Leadership – inspirations

Your Leadership Journey Lesson 4 – How Each Organization Impacted Your Leadership

“I learned so much when I worked for ACME Company. It gave me the leadership skills and background to succeed in a large corporate organization. Most importantly is showed me how each small part of the company is important.”

How has each organization you worked in impacted your leadership? That is the focus of lesson 4.

Today’s Activity

Yes, organizations affect us. Each has its own personality and climate. Then within each organization there are the micro-climates of the individual departments, branches, and offices where we actually work. What impact did they have on your leadership?

Your Analysis

I recommend you take a two-tiered approach in your analysis, one at the large organization (macro) and the second at the level you held a position (micro). This analysis could be several layers, I recommend two.

Not sure where to start. For the macro analysis, think about the size and type of the organization. Such as public, private, government, startup, or small business. The mission, vision, and values of the organization may be helpful. 

For the micro analysis, again consider the mission of your team, size, what you had to accomplish and how you accomplished it.

Following the Macro and Micro analysis, document insights into how your leadership was impacted.

Example

Macro

At this level describe the overall context of the organization, it may be something like this:

Large Health System: A 3000-person health care system in a large city, serving a diverse urban population. The hospital had a focus on policy, procedures, and keeping costs under control. There were a lot of quality controls in place and an excessive amount of supervision and justification of procedures.

Micro

What did you experience within your work unit?

As a nurse within the Emergency Room, I experienced a highly trained professional staff, dedicated to providing the best care possible. We were encouraged to further our professional development, and attended ongoing training monthly. We had a significant paperwork burden, which was handled by a very professional staff that was cross trained in every facet of our operation. We worked hard for the entirety of our 12-hour shifts and felt we made a positive difference, and were growing. 

Additionally, the department leadership embraced the administration and oversight as an important and integral part of our work. The result, the admin burdens did not seem arduous to our team as we were well trained and the same priority as patient care.

Leadership Insights:

How your leadership was impacted?

I learned that small departments in large organizations can be flexible and agile. Just because the “big organization” has a lot bureaucracy does not mean the small units need to act bureaucratic. I also learned to embrace 100% of the mission with equal enthusiasm, even the administration and oversight.

As a leader, I now emphasize acting small. I do that through continuous education, training and cross training of my teams. This creates synergy and trust among team members and is a hedge against limited resources and encourages flexibility.

I also learned is to push hard for the resources required to accomplish the mission and enthusiastically emphasize 100% of the mission. Even the tedious and seemingly mundane tasks.

Today I have a reputation of creating an energetic climate of continuous development for each individual and the team.

Learning Point:

At the conclusion of this exercise, you should have a feeling for how each organization you worked in contributed to your current leadership style.

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Your Leadership Journey Lesson 2

As you examine your path, ask yourself the question: “What got me here?”

This question generates all kinds of answers such as character traits, the names of people, and lessons learned.  Here are some possible examples;

  • Tenacity and hard work, diligence
  • Sheer Luck, a well-executed plan
  • One very insightful mentor
  • The painful lesson of being fired
  • The chance I took taking on ________

Write your own list.

__________________________

__________________________

__________________________

What does the list tell you?

__________________________

Go back to the beginning of your journey when you were in your very first leadership position. Mentally take on the view as your former self. The excitement of your first position with all kinds of unknowns in front of you. Then the first leadership task assigned to you. Who was around you and what emotions were driving you then?

Now, write how your former self defined leadership at that time.

__________________________________________________________________________

In your current role, think of all those around you and the daily emotions that drive you. What is your definition of leadership now?

__________________________________________________________________________

What changed? How have you evolved over time and what were the forces acting on you? This may take a little time and reflection. I am not just talking about what changed in the definition, but what changed in your perception of what leadership is.

Leadership Considerations

There are so many considerations with leadership. How do you choose where to focus? My intent is to introduce broad areas that will spur further thought and exploration of details. Those details will hopefully reveal the nuances of your current leadership and how it was influenced by your journey. The four areas are: transactional leadership, transformational leadership, power/authority, and relationships.

 

These are the four areas that I believe help us define our own leadership. When we understand these four areas, we are able to assess and garner a view of our own leadership and the leadership of others.

  1. Transactional leadership: leadership through formal authority and position of responsibility in an organization. It relies on exchanges between leaders and followers. Leaders lead through transactions such as pay for work, rules, incentives, policy, and organizational structure.
  2. Transformational leadership: is a process where leaders and followers engage in a mutual process of ‘raising one another to higher levels of morality and motivation.’
  3. Power/Authority: where does the leader get his/her leader power and or authority
  4. Relationships: what type of relationships does the leader engage in?

Now you are ready to make a full assessment of your personal journey. Take each position and add some short comments or bullets about your leadership, addressing each of the four areas. Here is an example of a first leadership position.

Newly hired as an assistant production engineer for a hardware company. I had the responsibilities of managing 5 programmers and technicians in the production and functionality of the hardware and associated software developed by my team.

  1. Transactional Leadership – I spent most of my time in this area of leadership. I used the metrics of time cards, hours spent, budget, and schedule to get me through each week.
  2. Transformational leadership – I took some time to get to know my team and determine their technical capabilities. Knowing their technical capabilities was extremely important to me as it defined their production potential. It took a long time to build up personal rapport with each member. I was afraid to get close with anyone as I wanted to maintain my authority over them.
  3. Power/Authority: I felt my power and authority came from my position and ability to grant overtime and hold the team to a schedule.
  4. Relationships: My relationships with each team member were distant. I did not take the time to get to know anyone very well. As time went on, I became close with my senior program manager and scrum master. I came to realize how important she was to our team’s success. She also provided me valuable insights into my team.

This exercise will add to your depth and insight to your timeline. In the introduction you showed a chronological sequence of your journey. Now you added some important context to each stop along your path.

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Your Leadership Journey Lesson 1

You are on a trip, that started a long time ago. As a matter of fact, it is hard to remember exactly when and how it started. The path traveled has shaped you. When asked about previous destinations it is fun, well sometimes, to reminisce about those places and the impact they made on you.

This exercise is designed for you to take the time to reminisce (analyze) about the stops on your leadership journey and understand their impact on your leadership. Maybe even assess how the lessons from those stops may assist you moving forward.

This program will help you do that. Look back at your past, take the lessons learned, and apply them to your future.

Two essential questions will guide your journey:
1. How has your leadership changed over your career?
2. How has the nature of leadership changed during your career?

This reflective exercise will focus on you and your leadership at every phase of your professional life. We will start with you. Then move to those that led you, then those you currently lead. Followed by how the organizations you worked in influenced your leadership. Finally, we’ll take a glance at how the leadership trends of the times influenced you.

For this exercise you will be documenting your leadership journey. Do this in whatever format works for you: computer, journal, notebook etc. Let’s get started.

The goal is to build a depiction of your leadership career. It can be visual, textual, or both.

Think of a timeline with the starting point as your first professional position. Then begin to consecutively add the professional positions you have held. The first position out of college, followed by your promotion, followed by your lateral move to a new division. A master’s degree led to the new title of program manager. Three years later a move to a new city and a new employer.

You are getting the story. Make whatever drawing works for you. A straight timeline, a big S, or multiple pages. The goal is to visually show your professional progress.

Now, consider the following questions and document the answers for each position:
1. How did you land the position?
2. How did you lead in the position?
3. How effective were you?

Be as objective as possible, particularly on question 3. Looking back at copies of performance reviews may be helpful.

Congratulations! You are off to a great start. You have created a high-level road map of your leadership journey. It shows where you started, stops along the way, and what you experienced at each stop.

Next we’ll take a closer look at what you learned at each stop.

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Who on Your Team is the Next to Leave?

Think about every person on your team. Who do you predict is the next to leave? What is informing your thinking?

Who do you want to be the next to leave? Who do you want to never leave?

What are you doing about it?

Everyone will leave their position at some time. As leaders, it behooves us to know when people are leaving and that the transition occurs on positive terms. Even for low performers that we move on.

The four types of transitions from organizations:

  1. Positive when everyone knows the terms of the exit
  2. Negative short fused due to poor performance or a negative event
  3. Negative long term due to poor performance
  4. The surprise departure, not predicted or expected

Positive departures are recognized many times with celebrations, lunches, or retirement dinners. The organization had time to plan the transition, unload responsibilities, and feel a degree of smoothness with the change. They create good feelings, continuity, and positive alumni.

Negative short fused departures are often tumultuous. Though not always negative. I am sure you felt joy and relief when that negative influence left the team. After the departure many leaders reflect on what took them so long to make the decision.

Negative long-term departures can be an energy depleting marathon. The longevity of the departure may result from the inability to fire someone. Government positions have this problem. Bosses reluctant to move someone along are also typical causes. These cases create performance plans, accountability plans, HR reviews, and lots of ongoing supervision. All to pressure the individual to self-select or build an airtight case for a firing.

The worst departures; surprises by high performers.  When faced with one of these cases, you ask yourself; ‘how did I not know that was going to happen?’  That is the crux of this article.

How can you ensure you are aware of every individual’s plan and eliminate this category entirely from your experience?

Know your people and how their current position fits into their long-term career plan.

The teammates on your team do not work for you. They are on a career path that is in their head and you are only along for part of the journey. Help them get what they need and want in their time with you.

Think about yourself in your current position. How long do you intend to be there and what are the milestones that will signal it’s time to exit?

The folks you are leading have the same mindset. “Once I meet these qualifications or milestones, I will be moving on to what is next.”

What actions do you need to start to understand what role you are playing in their career progression?  Simple, ask and make it a regular part of your interactions.

Most leaders surprised by departures; created the conditions to be shocked.

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Leadership Impact: Your Attention – How Well do You Lead from the Dance Floor?

Where is your attention when you are on the dance floor? Your moves, your partner, the music, those around you, the space around you?

Can you detect the full flow of the room from the dance floor? The patterns, who’s in, who’s out, the space?

To see the bigger picture, you need to get off the floor and get a better perspective. What would getting up on the balcony do for your perspective?

Are you trying to lead your organization from the dance floor? Here are a couple areas to test yourself.

Take inventory of the meetings you attended as the leader, when the purpose was to solve a problem. How much time did you spend focused on getting the problem to a solution? I am sure you can say, all the time, that was the purpose of the meeting.

I mean what percentage of the time were you fully engaged “hands on” in the problem solving? Did you observe the flow of the room, see who was in and who was out or were you dancing with members of the team? It’s hard to pull back and watch. After all, you were promoted to this role because that is what you do, solve problems.

What ongoing programs are under your cognizance? Take an inventory of your level of immersion in your most challenging program. Are your program managers bringing their challenges to you to solve? If they are, they are asking you to dance. What should they be doing?

Lastly, think about the holistic performance of your organization. Only this time in your mind get on the balcony and play a mental video. What do you see when you zoom in and observe yourself? Where are you and what are you doing?

Visualize a linear spectrum, with the dance floor on the left and the balcony to the right. I would equate the dance floor with tactical engagement and being on the balcony as strategic engagement.

Graphic explaining Engagement

 

Is a fire chief most effective, actually fighting the fire or observing and directing those fighting the fire? Where are you most effective in leading your organization? How close to the action and what level of tactical interaction makes you and your team most effective?

We have to slow ourselves down and get off the dance floor to get to the balcony. Once there, take the time to observe.

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Leadership Impact: Attention.

Pay Attention to Your Attention

You entered your second meeting of the day right on time, frustrated that you ran the last meeting right up against this one. As you scan the team of 12 around the conference table you note Julia who was the topic of your previous meeting. The relationship with her supervisor is at an all-time low and she knows you just came from a discussion with her boss. Her expression is one of foreboding.

Where is your attention?

Peak Mind by Amishi Jha,  she states “Your attention is the boss of your mind. Where you focus your attention the rest of your mind will follow.”  She is a neuroscientist and attention researcher.

Let’s look at the broad concepts Dr. Jha says affect your attention.

Big concept number one. Your attention is powerful, fragile, and trainable.

  • Powerful – where your attention goes, so does your mind
  • Fragile – our minds wander and are easily affected by events and surroundings
  • Trainable – we can train ourselves to improve our attention

Concept two: three different types of attention systems.

  • The flashlight – the orienting system, points your attention to a specific area
  • The floodlight – the alerting system, allows you to scan a large area and be alerted to focus your attention
  • The juggler – the central executive, oversees your actions to ensure you accomplish your goals

Think of walking into a large trade conference. Your floodlight is taking it all in and alerting you to areas/people of interest. You see a colleague or vendor booth you wanted to make contact with. The juggler manages shifting your attention.

What makes your attention fragile? First your mind is designed to wander; you cannot control it 100% of the time. However, you can be aware of what is going on with your mind and bring it back to where you want it. What are some of the elements that impacts attention?

  • The nature of the brain – it wanders
  • Stress
  • Threats
  • Mood

Each of the above put us into a cycle of ruminating on thoughts of past events or a potential future occurrence. It removes us from the present.

The goal of managing our attention it to be more present. A benefit of being “present” is we experience the moments which readily facilitate encoding information into long-term memory.

The Impact on Your Leadership

Let’s go back to the opening anecdote and apply all the concepts. Let’s make the assumption you are attending an important budget review meeting. Where is your attention?

It could be still back in the room processing your previous meeting. Entering the meeting your “floodlight” alerted you to Julia’s appearance.  You may shine your mental “flashlight” on her while the meeting is in progress, ruminating on the previous meeting or predicting a future contentious meeting. Regardless, you are not present.

You try to suppress the thoughts, which actually make it worse. You are continually pulled out of the present.  How do you move your attention to where it belongs?

First know yourself. What do you need to be present?

Maybe you need time to reset between events. How important is it to free your working memory by capturing data from each meeting? Freeing working memory allows you to devote mental capacity towards what is in front of you. The reality, it may be impossible to always have that time. Now you are in a meeting, with your attention on an ongoing dialogue in your head. Such as:

  • Some points to remember from the last meeting (stress)
  • What is Julia thinking? (threat)
  • What will be the repercussions of last meeting? (threat)
  • What is needed resolve the issue? (stress, mood)

What can you do to regain your attention? Research has found, mindfulness training has the ability to help you acknowledge distractions, label them, let them go, and move your attention to the present. Magic? Certainly not. Effective? Yes, as documented within numerous studies.

Mindfulness is defined as: the idea of learning how to be fully present and engaged in the moment, aware of your thoughts and feelings without distraction or judgment.

What would be the impact on you and your organization if you were more present at every event?

It is paying attention to your attention.

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Leadership Impact: Team Norms – How Does Hierarchy Affect Communication on Your Team? Case Study

Culturally we defer to individuals higher in the hierarchy. How is your team hierarchy affecting communication on your team?

The weekly staff meeting includes several levels of individuals in the organization. The meeting led by the CEO, includes VP’s and Directors to share updates, set the direction for the week, and make decisions. When decisions are on the table the CEO asks a lot of questions and solicits input. The responses are tepid, particularly on the more contentious issues as the CEO has shown she is not really open to discussion.

She has quickly jumped folks for challenging her or providing input that is contrary to her position. Several senior folks were publicly admonished in front of the team after showing disagreement and challenging her.

Over time the VP’s have begun having pre-meetings to prepare a strategy to deal with the CEO’s opposition to input. The meeting centers on how they can support each other to ensure important information is discussed, as she is not open to opposing views.

In this case, the hierarchy of the team is limiting input and discussion. Interestingly the CEO has stated numerous times she wants open discussion. However, her actions send a different message.

Leading the discussion, making her opinion and view known at the outset of a discussion, and being verbally aggressive, pushing her points are what the team sees. This is also typical behavior outside of meetings.

The hierarchy of this team is having a negative effect on team communication. Deference is the expectation and openness discouraged.

Deference: humble submission and respect.

Openness: lack of restriction; accessibility.

My opinion: leaders act on a spectrum ranging from deference on the left to openness on the right. Leaders who lead expecting deference are limiting their effectiveness.

Deference —————————————————————————————- Openness

Deference: I am in charge, do not challenge me openly. If you do, I will assert myself and show everyone I am in charge.

Openness: I am comfortable holding my opinion or view until I have heard from everyone else. Challenge me on my thinking and I will listen.

The Impact on Team Norms
In this case, the impact on the norms of team communication has been to restrict the flow of honest and important information. To preserve themselves the team is wasting time on strategizing how to communicate with the boss rather than actually communicating.

Frustration, posturing, and possibly withholding information have become parts of the norms.

Personalize this with your own story. Think of two teams, you are associated with; one led by someone else and one you lead.

Reflect on the hierarchy of the team you are part of. Where does the leader fit on the spectrum? What do the leader’s actions tell you? Do they expect deference or openness?

What has been the impact? Based on your answer take a minute and articulate to yourself the team norms around communication for that team. Here are some typical results.

Deference                                                                               Openness

Team members hold information                                      Sharing

Unwilling to articulate challenges                                     Challenges freely expressed

Team members on edge                                                       Team unity

Choose words wisely                                                             Speaks freely

Now, reflect and assess how your team has been communicating with you. Where do you fall on the spectrum?

Some questions that may shed some light on where you are.
– Have you been surprised by events you should have been aware of?
– Do you make the team aware of where you stand on an issue prior to others speaking?
– Does your team regularly bring challenges to meetings with you?
– Does the teamwork on solving issues before bringing them to you?

Based on the above, give a succinct statement about the team norms on communication for your team?

How is the hierarchy affecting the team norms around communication for your team?

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Leadership Impact: Offboarding

Remember how excited you were when you landed that position you coveted?

How was your onboarding process? It may have gone something like this. You checked in with HR, maybe they assigned a peer to assist you, maybe a mentor, and possibly introduced, recognized, or welcomed you with a small social event.

What has been your experience offboarding, personally or just watching from a distance. For those leaving on negative terms it could have been an escorted trip out the door. For most it is an HR department task of closing out pay, benefits, turning in ID cards, and being removed from the email system. What about the social side? Was there any kind of event, formal or informal with the team? A social event such as a team meeting, lunch, or a simple team gathering?

 

Here are two impactful offboarding events related to me by clients.

A senior member of a virtual team of 30, notified his leadership he was looking at the possibility of transitioning in about 90 days. He had been part of this team for 4+ years and was an impact player. He ultimately took a new position and gave his leadership and team 30 days’ notice.

On his final day, a couple of folks reached and chatted wishing him luck and he received several cards wishing him well. Nothing from the organization or his team officially. No group social event such as a virtual send off.

Impact: He left that organization very disappointed and unappreciated.

 

This next scenario was related to me by a coworker of the person offboarding. The individual departing was a line worker in an organization of approximately 100 people, all working in one building. He was a 6-year veteran leaving on very positive terms for an educational opportunity. Hence, the date of departure was on the calendar well in advance. On his final day a small recognition and get-together was planned by the leadership at lunch. As luck would have it, 8 inches of snow fell that day and they worked virtually for a couple of days.

The leadership never reached out to reschedule. Hence, no social recognition of his departure other than coworkers who reached out individually. He had since created his own Happy Hour event to say his goodbyes to a select crowd.

Impact: Assume this happened to you. What would be the impact on you?

 

Our work is social by nature and we all want to be recognized as a contributor to the mission. Organizations do not owe us anything more than our contract stipulates, right?

A portion of my coaching practice is in career transitions. In transitions “Information Meetings” have become the accepted method for networking while job searching. Those are short one-on-one meetings to learn about an organization. Discussions revolve around all aspects of work; the position, opportunities, and culture. What does the offboarding process say about your organization?

In teaching information meetings to my clients, I always recommend “…seek out alumni of organizations you are interested in.” Why, because alumni are unencumbered with what they can say. Most will freely share their experiences and opinions.

Offboarding is the final touchpoint an individual may have with you, your team, or your organization. What do you want that to look like? How does it contribute to the recognized culture of the team?

Culture is the entire experience from starting to leaving a team, small business, or large corporation. Cultures will form, be deliberate about forming the culture you want. Be deliberate with offboarding.

 

Here are some practices I have seen you may want to consider. A monthly social gathering to recognize those joining or leaving the team. A standard gift to recognize folks moving on to new challenges. The creation of alumni groups, on Facebook or LinkedIn, to keep former employees connected. The groups have proven to positively impact recruiting and goodwill.

These practices made offboarding a key component of companies deliberately managing their culture. Everyone wants to be celebrated and recognized.

What does offboarding look like for your team or organization? Do you know its current impact? Should it be more deliberate?

Ask your alumni and get their opinion.

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Leadership Impact: Humble Leadership

What does it mean when you say someone is a “Humble Leader”?

 

Sometimes it is easier to define when you give a description of what it is not. Here is a short story from a client in the medical field.

 

She is a county employee working for a government agency of approximately 200 people, 50 in the headquarters building, and the rest working as disbursed teams of 2-5 professionals. The teams provide health services on-site to their clientele. When COVID restrictions went into a place she continued to work at her site on the front lines.

 

This is her assessment of the leadership she worked under.

 

With a very short timeline, limited guidance, and equipment the disbursed teams were tasked to establish protocols at their sites. Requests to the leadership for additional guidance and clarification seemed to go into a black hole. The teams were told, “we are working on the policies.”

 

All-hands meetings scheduled to provide clarification were few and far between. When the virtual meetings were held, the focus was top-down direction and flow of information such as: “Do this by this time.” The exchange of ideas, sharing, and fielding questions from the professionals in the field rarely took place. Most supervisors attended the virtual meetings from home while the teams were in the field at their site. Top leaders did not always make the meetings. Every meeting was started with effusive praise and expressions of appreciation for all the hard work being done in the field. The actions did not match the rhetoric.

 

Visits to the sites were a rarity. In a one-year period, one supervisor visited twice. Both times to fulfill a required assessment visit.

 

In her words, “I never felt so abandoned in my professional life. It seemed as if the leadership did not have the answers and were afraid to admit it. They refused to ask us in the field for input, advice, or what we needed. It looked like they were hiding. In spite of the lack of leadership, we figured it out and got the job done.”

 

This feels like typical top-down, command and control leadership, where the leaders have all the answers and provide the direction to execute the mission.

 

How should humble leadership look and feel?

 

Humble leadership should have a feeling of respect for all, regardless of where they are in the organization. The leaders build relationships, admit what they do not know, accept feedback, and seek input from others, to accomplish the mission.

 

Jim Collins author Good to Great coined the concept of a Level 5 Leader. “An individual who blends extreme personal humility with the intense professional will.” This is a trait that his research revealed existed at every one of the companies that went from “Good to Great”.  Here is one other point of emphasis; “… they (level 5 leaders) are incredibly ambitious- but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves.”

 

The Impact of Humble Leadership

Let’s take the vignette above, make some assumptions about how humble leadership might have impacted this situation.

 

Relationships and the good of the entire organization would have been at the forefront of every decision. The leaders would have accepted their limitations, and opened lines of communication. Articulated they were in uncharted territory with the pandemic, which required flexibility, patience, input from all sectors.

 

Possible results:

  • Increased respect between the professionals in the field and the headquarters.
  • A steep learning curve for the entire organization
  • Continuous development of policies and processes
  • Understanding of the challenges each level was experiencing
  • A feeling of belonging to the team and being part of the solution

 

What does your personal leadership style and the leadership of your organization feel like?

 

Here are some self-evaluation questions to consider:

  • Are the ambitions of the leaders focused on the organization or themselves?
  • What does respect for individuals look like throughout the organization?
  • Do leaders look for feedback?
  • Do leaders develop relationships?
  • Do leaders admit their shortcomings?

 

Humble leadership has the ability to build cohesive and synergistic teams. The leaders show the vulnerability of needing all the members to be involved in building solutions.

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Leadership Impact: Confidence and Competence

“I have been a witness to numerous meetings where Jody speaks up, takes the lead in discussions, and readily shares his opinion. However, he is not the lead nor the most capable person to talk about the topic or project. Yet the result; the leadership thinks Jody is a super performer and leader because of the confidence he exudes. All of us, his coworkers, know he is not nearly as capable as other members of the team, yet he was promoted ahead of more capable peers.”

Is Jody’s display of confidence a misinterpretation of competence?

In a Harvard Business Review article titled “Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders”  Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, makes the argument confidence is often interpreted as competence.

Ever had feelings of disdain for an individual who was arrogant? What was the source of that distain?

Some thoughts to help us consider the answer to that question:

What is competence?

What is confidence?

Competence: How good you are at a task, skill, or talent you possess.

Confidence: How good you think you are at a task, skill, or talent you possess

How does an individual’s level of confidence actually correlate to their level of performance or skill?

The conclusion of many; high confidence equals high skill.

This conclusion is rarely confirmed by science. We have all heard of the statistic 80% of drivers believe they are better than average. What is the basis of that decision? It is not data. It likely comes from impressions, emotions, and feelings.

How did Jody get promoted if he is not producing? What was the measurement of his leadership?

What is your experience? On a scale of 1-10, score how true you think the following statements are with 10 being absolute truth and 1 being not true at all.

Highly incompetent individuals inaccurately assess their skills, abilities, and talents.

Highly competent individuals are typically self-critical of their skills, abilities, and talent.

The more capable an individual, the more critical they are of themselves, and aware of their limitations.

The less an individual knows, the less self-aware they are and can portend overconfidence.

My take, the disdain you felt for that arrogant colleague was a result of the overconfidence they exhibit based on their actual ability.

What makes overconfidence so prevalent?

Two reasons. First, many individuals do not have a realistic view of their capabilities, i.e., they think they are above-average drivers. Low self-awareness.

Second, the appearance of confidence gets rewarded. If a display of confidence, whether it is validated by competence, gets recognized, you will see “displays of confidence”.

Leadership Impact

In your leadership role, what are you recognizing as competence?

Some objective questions to ask yourself:

  • What measurable criteria am I using to promote and hire for leadership positions?
  • How does a display of confidence influence my view of competence?
  • What am I using to measure competence?
  • How do I view individuals in my organization that is quiet?

We all have biases. For years we have been influenced by stereotypes of confident leaders and see the confidence on lists of the traits of an effective leader. We have popular mantras we listen to such as “fake it until you make it” and glamorize the confident decisive leader.

Interview performance is often a dominant deciding factor when hiring or promoting leadership positions. That’s great if the interview actually determines competence. 

Want to have a significant impact on your organization? Develop, hire, and promote competent leaders. Uncover the link between confidence and competence in your leaders. Some possible actions:

  • Make self-awareness a key part of the leadership development of your potential leaders
  • Make evaluations and 360 assessments part of your leadership development program
  • Define measurable metrics for promotion into leadership positions
  • Reduce the weight interviews have on the criteria for leadership selection
  • Make interviews more objective evaluations of knowledge, skills, and abilities
  • Seek out competence in your organization and put it on display

Everyone wants confident, competent leaders. What are you doing in your organization to define it, develop it, and reward it?

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