I was in a meeting the other day and brought up the term “behavior problem.” The HR director shook her head and said, “Boy, do we have those.” I asked her to explain.
She spent the next 20 minutes talking about a different kind of behavior problem than what I was referring to. She talked about being drunk at work, sexual harassment, not showing up on time, leaving early, etc.
Leadership Behaviors
What I was referring to when I said “behavioral issues” was leader behavior. It’s how leaders and managers act in their roles. Here’s a brief list of things (we call them “derailers“) we find get in the way of great leadership:
- Talking too much–not listening to subordinates (or anyone, for that matter)
- Getting overly-excited when stressed (and going into a funk when things turn bad)
- Avoiding important and difficult decisions–procrastinating for fear of looking bad
- Avoiding difficult conversations–with everybody–especially during stressful times
- Spending way too much time on strategy–and not enough on execution
- No awareness at all of how your conversational behavior impacts people
- Not open to feedback and coaching from superior
These are the real behavioral issues that bring a team down when the leader exhibits them. The problem is we take it as par for the course. We say, “Oh, that’s just Jeffrey. He never shuts up.” We laugh about them.
But they aren’t funny. They can be a big hindrance when times get tough and people are on edge. And most of them are correctible.
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