Canadian HR Reporter

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014 CANADIAN HR REPORTER & STRATEGIC CAPABILITY NETWORK Are you enabling mediocre leadership at your company? It's a loaded question and un- doubtedly a difficult one — but it's also critical, according to Vince Molinaro. "It's a question we really need to think about because I think it's at the root of some of our chal- lenges that we have with leader- ship — not just in organizations, but in society as a whole," said Mo- linaro, global managing director, strategic solutions at Lee Hecht Harrison in Toronto. Molinaro, a speaker at a recent Strategic Capability Network event in Toronto, said the con- cept of leadership has changed dramatically over the past few de- cades, to the point where there's a need to frequently re-examine what it means to be a good leader. "What it means to be a leader today is very different from what it was a generation ago — probably even five years ago. And we really need to pause and think about: What's our answer to this ques- tion organizationally? But also: What's the answer to this question personally?" Good leadership is essential to creating a strong, vibrant organi- zational culture — but what does it entail? Being a visionary, being authen- tic, driving results, being account- able and building strong teams are just a few bullet points, said Molinaro. "e list goes on and on and on. And that, I think, is why 'What it means to be a leader' is a question we all need to answer because it really matters today, more so than ever before." But most organizations are not keeping up with the evolving defi- nitions and roles of a good leader, he said. "At a time when we need lead- ership to be as strong as it can be in our organizations and even our society, we're faced with that theme of 'leadership is in crisis,'" he said. "e experience of leadership, for many, has become disappoint- ing — both in terms of the em- ployee experience of their leaders, and even leaders themselves. And this is something that we have to really explore." Disengaged leadership What is the cost of a bad boss, manager or leader? For most em- ployees, a bad boss is the worst part of their job, said Molinaro. But what in particular are the factors, lapses or actions that make a leader disappointing? Leaders who fail to inspire, who accept mediocrity in themselves and others, who lack vision and direction, who don't collaborate, who are not team players or who lack integrity can all cause feel- ings of disillusionment and dis- appointment among their direct reports, said Molinaro. But the leaders themselves are often just as disillusioned with their roles. "We have to understand that, for many, the experience of lead- ership is not where it needs to be," he said. "Leaders are disengaged." Up to 65 per cent of managers in a survey of more than 12,000 respondents are either disengaged or extremely disengaged, said Mo- linaro, citing a 2015 Gallup survey from the United States. "But they go on to say that it's not just that they're disengaged — they don't care about their compa- nies. And what they've been able to find now, finally… is that there actually is an impact to employee engagement. ey call it the cas- cade effect. Disengaged leaders create disengaged employees," he said. "I find that interesting because employee engagement has been the same no matter how long we've been looking at it, and I've been looking at it for over 20 years. It's the same story globally. Only 25 per cent of employees are ever fully engaged, and the rest are mildly disengaged or extremely disengaged." e problem is a key piece of the puzzle is missing. "We've been paying attention to those things, and not paying attention to the quality of the lead- ership and leader engagement." Often, surveys will show the leadership group is the least en- gaged group in the population, and people are shocked by that. "Leaders are disconnected. We talk to leaders every day who feel isolated — lonely in their roles," said Molinaro. "So the old adage that it's lonely at the top is actually true, but it's not just at the top — it's lonely at the mid-level, it's lonely at the front lines. And it's understand- able because some of the things we do as leaders do cut us off from our employees. We have to make unpopular decisions — that's part of the territory." Few employees report having trust and confidence in their se- nior leaders — only about seven per cent, according to one survey cited by Molinaro. "How can we be successful when less than 10 per cent of your employee base has trust and con- fidence in your senior leaders?" Accountability So, what is the key to solving this? What's the missing puzzle piece? For Molinaro, it's accountable leadership. "is idea of a leadership con- tract is what I think is missing," he said. It is human nature to hold anyone in a leadership role to a higher standard of behaviour. at is hardwired in people, re- gardless of what the leadership role is. "And when they don't live up to that standard of behaviour, they kind of let us down. We kind of get disappointed. And, to me, that kind of holding someone to a higher standard of behaviour implies that there is a contract. When you take on a leadership role in any realm of our society, you're actually signing up for something really important," said Molinaro. "But a lot of leaders aren't really aware of that. We take on lead- ership roles for a lot of different reasons." Sometimes, an individual is an excellent technical performer so that gets noticed and she gets thrown into a leadership role, he said. "And the management track often has cooler titles, the man- agement track pays more… so those are all legitimate reasons (for taking on the role). But if you take on those roles without really thinking about what you signed up for, I don't believe you're going to be successful." A lot of leaders have clicked 'agree' to this leadership role — but they didn't read the terms and conditions, said Molinaro. "That's what's going on. We clicked 'agree' — maybe for the title, maybe for the money, may- be because we were pushed into the position — but we have not read the terms and conditions of what it really means to be a leader today." Terms and conditions ere are four terms to the leader- ship contract, said Molinaro: lead- ership is a decision, it's an obliga- tion, it's hard work and it's about community. "e first (term) says that lead- ership is a decision, and you actu- ally have to make that decision," he said. "We find this over and over again in our programs — leaders who realize this, but they haven't made the conscious decision to define themselves as a leader." ey continue to define them- selves by their technical expertise Also consider the point that leadership is an obligation, not a power or a prize, he said. "A true measure of a leader is: Have you left your organization in better shape than you found it?" Being a leader is hard work and a lot is expected of you, said Molinaro. "One of the laments we hear over and over again is our man- agers struggle giving candid feedback. Our managers strug- gle managing poor performers — they sit on them for months, never doing anything. Our lead- ers struggle making a tough call, a tough business decision, when it really matters. And when we hear that over and over again, the cyn- ic in me says, 'Do we have lead- ers, or do we have wimps?'" said Molinaro. "Leaders need to understand that leadership is hard. It comes with the territory… And if you're not up for it, maybe you need to decide that it's not for you." Some individuals might actu- ally add more value by sticking to their technical expertise, and making that call is a leadership move in and of itself, he said. "When we avoid some of this hard work, we weaken ourselves and we weaken our companies. But when we have the courage to tackle the hard work, we make our companies stronger and we make ourselves stronger." e missing puzzle piece When it comes to effective leadership, accountability is key BY LIZ BERNIER Credit: 3d brained (Shutterstock)

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