Is your team led by a 'lone wolf leader'?

Poor perspective, a lack of judgement and overconfidence are a recipe for disaster when it comes to leadership. Just ask the Australian cricket team

BY HRD 11 Apr 2018

Is there a leader at your organisation who puts their own priorities first, even if it comes at the expense of success in other departments or organisational reputation?

In Australia, this scenario has played out in the form of the Australian cricket team's ball tampering scandal, in which Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft’s lapse in leadership judgement and ‘win at all cost’ attitude made them public enemy number one.

Aaron McEwan, HR advisory leader at Gartner, said poor perspective, a lack of judgement and overconfidence are a "recipe for disaster" when it comes to leading a team to success. They’re also the typical traits of a lone wolf leader.

According to Gartner research, lone wolf leaders are the ones who talk little to their peers, collaborate less, work in silos and often think only of their unit, not the wider company/team.

“The most successful leaders are those who have shifted their mind-sets, activities and behaviours from driving their own personal results to the organisation’s results – and sometimes even beyond the organisation to an industry or society as a whole,” said McEwan.

Leaders can do this by contributing to and leveraging the performance of other teams from within the business - these leaders are called enterprise leaders.

These leaders bring people together to create greater value for the organisation; driving productive collaboration at the top amongst their leader peers, as well as working across internal silos to utilise the skills and outcomes of other teams across the enterprise.

“Not only does collaborating across teams enable leaders to hear new ideas and seek alternative perspective, but it also ensures that concepts, innovation and activities are aligned with the goals and values of the business,” said McEwan.

According to Gartner, there are three behaviours that distinguish enterprise leaders:

They take from – and give to – their peers: they are 50% more effective at using and providing contributions to and from the broader enterprise
They push – and pull – team contributions: they are 20% more likely to work within their teams to find great solutions, extract key learnings, and share them with the broader organisation
They facilitate – and don’t direct – team performance: they are 30% more likely to proactively connect their teams with those who can enhance and benefit from the team performance

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