By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN
New leaders often ask me how they can avoid failure in a leadership role. Sometimes, failure is situational such as when a new leader is hired into a complex leadership situation with very little onboarding or ongoing support. Some nurse leaders have challenges accepting that business skills and performance metrics are part of the role. But the truth is that most leadership failure is an outcome of issues that fall into the domain of emotional intelligence.
Leadership is both an art and a science. The art of leadership is learning how to manage relationships with others. These soft skills can be hard skills to learn. Marshall Goldsmith, in his insightful book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, points out that although we may work hard, some of our behaviors can keep us from moving to the next level. Ironically, they may be practices that allowed us to achieve at the level that we are currently working but will now hold us back. These are behaviors that can lead to failure in a leadership position. He points out the following 20 behaviors that can be career derailers:
- Winning too Much – the need to win in all situations at all costs.
- Adding too Much Value – the overwhelming desire to add our two cents to every discussion.
- Passing Judgment – the need to rate others and impose our standards on others.
- Making Snarky Comments – injecting needless sarcasm and cutting remarks into conversations.
- Starting with “No” “But” or “However” – these words send a message that I am right and you are wrong.
- Telling the World how Smart We Are – the need to show people we’re smarter than they think we are.
- Speaking when Angry – demonstrating emotional volatility.
- Negativity – explaining why something won’t work.
- Withholding Information – the refusal to share information in order to maintain an advantage over others.
- Failing to Give Proper Recognition – the inability to praise and reward.
- Claiming Credit We Don’t Deserve – overestimating our contribution to any success.
- Making Excuses – the need to reposition annoying behaviors as a permanent fixture so people will excuse us.
- Clinging to the Past – the need to deflect blame from ourselves and onto events and people in the past.
- Playing Favorites – not being fair with staff in our leadership actions.
- Refusing to Express Regret – the inability to take responsibility for our actions, admit we are wrong, and recognize how our actions affect others.
- Not Listening – the most passive-aggressive form of disrespect of colleagues.
- Failing to Express Gratitude – having bad manners.
- Punishing the Messenger – attacking those who try to help us.
- Passing the Buck – the need to blame everyone but ourselves.
- An Excessive Need to be “Me” – exalting our faults as virtues simply because that is who we are.
Most of us struggle with at least one or two of these behaviors. Just saying this is who I am is not acceptable in leadership. The key is to accept responsibility for areas where your leadership needs improvement and work on them.
Read to Lead
Goldsmith, M. (2007). What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. New York: Hyperion.
Read Rose Sherman’s book – The Nurse Leader Coach: Become the Boss No One Wants to Leave
© emergingrnleader.com 2020
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