The more responsibility you have and the higher up you go in your organization, the more important it is to see beyond your own functional area.

We’ve found that having a broad organizational perspective is a critical leadership competency and one of the most important factors in the advancement of executives.

Looked at another way, having too narrow a functional orientation can lead to career derailment; a promotion might take you beyond your level of competence — and you may be pushed out, demoted, or fired.

4 Signs You Need a Broader Perspective

If you’re concerned you may have too narrow a perspective, you can expand it. Our guidebook, Broadening Your Organizational Perspective, explains how to get a broader perspective.

First, determine what’s getting in your way. It may be, in part, organizational forces. But it may be your own behaviors that are holding you back. Do you tend to:

• Over-rely on strengths? Too much success in one area can lead you to over-rely on what’s been working for you so far. Any strength can become a weakness, leaving you with a gap or limitation when it comes to the next job opportunity.
• Ignore flaws? You probably know your weak spots, or you’ve been given feedback about something to improve. Ignoring this insight is a missed opportunity — one that can potentially derail your career.
• Avoid untested areas? If you shy away from a function or area, the lack of knowledge and experience may become an obvious gap in your repertoire. Don’t think, “I’ve made it this far” and assume it won’t matter down the road.
• Focus on just one type of work? Deep expertise isn’t a replacement for a variety of experiences. A track record of working in different areas or on different types of work demonstrates the versatility needed to move up in an organization.

Underlying these 4 patterns is the inability to learn, to take a risk, and to be challenged by something new. So, to get a broader perspective, go after a variety of challenging experiences — but be sure you will learn from them by intentionally using them as fuel for development and reflecting on them intentionally to glean lessons learned.

Broader Perspectives Emerge When Learning from Experiences

3 Learning Factors Related to Broadening Your View

At CCL, we believe that great leaders are great learners. For a broader perspective, and to boost your ability to learn from your experiences rather than just go through the paces, pay attention to 3 factors. You should have:

1. A willingness to learn.

Understand that new experiences may provoke fear or anxiety. Your performance may suffer in the short term. What’s your motivation and commitment to engaging in and learning from a new experience? How will you handle the emotions that come along with it? How do you respond to a new idea?

2. The ability to learn.

When going through a new experience, you’ll want to determine what’s important for you to learn. This requires vulnerability. Are you able to seek and use feedback? Do you learn from your mistakes? Are you open to criticism without being defensive? Are you an agile learner?

3. Learning versatility.

You also need to understand how you learn — what’s your learning style? Once you’ve identified the tactics you prefer and use most often, you can try new learning tactics to make sure you learn the most from your experiences. (In addition to Broadening Your Organizational Perspective, you may also be interested in Becoming a More Versatile Learner.)

With a solid understanding and commitment to learning, you can find and create experiences that will give you a broader perspective and wider organizational view. As a result, you’ll strengthen your overall leadership abilities, enhance your opportunities for advancement, and improve your ability to adapt to an uncertain and turbulent world of work.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Upskill your team and help leaders across your organization get the broader perspectives they need for the future. Partner with us to craft a customized learning journey for your team using our research-backed modules. Available leadership topics include Boundary Spanning, Innovation Leadership, Learning Agility, Thinking & Acting Strategically, and more. 

The post A Broad Perspective: A Must-Have for Promotion appeared first on CCL.

We conducted a research study taking an alternative approach, looking at the importance of character strengths in the performance of leaders in organizations.

We examined the relationship between job performance of C-level executives and middle-level managers, and found that these are the 4 character traits that leaders need:

• Integrity
• Bravery
• Perspective
• Social Intelligence

Overall, we found the more integrity, bravery, perspective, and social intelligence leaders have, the higher their performance ratings.

No real surprise there; these are widely understood to be among the qualities of a good leader.

But that’s not the whole story.

What Character Traits Matter Most for Leaders? Hint: One Is Integrity.

We then examined the character traits together to determine their relative importance for performance. We also compared the findings from our middle-level manager sample to the findings from our top-level executive sample.

What we found was surprising and perhaps a little disconcerting. Some character traits are more important than others when you consider leader level, and their importance differs for middle-level managers as compared to top executives. We found that:

• Social intelligence was the most important character trait for middle-level managers’ performance, while
• Integrity was the most important character trait for top-level executives’ performance.

Further, when comparing the findings across the 2 samples, both integrity and bravery were significantly more important predictors of performance for top-level executives than for middle-level managers.

Given that social intelligence was the most important of the 4 character strengths for middle-level managers’ performance, we encourage middle-level managers to go through leadership training initiatives aimed at improving their social intelligence.

Middle-level managers can become “stuck in the middle” of the organizational hierarchy. They are tasked with communicating the vision of those at the top to others at lower levels in an organization, while simultaneously, they have to engage with lower-level employees in the day-to-day, ground-level work. Dealing with these challenges are why leaders in the middle need certain skills to advance.

To develop greater social intelligence, mid-level managers should obtain on-the-job developmental experiences or invest in a middle manager training program so they can learn to enhance workplace relationships, given their special place in organizations.

We found that top-level executives should also pay attention to these character strengths, particularly integrity and bravery, which may go hand-in-hand:

• Integrity is needed when deciding what action should be taken.
• Bravery is needed to take actions that might be unpopular.

These character traits are key for senior executives.

The Irony (and Trouble) With Our Findings on Character Traits of Leaders

Our research found that while integrity is the most important character strength for the performance of top-level executives, it has less to do with the performance of middle-level managers.

The irony of this statement may provide insight into why there are ethical failures at the top of organizations.

Job performance is a well-used proxy for promotability. Managers who perform the best in their current roles are usually the ones promoted to higher levels of management.

Yet based on our results, middle-level managers may be promoted to top-level positions with little regard to their integrity, as it’s not considered as important as other factors in evaluations of their current performance.

So when middle managers are promoted to the C-suite, they may or may not have the integrity to perform effectively at higher levels. Because integrity hasn’t mattered to their performance up to that point, it may not be considered in their promotion.

Organizations may be promoting people up their ranks without knowledge of a crucial character strength needed in those top-level positions. When middle-level managers get to the top of organizations, they may neither have, nor have developed, the integrity needed at the highest of leadership levels.

What’s even more troubling, executives may not know they have problems with integrity when they become a CEO or get their C-suite office. The top-level executives in our study overrated their integrity in comparison to ratings of their integrity provided by their direct reports. The same pattern was not found for middle-level managers. The ratings of integrity by middle-level managers were much closer to (in agreement with) the ratings provided by their direct reports.

What does this mean? Integrity is a potential blind spot of serious concern.

Middle-level managers should focus on social intelligence as well as integrity, particularly if they have aspirations for succeeding in top-level positions, where integrity is of the utmost importance.

And those at the very top of organizations should try to get as much honest feedback about their integrity as they can.

If not addressed in time, this blind spot could lead to failure, infamy, or worse, and may affect far more than just the primary individuals involved, as evidenced by the devastating and far-reaching consequences of many well-publicized scandals in politics and the business world.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Explore our options for middle manager training or our executive leadership programs to ensure your mid- to senior-level leaders are building the character traits and skills they need to succeed, wherever they are in the organizational hierarchy.

The post The Irony of Integrity: Character Traits Leaders Need appeared first on CCL.

His aloof, tough style that discounted the need to connect at an interpersonal level had previously been overlooked by his managers. Until this “derailment moment,” he hadn’t seen the need to shift towards more managerial and strategic competencies, assuming his technical expertise would keep paying off.

Miguel, like many new managers with a lot of early promise, had failed to reach his full potential as a leader in his company. Managerial derailment like Miguel’s can hurt the morale of coworkers and be financially costly to the organization.

We conducted a research study on managerial derailment in Latin America to help our clients and colleagues target and tailor developmental opportunities in this region.

In our white paper on developing leaders in Latin America, we draw on knowledge and best practices of the field, while asking new questions and adapting our approach to the specific cultural, economic, political, and social contexts in which leadership is needed. One such question is why some managers, like Miguel, “derail,” and how these factors differ (or remain the same) in Latin America, as compared to other regions of the world.

Preventing Derailment Among Latin American Managers

Below, we offer suggestions for keeping Latin American managers on the track of career success and explore cultural factors that may underlie the data. In particular, 3 key findings may be of interest to those tasked with developing leaders in Latin American organizations.

Finding #1: The top derailment risk is having too narrow a functional orientation.

Our research found that in both Latin America and the United States, managers struggle most with exhibiting “too narrow a functional orientation,” from their bosses’ point of view. This means managers at high risk for derailment lack a broad perspective and are too focused on their specific role or function within the organization. Managers who struggle here may not be knowledgeable about other parts of the business, or may not be able to see how their realm of expertise is applicable elsewhere. They lack the depth to manage outside of their current function.

“Difficulty building teams” and “problems with interpersonal relationships” were ranked as the second and third most concerning derailment factors for both Latin American and U.S. managers. In the Latin American sample, “failure to meet business objectives” ranked fourth, and “difficulty changing and adapting” ranked fifth.

To prevent career derailment for Latin American managers, help them boost their self-awareness. An accurate understanding of how others view them allows managers to proactively address any perceived shortcomings and develop needed skills.

Finding #2: Raters in Latin America tend to rate managers more negatively than their U.S. counterparts, while managers in Latin America tend to rate themselves more positively than managers in the U.S.

Our research also found that bosses see more signs of derailment in their Latin American managers than in their U.S. managers (i.e., their ratings of derailment for managers are higher than the managers’ own self-ratings). Latin American managers had a greater likelihood of derailment than U.S. managers on all derailment factors, according to the perspective of their bosses.

Two factors in particular — “problems with interpersonal relationships” and “failure to meet business objectives” — were significantly higher for Latin American managers. In fact, Latin American managers were consistently rated worse on these 2 derailment factors by bosses, as well as by peers and direct reports. (We should note that these differences aren’t huge. Statisticians would describe the findings as small in effect size, meaning that while statistically significant differences exist, practically speaking the difference may not be noticed by the average observer).

Perhaps an even more interesting finding is that managers in Latin America rate themselves at less risk for derailment than managers in the U.S. on all 5 derailment factors. The ratings were significantly lower on 3 factors: “difficulty changing or adapting,” “difficulty building teams,” and “too narrow a functional orientation.”

Finding #3: Latin American managers face a perception gap.

Our study found that Latin American managers were consistently rated more harshly by others on the derailment scales than managers in the U.S., even as their self-ratings tended to be more favorable.

There were significantly larger gaps between self and other ratings in overall derailment scores in Latin America than there were in the U.S. for every rater type: peer, boss, and direct report. Moreover, it was the self-ratings that were causing these larger discrepancies. In other words, the managers in Latin America were more lenient in how they rated their own derailment tendencies than were the U.S. managers.

That’s why a commitment to boosting self-awareness may be of particular importance for Latin American managers.

Latin American Leaders: The Role of Culture

How can we make sense of these findings? Cultural factors may play a role in our derailment findings.

A greater discrepancy between managers and their raters in Latin America signifies a disconnect between 2 sets of perceptions and seems to reveal a lack of self-awareness on the part of Latin American managers.

One relevant cultural dimension is power distance, which can be defined as the extent to which a community accepts and endorses authority, power differences, and status privileges. High power distance tendencies in Latin American cultures can lead to following the leader and discouraging questioning, what is sometimes referred to as the efecto patrón — where senior leaders are expected to know best and guide the collective, not necessarily ensure that things are fair, equitable, and participative.

This may inhibit the practice of feedback and, consequently, result in a lack of self-awareness.

3 Recommendations for Latin American Leadership Development

Organizations and individuals differ greatly based on factors including organizational culture, traditional versus international business models, and level of and kind of education of the executives and managers involved. Based on this study, we see several potential opportunities for organizations to develop leaders in Latin America with an eye to avoiding derailment.

1. Ensure “meeting business objectives” is a clear priority within your organization.

Latin Americans are often proud of their ability to navigate a volatile, uncertain, and complex world. This is sometimes seen as being at odds with results-driven organizational cultures. Yet, in our experience with high-level managers in Latin America, many of them view driving results as key to their success.

The derailment data suggest that meeting business objectives may need to be a clear priority for Latin American managers early on in their careers in order for them to achieve future success and promotions. Training and development efforts (Latin American leadership development programs) should be established to support this priority.

2. Provide training on “communicating up.”

Leadership development initiatives within Latin American organizations can improve upward communication. This type of training also begins to break down the power distance that has lived in older paradigms of hierarchical leadership, and it helps to develop relationships between managers and their bosses that focus on development and feedback.

3. Invest in self-awareness.

Support an organizational culture that promotes seeking and providing feedback and emphasizes its necessity for improvement. Provide opportunities and guidance for personal reflection and assessment of strengths and weaknesses. Bear in mind that even when people are committed to boosting their self-awareness, it can be an uncomfortable stretch, and requires strong organizational and managerial support.

In closing, the changing nature of leadership is finding a footing in the realities of Latin American leading and managing. By understanding the potential for derailment, organizations and managers will be able to identify problems and seek development solutions for Latin American leaders that will have the greatest impact.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

We offer our leadership programs in English and Spanish to help you develop your Latin American managers. Partner with our Latin America team, serving clients throughout Central and Latin America and the Caribbean, to start developing your Latin American leaders.

The post Developing Leaders in Latin America: Understanding Managerial Derailment appeared first on CCL.

We conducted research to explore leadership challenges, gaps, career derailment factors, and opportunities within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), with a focus on leaders of public service. We shared our findings in a white paper on Saudi Arabia public sector leaders who participated in programs with us.

The data illustrate KSA leaders share many of the same challenges and opportunities as other government leaders we’ve worked with around the world. Our data further suggest that even though KSA leaders are facing a rapidly changing world, they’re reasonably well prepared to manage these changes with a strategic skillset, knowledge of doing what it takes to achieve key results, and the ability to influence the thinking and actions taken by leaders at higher levels in the hierarchy.

Similar to leaders in other countries, Saudi public sector leaders face challenges related to leading themselves, leading their teams, and leading organizations. Further, the study reveals important leadership gaps around selecting and developing others, self-awareness, and negotiation. These gaps could have an impact on leadership capability in the future.

The data suggest that leaders pay attention to the low ranking on importance and effectiveness of various critical leadership competencies including resiliency, risk-taking, work-life integration, and managing globally dispersed teams. The 2 most important risks that are related to the possible career derailment of Saudi Arabian public sector leaders are not meeting business objectives and maintaining too narrow a functional focus.

Saudi government leaders, like their public sector colleagues worldwide, operate in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world. Our data reveal that Saudi public sector leaders face many of the same challenges that other government leaders face at similar levels around the world.

To be successful, government leaders must possess skills to survive in this uncertain world and to perform their jobs while under constant observation from a range of sources — from their own colleagues to the media and the private sector.

Understanding the challenges facing these leaders, in addition to the gaps in their leadership development, will help Ministry officials develop initiatives that will help leaders cope with these changing needs and create world-class government leaders in the KSA.

To help leaders identify the best way forward for leader development, this report explores the skills government leaders need to be successful in a VUCA environment. We analyzed data from 2 different databases. First, we examined data about leadership challenges from over 166 surveys of KSA government leaders who participated in our leadership courses.

Second, we analyzed feedback in 360-degree assessments of over 192 KSA leaders, of which 20% were from leaders working in government. In reviewing these data sets, we focused on 3 key questions:

• What are the major challenges Saudi public sector leaders are facing?
• What competencies do raters believe are most important to the success of a Saudi leader?
• How well do government-sector leaders perform in the competency areas most critical to success?

Leadership Challenges Faced by Saudi Arabia Public Sector Leaders

Prior to attending our leadership programs, Saudi public sector leaders described 4 leadership challenges they were currently facing.

• 19% reported challenges with leading self (individual awareness and style, balancing multiple priorities, time management).
• 46% reported challenges leading others (e.g., leading a team or group, influence, leading across multiple groups, and leading people).
• 32% reported challenges leading the organization (e.g., talent management, strategic issues, and business operations).
• 4% reported challenges with the external environment (e.g., regulatory, economic challenges, technology).

These challenges are similar to challenges facing public sector leaders around the world. The nature of being a leader in the public sector illustrates key transition points among leaders who honed their skills as technicians and eventually then moved into management, often due to their excellent technical skills. Moving away from the technical and managerial areas and into leadership, particularly executive leadership, can create challenges around self-awareness, teamwork, and organizational understanding.

Leadership Strengths and Gaps for Saudi Public Service Leaders

We also used our Benchmarks® 360 database to identify factors that would increase the risk that a Saudi public sector leader will derail based on 5 career derailment factors that decades of our research demonstrate can stall or break a manager’s career:

1. Difficulty adapting to change;
2. Difficulty building and leading a team;
3. Failure to meet business objectives;
4. Lacking a broad, strategic orientation; and
5. Problems with interpersonal relationships.

Each of these 5 factors has been shown to limit a leader’s effectiveness and long-term success. Our research found that the most salient derailment factor for Saudi leaders in our database is the failure to meet business objectives.

These findings were consistent with data from other government leaders who’ve attended our programs. Failure to meet business objectives reflects a government that demands and expects high performance. When there’s insufficient evidence of sustained high performance, the risk of a leader being reassigned or removed increases. When we performed a similar analysis of leaders working for the U.S. government, we found that this was the number one reason for derailment.

Leaders join a government agency that reflects their technical specialty. They are then promoted based upon their technical ability until they become managers. When that occurs, they may find they’re ill-prepared like other first-time managers for the wide range of responsibilities they’re called on to perform outside of their technical specialty.

Closing the Gaps for Government & Public Sector Leaders in KSA

To close these leadership gaps, it’s important to understand the specific skills and behaviors required for future leadership success, how these skills are developed, and how they can be applied in the workplace. Here are 4 starting points for the development of leadership skills most critical for the Saudi public sector leader:

1. Understanding Leadership as a Collaborative Activity: Effective leadership creates 3 important outcomes: Direction, Alignment, and Commitment. Each of these outcomes demands agreement from the leader and the led. Using the strength of communication clearly demonstrated in the data, a strong team orientation, and a feedback-rich environment will support the culture needed for adapting rapidly to the changing VUCA world.
2. Creating High-Performance Teams: Developing people, understanding complexity, and having the resilience to sustain productivity are all important to success in a rapidly changing, increasingly interconnected world that requires group cohesiveness and performance versus individual leader heroism. Creating teams that are dedicated to the success of each person on the team, and the team overall, is clearly important.
3. Risk-Taking: Although this competency at first may seem counterintuitive to good governance, it’s actually a key to effective service. Risk-taking is the first step towards innovation and creating new ideas for service to the country. Although frowned upon by many, rewarding risks through simple efforts can increase productivity and employee engagement.
4. Resiliency and Work-Life Integration: Resilience, not more authority, is the key for greater productivity. Resilient workers are able to work longer, harder, and with greater engagement than those leaders who do not utilize the tools of personal resilience.

The data summarized here should be used as a promoter of dialogue about the future needs of public sector leaders in Saudi Arabia, and government leaders more generally, rather than as a definitive prescription for success.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

We have decades of experience developing government leaders around the world, including Saudi Arabia public sector leaders, through our Government Practice and our team of experts serving clients based in the Middle East & Africa.

The post Developing Leaders in the Public Sector of the Kingdom appeared first on CCL.

Even leaders with impressive track records have weaknesses or knowledge gaps that, if left unaddressed, can truly wreck their careers.

Many high-performing executives manage to ignore their blind spots for awhile, as long as they continue to meet their business goals. Others rely heavily on a specific strength, but then find themselves lacking necessary leadership competencies when their work environment changes.

Several factors can play a role in derailing the careers of once-promising managers, but the story is the same: Their “minuses” begin to overshadow their “pluses,” and their organizations no longer see them as high-potential talent the way they once did. Suddenly, these managers discover their career is going off-track.

What happened? They experienced derailment.

Though often highly predictable by coworkers, career derailment sometimes comes as a surprise to derailing executives themselves, who are usually unaware of (or unwilling to address) the problems that caused them to derail.

What Is Derailment?

We’ve extensively studied career derailment since 1983. By comparing successful executives whose careers stay on track with those who derail, we’ve identified 5 problems that are most likely to stall a career.

But before we talk about how to avoid the most common causes of derailment, it’s important to answer “What is derailment?” and define what we mean by “derailing” vs. “successful” leaders.

Our research defines successful executives as those who’ve reached at least the general manager level and who, in the eyes of senior leaders in the organization, remain likely candidates for promotion.

We define derailing executives as those who, after reaching the general manager level, are fired, demoted, or held on a career plateau. Right up to the point of derailment, the superiors of the derailed executives saw them as having high potential for advancement, impressive track records, and solidly established leadership positions.

But then something went wrong, and an otherwise promising career went off-track.

These Are the 5 Most Common Career Derailers

If your organization’s leaders understand what derailment is, and the most common causes of it, preventing the derailment of promising talent becomes more predictable — and preventable.

As outlined in our book Compass: Your Guide for Leadership Development and Coaching, a weakness in any one of these 5 areas can not only threaten a leader’s advancement, but also can bring their career to a screeching halt.

Research has found that the top 5 causes of career derailment are:

1. Difficulty adapting to change (the most frequent cause of derailment);
2. Difficulty building and leading a team;
3. Failure to deliver business results;
4. Lacking a broad, strategic orientation; and
5. Problems with interpersonal relationships.

How to Prevent Derailment & Keep a Promising Career on Track

So what does a high-potential leader need to do? Preventing derailment starts with knowing what to watch out for. Here are 5 tips to keep a promising career on track.

5 Ways to Stay on Track

1. Roll with changes.

Because continuous change is an unavoidable part of any business today, organizations highly value adaptable, flexible leaders who can dependably adapt to, and embrace, change. Those who resist change are often seen as stuck in their ways and unaware of trends at play in the broader market. It’s often easier for others at the organization to respond positively to change if change-resistant leaders are sidelined or let go.

That’s why successful executives are flexible in the face of organizational change and take responsibility for their own development and improvement. They make mistakes like everyone else, but it’s their ability to learn from mistakes that distinguishes successful executives from those who derail.

Many executives who derail do so because they’re unable (or unwilling) to adapt. They may resist making changes because their past successes indicate to them that they don’t need to change, and they fear that making any changes might lead to failure. But becoming more adaptable is critical to keeping a career on track, and a leader’s resistance to change affects not just them, but their direct reports too, potentially hindering their ability to move up as well.

• To keep a career on track and prevent derailment:
  • Adjust to, learn from, and embrace change as necessary for future success.
  • Increase capacity for accepting and adapting to change by taking more controlled risks, entering into unfamiliar situations or roles, and making an effort to bounce back from failures and extract lessons from hardships.
  • Remain optimistic and resilient in the face of change, uncertainty, and setbacks.
  • Focus on becoming more adaptable by learning how to transition through change better.

2. Build better teams.

Managing teamwork is complicated. An effective team leader must select, develop, engage, and motivate groups of people to pursue a common goal — no easy task. A team leader is responsible not only for their own results, but others’ as well.

Leaders who have difficulty building teams can fail to deliver the results they’ve promised. Their team members may feel undervalued, leading to dysfunction, and ultimately, departures from the team. Additionally, these leaders can develop a reputation as poor people-managers, hindering their progress toward leading more senior-level teams.

• To keep a career on track and prevent derailment:
  • Develop capacity to build and lead a collaborative team. Provide opportunities to lead a workgroup or manage a large project requiring teamwork.
  • Make a conscious effort to develop others. Help identify and retain top talent for your organization. Smart managers focus on employee talent development, particularly for their direct reports.

3. Deliver results.

Leaders who are results-driven are crucial to their organization’s performance. An executive’s ability to decisively accomplish key objectives dramatically affects the way others view their performance — as well as their organization’s bottom line. But the best of intentions can fall flat when leaders fail to meet performance expectations because of a lack of follow-through on promises or being overly ambitious.

Failure to deliver results can create a breach of trust. Leaders in danger of derailing because they don’t deliver what they promise may have exceeded their current level of competence, without realizing it. Even if someone is great with people and loved by superiors, peers, and direct reports, if they fail to drive results toward business objectives, they’re still in jeopardy of falling off the career ladder.

• To keep a career on track and prevent derailment:
  • Drive, don’t just facilitate, results. Coordinate more actions among other groups and people. Increase ability at communicating a vision for the future, building team member engagement, and working to help make changes that benefit the organization.
  • Be adept at managing ambition so as not to be seen as one who overpromises but underdelivers.

4. Develop a strategic orientation.

Strategic orientation can be described colloquially as simply “having your head in the game.” This means understanding the day-to-day demands of a leadership role and the strategic context surrounding the job and team. Those who keep their career on track can think beyond the needs of their department and understand the big picture, recognizing and accepting the realities of their organization and how all of its parts work together.

If a leader struggles to envision and navigate organizational ambiguity, politics, dilemmas, and trade-offs, they will find it extremely difficult to get things done, especially when competing for resources or when faced with short deadlines. Others who are more attuned to the workings and culture of the organization might outmaneuver them in plays for resources. As a leader moves higher in the organization, the ability to deal with the informal organization (the added complexity beyond the org chart) is as important as following the formal policies, practices, and rules.

• To keep a career on track and prevent derailment:
  • Gain experiences outside of a specific expertise or area of the organization. Build strategic thinking capacity and work on building a broader perspective.
  • Try modeling the approach of another respected leader with strong influencing skills and ability to get things done.

5. Work on interpersonal skills.

Intelligence, acumen, and insight will take a leader pretty far. But without a keen sense of how to make and keep productive relationships, a promising career could still go off track.

Having problems with interpersonal relationships is one of the most common characteristics of leaders who experience what we define as career derailment. The ability to work well with others clearly separates the managers who succeed from those who don’t.

Often, those who derail are seen as poor team players, unable (or unwilling) to involve others. So, to stay on track, a leader should rely on their strengths, while balancing whatever weaknesses they have with their colleagues’ reservoir of skills and experiences. That’s the collaborative, cooperative field of goodwill fostered by great managers and leaders. An inability to form strong interpersonal relationships — built on trust and mutual understanding — threatens that goodwill.

If an executive struggles with interpersonal relationships, small misunderstandings can grow into big conflicts. Poor interpersonal relationships are a breeding ground for distrust and can undermine confidence in their leadership. If those problems persist, their organization might sideline them — or worse, dismiss them entirely.

How do you know if a leader needs to work on their interpersonal skills to keep their career on track? In our research, we found that executives who are unable to establish strong interpersonal relationships are described by their bosses, peers, and direct reports as:

• Insensitive
• Overly competitive
• Self-isolating
• Dictatorial
• Overly critical
• Overdemanding
• Easily angered
• Arrogant
• Emotionally explosive
• Manipulative
• Aloof

If colleagues are using these adjectives to describe a leader, help them take action today to keep their career on track.

• To keep a career on track and prevent derailment:
  • Strengthen current relationships and develop abilities to build new ones. Provide  chances to collaborate across boundaries and work with different groups. Try to cultivate a climate of respect for others.
  • Build skill at actively listening to understand, not just hearing others, and deliberately absorbing what’s being said before responding.
  • Check out our other tips for boosting interpersonal savvy. 

In closing, to keep a career on track, a leader needs a healthy dose of self-awareness. So, help your team honestly assess their own behaviors. And take a look at your own, too. If you realize that you have weaknesses in any of these areas, commit to your own professional development by taking action now to make any needed adjustments.

That way, you’ll prevent derailment on your team and keep your own career on track.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Prevent derailment at your organization by helping promising leaders build self-awareness and keep their career on track. Partner with us for individualized leadership development for your high-potential employees that builds critical leadership skills and competencies needed in your organization’s unique context and culture.

The post Keep a Promising Career on Track & Prevent Derailment appeared first on CCL.