Leadership Challenges

Management-Issues published a study of more than 1,400 leaders and managers by global consultancy the Ken Blanchard Group, which revealed the following:

• 41% felt inappropriate use of communication or listening was the biggest mistake leaders made when working with others.
• More than 25% felt the major failing was in under or over-supervising people, providing a lack of, or too much, direction and delegating, either too little or too much.
• A lack of management skills was cited by 14%.
• A lack of or inappropriate support by 12%.
• A lack of accountability by 5%.

• 43% cited the most critical skill a leader could possess was communicating and listening (followed by effective management skills, emotional intelligence and empathy, values and integrity, vision and empowerment.)
• A whopping 82% said that of the top five things leaders and managers failed to do when working with others, the one that came up the most was not providing appropriate feedback.
• 81% said failing to listen or involve others in the process was nearly as big a failing.
• 76% felt leaders failed to set clear goals and objectives

BOTTOMLINE: "It seems that many leaders out there do not have even the most basic, critical leadership skills they need to do their job properly and this is bad news for business. We all know leaders hold the key to organizational success. Bad leadership leads, ultimately, to low organizational vitality, high staff turnover and poor customer loyalty."