Public opinions of leaders are at all-time lows. Private sector leaders are widely seen as greedy to the point of being corrupt. Public sector leaders are viewed as incompetent to the point of being inept. And, levels of trust in government have plummeted across the globe.

There has been an explosion of research and information on Leadership over the last decade. There are enough books, articles, publications and online material available on Great Leaders and benefits of Effective Leadership to (metaphorically speaking) build a kilometre-high wall all-round the United States with the content! Ironically, the largest portion of content on Leadership actually originates from the U.S., who are experiencing their most challenging leadership transition in its 248-year history.

Organisations waste countless hours discussing the issues and challenges with ineffective leadership and the impact it has on employee well-being, motivation, turnover, engagement, stress, productivity, but they more often turn a blind eye to it (and ultimately accept it) rather than bearing the pain and expense of tackling and eliminating it. Effective leadership feels so rare and exceptional and refreshing when it happens. We read and hear abundantly about how great leaders impact positively on people, but many of us somehow get intimidated when faced with and having to deal with a toxic or incompetent leader.

According to recent statistics,

• Between 9-32% of staff turnover could be avoided with better leadership
• Poor leadership can cost the typical company up to 7% of their total annual revenue
• Improved leadership can eliminate the 5-10% drag in productivity that many organisations are operating with
• 20-25% of staff quit because they don’t feel empowered by their leader
• In a company of 250 that has 20% of its staff leave each year, with an average turnover cost of $4500 per staff member, this equals an annual turnover cost of $225,000!

(source: LeadershipHQ)

The deep and far-reaching impact of poor leadership on an organisation dwarfs the costs implication of weeding out a toxic leader. Poor Leadership triggers and fuels negative emotions, and extensive neuroscience research on ‘negativity bias’ has shown that our brain is hardwired for negativity. Our behaviours and attitudes tend to be shaped more powerfully by bad news, experiences, and information.

This psychological phenomenon explains why bad first impressions can be so difficult to overcome and why past traumas can have such long lingering effects. In almost any interaction, we are more likely to notice negative things and later remember them more vividly. As humans, we tend to:

• Remember traumatic experiences better than positive ones
• Recall insults better than praise
• React more strongly to negative stimuli
• Think about negative things more frequently than positive ones
• Respond more strongly to negative events than to equally positive ones

Toxic leaders spread their negativity so deeply throughout the organisation that the virus and scars live on for many years even after they have left the organisation and the costs of repairing the damage are considerable. Early identification and action is paramount.

Common signs of ineffective leaders to watch out for:

• People under their supervision display lower levels of trust, engagement and energy
• They fail to grow people and build succession for themselves
• They often experience lower customer loyalty and retention
• They rarely recognise effort and talent in public
• They are most likely to recruit, promote, retain incompetence
• Their team and peers believe they “don’t do anything”

“Leadership is a set of mindsets and behaviours that aligns people in a collective direction, enables them to work together and accomplish shared goals, and helps them adjust to changing environments.” – McKinsey & Company

• Average Talent under Great Leadership can produce Great results.
• Great Talent under Average Leadership is less likely to produce Great results.
• Great Talent under Poor Leadership is most likely to produce poor to average results.