Article|McKinsey Quarterly

Sidestepping four common mistakes can help companies develop stronger and more capable leaders, save time and money, and boost morale.

January 2014 | byPierre Gurdjian, Thomas Halbeisen, and Kevin Lane

For years, organizations have lavished time and money on improving the capabilities of managers and on nurturing new leaders. US companies alone spend almost $14 billion annually on leadership development.¹ 1.Laci Loew and Karen O’Leonard, Leadership Development Factbook 2012: Benchmarks and Trends in U.S. Leadership Development, Bersin by Deloitte, July 2012, bersin.com. Colleges and universities offer hundreds of degree courses on leadership, and the cost of customized leadership-development offerings from a top business school can reach $150,000 a person.

Moreover, when upward of 500 executives were asked to rank their top three human-capital priorities, leadership development was included as both a current and a future priority. Almost two-thirds of the respondents identified leadership development as their number-one concern.² 2.See The State of Human Capital 2012—False Summit: Why the Human Capital Function Still Has Far to Go, a joint report from The Conference Board and McKinsey, October 2012. Only 7 percent of senior managers polled by a UK business school think that their companies develop global leaders effectively,³ 3.Matthew Gitsham et al., Developing the Global Leader of Tomorrow, Ashridge Business School, July 2009, ashridge.org.uk. and around 30 percent of US companies admit that they have failed to exploit their international business opportunities fully because they lack enough leaders with the right capabilities.⁴ 4.Pankaj Ghemawat, “Developing global leaders,” McKinsey Quarterly, June 2012.

We’ve talked with hundreds of chief executives about the struggle, observing both successful initiatives and ones that run into the sand. In the process, we’ve identified four of the most common mistakes. Here we explain some tips to overcome them. Together, they suggest ways for companies to get more from their leadership-development efforts—and ultimately their leaders—as these organizations face challenges ranging from the next demanding phase of globalization to disruptive technological change and continued macroeconomic uncertainty.

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On Forbes: Leadership & Management, Dec 2013. Glenn Llopis, Contributor

As the world mourns the loss of Nelson Mandela and commemorates his greatness as a leader, we would do well to remember that one of the many hallmarks of his leadership was trust. The greatest leaders in the world gravitated toward Mr. Mandela because he was genuinely trustworthy and his purpose was to support peace, prosperity and unity not only in South Africa – but throughout the world.   Mandela was able to lead people in ways that many find impossible to do. As he famously said, “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

Unfortunately, trust is in rare supply these days.  People are having trouble trusting each other, according to an AP-GfK poll conducted in November 2013, which found that Americans are suspicious of each other in their everyday encounters.   Only one-third of Americans say most people can be trusted – down from half who felt that way in 1972, when the General Social Survey first asked the question.  Forty years later, in 2013, a record high of nearly two-thirds says “you can’t be too careful” in dealing with people.

This same sentiment can be carried over into the workplace, where employees want their leaders to be more trustworthy and transparent.   Employees have grown tired of unexpected outcomes resulting from the lack of preparation.  They want to be informed of any change management efforts before – not after the fact.   Employees desire to know what is expected of them and be given the opportunity to reinvent themselves, rather than be told they are not qualified for new roles and responsibilities and can no longer execute their functions successfully.

Leaders are challenged between informing their employees of the entire truth and holding back certain realities so as not to unnecessarily scare   people or lose top-talent.   More and more leaders today are being placed into uncomfortable moral dilemmas because they are attempting to salvage their own jobs while trying to maintain the trust and loyalty of their employees.

The growing tensions between leaders and their employees are creating productivity challenges as uncertainty becomes the new normal in the workplace.  Furthermore, leaders are beginning to lose control of their own identities and effectiveness as their employees begin to lose trust in their intentions because of hidden agendas and political maneuvering – casting clouds of doubt over their futures.

Employees just want the truth.  They have learned that the old ways of doing things just don’t apply (as much) anymore and more than ever they need their leaders to have their backs.  Unfortunately, many leaders are operating in survival mode and don’t have the sphere of influence they once had; without leaders to sponsor and mentor them, high-potential employees must now figure out the changing terrain on their own.

Here are seven early warning signs to look out for so you can course-correct when employees are having trouble trusting their leaders:

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Fem av tio chefer har varit deprimerade någon gång under de senaste fem åren. Tre av fyra har haft sömnstörningar och över hälften har upplevt ohanterlig stress. Värst är det för dem som upplever att de inte har tillräckligt mandat, visar Chefs och Novus undersökning.

Varningssignaler

Följande symtom ska du vara akt­sam på. De kan vara tecken på att du riskerar att drabbas av utmattnings­depression:

– Retlig.
-?Känslomässigt labil.
-?Virrig eller glömsk.
-?Allt för impulsiv i dina beslut.
-?Oförklarlig värk.
-?Sömnproblem (svårt att somna eller vaknar ofta).
-?Tuggar käkar eller gnisslar tänder under natten.

Svaren har upprepats om och om igen när Chef arbetat med denna artikel om chefers psykiska hälsa:

”Ja, det är jättevanligt.”

”Nej! De vill absolut inte prata om det offentligt.”

Vi har ringt till coacher, psykologer, chefsnätverk och författare och försökt få någon chef att prata om sin mentala hälsa.

Bilden är entydig. Många chefer mår psykiskt dåligt. Men de vill inte till något pris berätta om det för andra. Det är inte ovanligt att man är rädd att blotta sig, förlora sitt anseende. Chef och Novus har frågat 506 chefer om vilka psykiska besvär de har upplevt de senaste fem åren.

Hela 74 procent har haft sömnstörningar. 61 procent har upplevt stress som känns ohanterlig. 51 procent har varit deprimerade eller nedstämda.

”Jag är inte förvånad över siffrorna. Det finns forskning som tyder på att chefer har en pressad tillvaro i dag”, säger psykologen Ulla Risling, som arbetat som handledare och terapeut för chefer sedan 1980.

Genom åren har hon träffat många chefer med depression eller som har upplevt stressen i jobbet som ohanterlig. Hon har också sett ett mönster.

”Många har känt sig ensamma. De har ofta haft stora krav på sig själva. De har jobbat för mycket, och slutat ta hand som sig själva och sina relationer.”

En stor riskfaktor för chefers psykiska hälsa är upplevelsen av otillräckligt mandat. Det visar Chefs och Novus undersökning. Den här typen av chefer är överrepresenterade i nästan alla kategorier av psykiska besvär. Chefer som upplever att de har svagt mandat sover sämre, upplever oftare stress som känns ohanterlig, drabbas i högre grad av utbrändhet, sömnstörningar, depression eller nedstämdhet.

I tidningen Chef kan du läsa hela artikeln.

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