The Worst Leaders Are Those Who Fail To Support Their Staff
Successful modern leaders should be supportive of staff, but should also take decisive action to maintain standards of behaviour: The worst leaders are those who fail to support staff. These conclusions came from research by The Industrial Society, carried out among 3000 business people, published in 1999. The survey, “Liberating Leadership 1999“, identified 38 key competencies for leadership, and exposed some myths about modern leadership, derided by some as ‘too soft’ and people-centred.
Highest rated among the qualities was the ability to deal effectively with breaches to standards of behaviour. The other main qualities were that the leaders did not take personal credit for other people’s work; listened to their staff; worked on their own learning; and were honest and truthful.
“Clearly”, the Industrial Society said, “those around successful leaders, or the observers in this research, do not have difficulty equating supportive leadership behaviour with decisive action to maintain standards… above all; they appear to admire the combination of the two”.
Tomorrow: My Guest Author is leadership guru, Brent Filson: “Hiding Your Leadership: The Jersey Joe Walcott Way of Leading”
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POSTED IN: Leadership Skills
3 opinions for The Worst Leaders Are Those Who Fail To Support Their Staff
Wally Bock
Jul 4, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Did any part of the study address “accomplishing the mission?”
Jonathan Farrington
Jul 5, 2007 at 2:53 am
Wally,
Excellent point - in fact it did
Jonathan
Wally Bock
Jul 5, 2007 at 4:55 am
That’s good. Too many “studies” these days either define leadership in terms of accomplishing the mission alone, or in terms of caring for your people alone. In fact, the best leaders do both.
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