Nearly two-thirds of the people currently in leadership positions will fail; they will then be fired, demoted, or kicked upstairs. The most common reason for their failure will be their inability to build or maintain a team. Their inability to build a team is typically a function of certain dysfunctional interpersonal tendencies that can be identified through the Hogan leadership development process.
Personality assessment provides companies with the tools to identify and develop talented leaders, boost employee engagement, and drive business results. Personality should be defined in two ways: identity and reputation. Identity is personality from the inside – how you see yourself. Reputation is personality from the outside – how others see you.
For most people, there is a gap between who they think they are and how others perceive them. As a result, they often seem to say one thing and do another. This gap corrodes relationships, and inhibits leaders’ ability to inspire followers. Personality assessment, feedback, and targeted coaching can provide individuals with strategic self-awareness – a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, how they relate to those of their peers, and how they are likely to affect their performance.
Leadership matters. Leadership is the most important single factor determining success in business. When good leadership exists, organizations and individuals prosper. Bad leadership is almost always accompanied by corporate corruption, bankruptcy, and business disasters. Defining leadership as the ability to build and maintain high-performing teams allows companies to identify good leadership, avoid destructive leaders, focus development, boost engagement, and improve performance.
Defining Effective Leadership
Leadership is the ability to build an effective team. A good leader must be someone others are willing to follow. People look for four essential characteristics in leaders:
1. Integrity.
People need to know that the person in charge won’t take advantage of his or her position—won’t lie, steal, play favorites, and betray subordinates. Unfortunately, many do. Integrity is the most important characteristic of good leaders, and once subordinates lose trust in their leaders, the relationship can never be repaired.
In a survey of more than 1,000 individuals, 81% said trustworthiness was the most important personality characteristic of their all time best boss. Conversely, 50% described their worst boss as deceitful. Trust in one’s superior predicts the entire range of desirable organizational outcomes: productivity, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment.
2. Judgment.
The success or failure of organizations depends on decision-making. Judgment has two parts: pre- and post-decision.
Most business failures are the result of bad decisions that are compounded by an unwillingness to evaluate the decisions and change direction. The welfare of subordinates directly depends on the judgment of their superiors, and some people have better judgment than others.
3. Competence.
Good leaders are perceived as knowing what they are talking about, as being competent in the team’s business. In hunter-gatherer tribes, leaders are distinguished by their moral qualities, their judgment, and their
superior hunting ability. Subordinates see leaders who lack business acumen as empty suits, and are
unwilling to follow them. Our survey showed that 48% of respondents described their best boss as good at business strategy.
4. Vision.
Good leaders explain to their team the significance of their mission and how it fits into the larger scheme of things. This vision clarifies roles, goals, and the way forward, thereby facilitating team performance. By adopting a vision, people can transcend their selfish interests and develop impersonal ends for their actions.
A version of this article appeared on hoganassessments.com.
EXPERD, Human Resources Consultant, Jakarta - Indonesia