Why leaders fail – 3

In a few days, Nigerians will be going to the polls to elect new leaders for our nation, beginning with the Presidency. If you have not collected your Permanent Voter Card, please go and do so. Today is the last day for collection. And if you already have it, go and vote your conscience on Saturday. Remember that bad leaders are elected by good people who refuse to vote. Whichever way the pendulum swings, let us all remember that Nigeria comes first and we must constantly remind ourselves that before or after elections, Nigeria remains bigger than any candidate or party. Back to our discourse.

I did not endorse Buhari/Osinbajo ticket — Awolowo Dosumu

When a leader is lost in megalomania, the only voice he wants to hear is his own. Great leadership on the other hand, is characterized by the ability to listen to followers. This is the best form of feedback that any leader can have. Leaders must learn the wisdom that it is better to listen twice as much as they speak. A listening leader underscores the value of his team member’s contributions and makes the follower think and operate like a stakeholder rather than an expendable part of the corporate equation. I have been at meetings where the only voice was that of the leader, who only paused to ask if anyone had a question, not if they had something to contribute. A leader should allow his followers to express their feelings without feeling a sense of persecution. When a leader is not a listener, he will lose the best of his followers.

Moral compromise is the nemesis of many a leader. Very often, when leaders become comfortable, complacent or under pressure to perform, there is a tendency to make a values somersault. Core values are indicative of conduct by a leader or the organization that he leads. A leader’s value system is the compass of his behavior and sometimes performance. Unfortunately, in the heat of pressure, or in careless, unguarded moments, a leader might find himself condoning what he used to condemn. For some, it is a survival strategy. For others it is borne out of convenience.

When the leader’s heart is disconnected from the people he leads or the corporate vision, he begins to lose the premise of his leadership. Hope is what fires enthusiasm. It is what makes anyone see possibilities where others see tragedy. Enthusiasm is the fuel of momentum. In pursuing a corporate outcome or even a personal project, there will be moments when discouraging situations will arise. In such times, a leader must learn to rise above his disappointments and consistently light up the fire of hope in the people he leads. If the heart is heavier than the load, no man can deliver the package. Great leadership is more of a heart thing than a head affair. When enthusiasm is lost in a venture, despair is the result.

Closely linked to the loss of enthusiasm is an emotional disconnect from followership that makes a leader see his followers more like tools than allies in the achievement of his goals. Compassionate leaders make exceptional leaders. One evident characteristic of people with high emotional intelligence is compassion. If you cannot walk where others walk, you can never inspire them to greater heights. It has been said that nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care. A compassionate leader connects with the heart and emotions of the people he leads in a way that they can be naked before him and not be ashamed. In a previous write-up I did on THE LOVING LEADER, I used L.O.V.E as an acronym. ‘L’ stands for Listen. The letter ‘O’ stands for Overlook. Compassionate leaders learn to overlook the foibles of the people they lead. This is not the same as condoning bad behavior. It is simply borne out of a realization that no one is perfect. Secondly, if the employee’s behavior does not in any way impair corporate outcomes, the leader learns tolerance in the knowledge that very much like him, everyone around him is work in progress. The ‘V’ stands for Voice. A compassionate leader has no reservations about voicing approval instead of bottling in such feelings. Leaders who are too concerned about their ego hardly have the humility to publicly praise others. When this continues long enough, people around him feel used and in time, they begin to resent him. Compassionate leadership requires Effort. Love must be deliberate, consistent and sustained for it to make significant impact. Where there is no compassion from the leader, everyone around him simply behaves like zombies just to please him. Zombies have never been known to make good followers.

Effectiveness in leadership is largely a function of decisiveness. Indecision is many a leader’s nemeses. Yet, leadership is about decision-making. Every day in the life of a leader presents him with situations that require prompt, decisive and appropriate action. Prevaricating or procrastination at such times can prove to be inimical to progress or can damage a whole lot of things. On the other hand, rushing into action can have the same negative effect. Walking the tight rope between these two ends demands an intricate balancing act. Whichever way it goes, even refusing to take action is in itself a decision! In taking decisions, the leader balances his decision between a consideration for people’s feelings and the desired outcome. If he is a leader who seeks popularity, he chooses according to the emotions of his followers. But for a leader who seeks relevance, he knows that sometimes, a leader must walk the lonely path of stepping on toes if need be in the pursuit of an overarching objective that portends good to all in the long run. When a leader cannot sacrifice present affirmation for future good, the same people whose feelings he was considering will turn round to blame him when things go awry!

Finally, if you want to go far as a leader, never complain about what you refuse to confront. A position of authority is a trust and a responsibility. Being liked by most or all must never be the goal of leadership even though it could happen as a consequence of good leadership. When you constantly condone aberrant behavior because you don’t want to ruffle feathers or offend some people you consider vital to your function, you also lose the very edge that made you the leader in the first place. Conflict avoidance is not a strength. Resolution is. Papering over issues that should be confronted because you seek to avoid conflict will only postpone the inevitable evil day when those issues will snowball into an uncontrollable conflagration. This is because indulged aberrants keep pushing boundaries because they know that the leader is not likely to do anything. If it is not confronted in one person, others don’t expect that it should be different with them and so will put up stiff resistance when the leader tries to. The result is a helpless, lame-duck, lack-lustre leadership that institutionalizes mediocrity and glorifies stupidity. No leadership survives the avalanche of the attendant backlash!

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!