The Impact of Incompetent Management – on Wednesday 24 th April 2013 Jon Cowell Director, Primary Colours Consulting and Edgecumbe Consulting Group Ltd Associate Fellow, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
Agenda What is a competent manager? What is an incompetent manager? How common is incompetence? So what? What is the impact? How has this happened? What are we doing about it? What can we do – an emerging consensus on leadership? Call to action
What is a competent manager? “All managers need to be effective leaders. While a command and control culture will ensure that employees comply… it does not create the enthusiasm, innovation and engagement that modern organisations need to compete effectively in a global marketplace. Leadership is all about setting direction and creating the right organisational conditions for heading in that direction. This is as true for the team leader as it is for the chief executive… effective leaders have a clear vision of the future and the capability to communicate that vision to others so that they are inspired to share it and work collaboratively to achieve it... Above all, leaders need to inspire trust in their capability to take the organisation in the right direction”. Leadership & management in the UK- the key to sustainable growth (2012), Dept for Business Innovation and Skills, pp 22 – 23.
What is an incompetent manager? Bentz, 1985, A View from the Top Hogan, Hogan and Kaiser, (2009), Management Derailment Bad relationships Unable to delegate Unable to build a team Lack of business skills Failure to deliver Poor strategic thinking No vision Let self-interest cloud judgement
How common is incompetence? Individual managers Overall management quality 43% 1 72% % 2 93% 3 40% 4 74% 4 1 Leadership & management in the UK- the key to sustainable growth (2012), Dept for Business Innovation and Skills 2 ILM (2012) 2 Hogan, Hogan and Kaiser (2009) Management Derailment, in American Psychological Association Handbook of Industrial and Organisational Psychology 3 ILM (2012) TheTalent Pipeline 4 Cowell (2012) UK Leadership – stuck in a crisis mentality?, Edgecumbe Group
UK leaders’ strengths & weaknesses Cowell, J (2012) UK Leadership – stuck in a crisis mentality?, Edgecumbe Group
So what? What is the impact? Trends in Global Employee Engagement, Aon Hewitt 2 Kular, Gatenby, Rees, Soane and Truss (2008), Employee Engagement: A Literature Review, Kingston Business School 3 Leadership & management in the UK- the key to sustainable growth (2012), Dept for Business Innovation and Skills Employee Disengagement 1 Organisational Performance 2 Business Costs 3 Corporate Failures 3
How has this happened? The bad and the mad The sad
What are we doing about it? 1 Cowell, J (2012) UK Leadership – stuck in a crisis mentality?, Edgecumbe Group 2 Hutchings P and Woodman P, (2012) Economic Outlook – April 2012, Chartered Management Institute
Why aren’t we doing more? 1Leadership & management in the UK- the key to sustainable growth (2012), Dept for Business Innovation and Skills 2Cowell, J (2012) UK Leadership – stuck in a crisis mentality?, Edgecumbe Group Low confidence 2 Poor training 1 Distorted self- perception 1 Unclear expectations 1
A Leadership Lens
What is leadership – an emerging consensus? Thinking/ Working out which way to go Acting/ Getting things done Feeling/ Emotional intelligence
The Primary Colours ® Model of Leadership …and Coping with Pressure Delivering results Planning and organising Setting strategic direction Creating alignment Building and sustaining relationships Team working Leading STRATEGIC DOMAIN OPERATIONAL DOMAIN INTERPERSONAL DOMAIN © Edgecumbe Consulting Group
Delivering results Planning and organising Setting strategic direction Creating alignment Building and sustaining relationships Team working Leading Creating the future Delivering today Focus on task Focus on relationships © Edgecumbe Consulting Group Strategic Operational Interpersonal The Primary Colours ® Model of Leadership
Delivering results Planning and organising Setting strategic direction Creating alignment Building and sustaining relationships Team working Leading © Edgecumbe Consulting Group Strategic Operational Interpersonal The Primary Colours ® Model of Leadership
Call to action
Call to action – 5 steps Keep the faith Clarify expectations AssessDevelopDemonstrate