbrook 