When Leaders Don't Lead

Throughout my many years in business, the most common complaint that I repeatedly hear from people in the workplace is that their leaders simply don’t provide appropriate leadership.

Admittedly, there are those workers who simply want to find something to gripe about rather than take responsibility for their own careers, lives and daily performance.

However, there is very real evidence to support the fact that all too many leaders don’t in fact provide appropriate leadership. First and foremost, your daily news resources are riddled with an endless stream of leadership gone wrong at the national, state and local levels.

Secondarily, you might consider the national survey that was conducted on “National Boss Day” in 2012. The study was conducted across workers of all generations who stated that their bosses left them feeling unappreciated and uninspired.

I feel certain that you’ve heard the expression “Put your money where your mouth is” more than once in your life. Well, that’s exactly what the workers from all across the U.S. did in that 65% of the workers emphatically stated that they would choose a new boss rather than receive a pay raise.

The workplace message simply doesn’t get any more powerful than that. Some of the other points that the surveyed workers shared included:

42% of the workers said that their bosses didn’t work very hard.

20% of the workers stated that their boss lacked integrity.

60% of the workers said that they would do a better job if they had a better relationship with their boss.

47% of workers cited that when stress levels rose at work that their bosses failed to stay calm and in control of themselves.

When leaders don’t lead it is a very real sign that they are uncertain about what to do next or how to lead their direct reports with the challenge that the organization is facing. This is often referred to as “The Peter Principle” (from the book of the same name) when people have exceeded their capabilities and concurrently exceeded their personal level of competence.

The result of this scenario is that when employees are most concerned for their job security, frustrated due to organizational challenges or economic downturns, their leaders seem to vaporize right in front of them rather than stepping to the forefront to take charge, lead by example and reassure organizational staff of their collective capability to meet the challenge at hand.

Employees full well realize that their leaders don’t always have all of the answers. However, it remains the responsibility of leaders to appropriately inform their direct reports of what they do know, where they stand and what they are thinking. Leaders need to be prepared to engage in effective two way communication while responding to the questions and concerns of their people.

When leaders don’t lead… They are invariably failing to appropriately respond to the situation that is before them. And leadership is always “situational”.

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