1. Andrew Graham School of Policy Studies Queens University
A Train Wreck On Its Way: How Leadership Can Go Wrong And, are we complicit in the ways we select leaders?
Andrew Graham
School of Policy Studies
Queens University

2. Bad Leadership is Expensive
Job just doesn’t get done
Looking for scapegoats
Team dissolves
People leave
Waiting game strategies start
Lunging from crisis to crisis
It get’s personal
Wrong and even illegal behaviours become norm

3. Subordinates described bad leadership as:
Persistent people problems
Poor emotional control
Over-controlling
Poor task performance
Poor organisation, planning and communication
Rumour-mongering and inappropriate use of information
Procrastination
Failure to consider human needs
Failure to develop talent

4. Ineffective and Unethical Leadership Traits
Incompetent
Rigid
Intemperate
Callous
Corrupt
Insular
My Gang
We/They
Bullying in your face or on Twitter
Eggshell Culture – erratic and unpredictable
Overwork or Underwork

5. It Starts to Look Like Someone We all Know

6. Typical Personality Problems
Arrogance: They’re right and everybody is wrong.
Melodrama: They want to be the centre of attention.
Volatility: Their mood swings create business swings.
Excessive caution: They can’t make important decisions.
Habitual distrust: They focus on the negatives all the time.
Aloofness: They disengage and disconnect with staff.
Eccentricity: They think it’s fun to be different just for the sake of it.
Passive resistance: Their silence is misinterpreted as agreement.
Perfectionism: They seem to get the little things right even if the big
things go wrong.
Eagerness to please: The stress being popular matters most.

7. Key Derailment Behaviours
Not strategic
Doesn’t delegate,
include, empower
Bad relationships Not self-aware

8. Conducive Environment
The Toxic Triangle
Bad Leadership
Bad Followership
Conducive Environment

9. Organizations Select For the Wrong Traits
High fliers syndrome
Optimism bias
Tendency to overlook and forgive flaws – almost like courtship
Confusing in job performance with future growth and performance
No ground testing
Fast-tracking without strategic support

10. Derailment Patterns Of High Potentials Impressive results
Action-oriented
Strong track record
Intelligent
Technically superb
Demonstrated
Strength
Both
Move rapidly within narrow channels
Focus on immediate objectives
Forgive flaws if results produced
Organisational
Complicity
Bogged down in
thought.
Mired in process at expense of action
Unable to develop effective relationships Ineffective response to change or feedback Success led to arrogance
Overwhelmed by complexity
Lack of strategic perspective
Derailing Flaw
Performance Decline & Unforgiving Culture
DERAILMENT 30

11. The Dark Side of Competencies
Team Player
Client-Focused
Bias for Action
Analytic
Integrity
Innovative
Global Vision
People Oriented
Not a risk taker, indecisive, lacks independent judgement
Can’t control costs, can’t work with limits
Reckless, dictatorial
Analysis paralysis, afraid to act, processy
Holier than thou, rigid, fixated on rules
Unrealistic, impractical, wastes time
Misses specific indicators, unaware of how things work
Soft, avoids confrontation, too easy on performance