5 Things Failing Green Businesswomen Leaders Do

Roxi Hewertson, President & CEO of the Highland Consulting Group, is an expert who helps emerging and entrenched leaders excel. She lays out five failing behaviors that show up consistently in leaders who fail.

1) Discount others' emotions and perspective

One cannot be a good leader without empathy: if you can't walk a mile in someone else's shoes, you will have big blinders on and miss important information, ideas, and perspectives. This type of leader will have limited influence over time, and they will not inspire others: people on this person's team generally leave as soon as they can because they do not feel trusted, heard, understood, or respected.


2) Miss key organizational clues, norms, decision networks and politics

These types of “leaders” have little emotional intelligence in terms of self-awareness and organizational awareness: they just don't pick up the clues when their boss is displeased with them, when the tide is changing, or when people talk about them behind their backs. They make decisions that are not theirs to make and don't make decisions that are theirs to make. They don't develop a wide network; they just show up and act more like an individual contributor than a leader. They don't get it, don't buy it, or don't know how to play the game in their particular “sandbox.”

  
3) Blame others for outcomes

Holding people accountable for their performance is important; blaming them for mistakes or failures is a non-starter.  There is a difference between accountability and blame: asking questions to understand how or where things went wrong allows the leader to "own" the problem for the team, and then have a candid discussion about the situation and the solutions -- without fear.

  
4) Avoid dealing with and resolving conflicts

Failing leaders often think “If I ignore it, it will go away": they avoid dealing with conflicts, fail to provide constructive feedback, and duck key relationship issues. Most commonly, the ignored conflict grows exponentially until it's a toxic, smelly mess, where dysfunctional co-worker relationships and teams of any kind simply cannot get the work done well.

  
5) Isolate self and/or team from others in the organization



These are the lone wolves who think they can do the job better than everyone else. These failing leaders may have a tight "in-crowd" of direct reports who believe in them, hear a lot of “yes” from their direct reports, and see themselves in an “us vs. them” scenario. They believe they are in it alone, that no one understands them and that, if anyone interferes with them, it will dilute their agenda, work, or image. Failing leaders divide and try to conquer.  Winning leaders don't undermine their counterparts as failing leaders do. Instead, they collaborate and synergize, leveraging the brains, talent, and time of other leaders in the organization for the good of the whole.

Hewertson concludes, “Most leaders and others can learn, develop, and increase their own emotional intelligence. It takes assessment, self-motivation, learning, awareness, practice and feedback. Improving one’s emotional intelligence is a life-long journey—one that great leaders relish!”

Leadership authority Roxana (Roxi) Bahar Hewertson, CEO of Highland Consulting Group, Inc., has spent her entire career revealing myths and honing truths as to what makes a leader successful in their role…or not. Revered for her no nonsense, nuts-and-bolts, tell-it-like-it-is approach, Hewertson helps both emerging and expert leaders boost quantifiable job performance in various mission critical facets of business, including service, sales, education/training, productivity, and profits, to achieve or exceed organizational and career goals. She may be reached at www.highlandconsultinggroupinc.com.

See her article on five winning behaviors that show up consistently in leaders who succeed.