tawandamusarurwa
“Research has shown that destructive leaders are charismatic and confident to the extent that most people mistake this for leadership competency.
Most boards only realise their mistake once such people have started work and are already destroying the organisation.”
Memory Nguwi
Destructive leadership behaviour is any conduct that is detrimental to the success of an organisation or team.
This can include micro-managing, bullying and creating an environment of fear.
The consequences of this behaviour can be far-reaching and include decreased morale, decreased productivity, increased staff turnover and a lack of trust in the leader.
One interesting international study showed the prevalence of destructive leadership behaviour of between 33 percent and 60 percent.
These statistics show that destructive behaviour is common in many organisations.
The causes of destructive leadership behaviour often emanate from the personality of the individual leaders.
Individuals with personality traits such as narcissism tend to exhibit destructive leadership behaviour as they lead their teams.
Sometimes, these personality defects can be as dire as psychopathic traits.
Let us look at one category of destructive behaviour stemming from narcissistic leaders.
These leaders are often overly critical of their team members and take credit for their successes.
For example, a narcissistic leader may give their team members impossible deadlines and blame them for not meeting them.
They may also be unwilling to listen to feedback or take responsibility for their mistakes.
Narcissistic leaders are generally ruthless and obsessed with themselves.
They will harshly crush anyone who challenges their authority.
They like people who blindly praise them.
They set unrealistic deadlines in a bid to find more reasons to be cruel to people.
Unfortunately, narcissistic leaders are often promoted to senior leadership positions, as most people mistake their confidence for competence.
When elevated to the CEO level, they become untouchable and create an aura of invincibility around their role.
They amass personal favours to enhance their image, even if it is not in the organisation’s best interest.
They make most decisions to enhance their profile at the organisation’s expense.
Another category of a destructive leader personality is referred to as a psychopath.
Psychopathic leaders have no empathy; they disregard the feelings of others and have a tendency of manipulating and exploiting people.
They may also be callous, selfish and impulsive.
At a very high level – for example, that of a CEO – some psychopathic leaders are prone to taking risks and engaging in criminal behaviour.
One notable trait of psychopathic leaders is lack of remorse or guilt for their actions. They may also fail to form meaningful relationships with others.
They rejoice when they are harassing subordinates.
They may also be prone to lying and manipulating people to get what they want.
Interestingly, these psychopathic leaders often use their charm and charisma to manipulate those around them.
Try to reflect on leaders you know and you may realise what I am saying.
Where they feel their subordinates may have the courage to confront them, they may resort to intimidation tactics such as threats or violence. They do so in order to control their team members.
Psychopathic leaders can have a devastating effect on an organisation or team.
Their lack of empathy can lead to a hostile work environment, decreased morale, decreased productivity, increased staff turnover and a lack of trust in the leader.
Organisations need to recognise the signs of psychopathic leadership behaviour so that they can take steps to address the issue before it becomes too damaging.
Destructive leadership behaviour impacts employees in various ways.
Research findings consistently show that leaders who exhibit destructive leadership behaviour cause staff turnover and a toxic work environment.
Other researches have shown that destructive leadership behaviour increases the rate of counterproductive actions in an organisation.
Destructive leaders make people hate their jobs.
They like people around them to feel their presence by showing they have the power to control and direct things.
The model of operation is centred on humiliating subordinates.
They often set subordinates against each other by peddling lies about these workers.
Remember, the ultimate goal of such leaders is to look important ahead of everyone else.
Anyone perceived as challenging their power is ruthlessly managed out of the organisation.
The tragedy is that boards rarely check for such destructive traits when hiring.
Research has shown that destructive leaders are charismatic and confident to the extent that most people mistake this for leadership competency.
Most boards only realise their mistake once such people have started work and are already destroying the organisation.
Boards must know that destructive leaders who may appear to be progressing towards achieving the organisation’s goals do not take long to show their true colours.
Remember, once employees start feeling such leaders’ negative impact, they get the impression that they are undervalued and worthless.
They are made to feel they are worthless.
At some stage, employees feel it is better to exit the organisation.
The costs of destructive leadership are huge.
The costs are not only in the form of replacement costs, but the organisation may also lose the knowledge that such departing employees will take away with them.
While most bosses think employees leave for more money, research shows that only 12 percent are actually motivated by greener pastures.
Most people (79 percent) leave because they do not feel respected or appreciated, and 58 percent say they do not have a good relationship with their boss.
According to a survey of 10 000 job seekers, 42 percent left their jobs due to bad managers.
This high staff turnover rate negatively impacts the work climate and reduces organisational effectiveness.
The most destructive leaders fail to create psychological safety.
Kathie L. Pelletier (2010) says destructive leaders ignore their subordinates’ ideas because they think they know everything.
For this reason, employees are punished for raising issues.
Ultimately, the organisation suffers because subordinates will be afraid of making suggestions to improve the company’s performance.
So, what can be done to curb the negative impact of destructive leaders?
The best approach is for boards to be vigilant when hiring senior leaders.
They must subject all candidates for leadership roles to personality assessments so that these traits are flagged right at entry.
Boards must hire knowing the type of leader they are engaging.
* Memory Nguwi is an occupational psychologist, data scientist, speaker and managing consultant at Industrial Psychology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd, a management and human resources consulting firm. Email: [email protected] or visit our websites https://www.thehumancapitalhub.com and www.ipcconsultants.com
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