It is in this respect that I have always been interested in one fundamental question: How do we identify people with leadership capability? Looking at organisations today (especially the many failures of corporate giants - Fannie and Freddie, Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, Bear Sterns, Lehman to name just a few), one wonders how leaders manage to get to where they are. Historically, I think, HR has struggled to identify and develop leadership talent.
I strongly believe the answer lies somewhere in there being a lack of confidence in organisations. Confidence is a much-admired attribute. We tend to equate it with ability (particularly leadership ability), but it is a personality characteristic that has little to do with knowledge, skills, or leadership capabilities. Still confidence is part and parcel of leadership.
The problem is that there are at least two distinct types of self-confidence -true and feigned. There are people who are just remarkably self-confident, whether this is due to upbringing, genetics, or a track record of success. These people have a very healthy ego. They are not egotistical or narcissistic. They are just tremendously self-confident. At the other end of the scale however, there are those who are outwardly self-confident, but actually lack self-esteem.
Both the true and the feigned can make their way into important leadership roles but the consequences of each are very different.
London Business School is currently developing psychological measures sensitive enough to capture the differences between the truly self-confident and the feigned. Already, the research indicates the effect of the feigned self-confident leader can be damaging.
This sort of leader is more likely to be stressed, emotional and insecure, leading them to make the wrong hiring decisions. They are more likely to compete with colleagues to be the centre of attention and they can often create a work climate that makes it difficult to attract, develop and retain talented employees - a cost most organisations cannot afford.
The good news thought, is that these people are not lost causes. The problems of the feigned self-confident leader can be addressed with coaching.
Coaching can tackle poor individual performance and bring teams closer together to give them the skills they need to maintain good company performance as the economy changes and evolves. But in order to achieve this optimum performance, each level of an organisation requires special attention.
In the case of leaders, although the psychology of feigned self-confidence and its results are beyond most managers, the behaviours themselves can be addressed and transformed. It takes a thoughtful approach using targeted feedback. Managers need to address not only the underlying psychology but the outward manifestations of the behaviour.
For instance, if competition with staff is the primary problem, shifting the incentive structure to focus more on the achievement of talent development goals can help.
Constant feedback on the effect leaders have on their team is essential and helping them devise a means of managing the stress of their position is crucial. Coaching, combined with early identification of these problems could go a long way coping with, and identifying the best leaders you have.
Brent Smith is a psychologist and programme director for the London Business School’s ‘Coaching for Performance’ which begins in December
