Which behavior is limiting your leadership potential?
20 interpersonal behaviors that sabotage top executives
Dr. Marshall Goldsmith has coached hundreds of executives around the world for four decades. He compiled 20 bad behaviors that he found common in executives, gathered through 360-degree feedback with stakeholders and executives.
When I did my first 360 as a manager, I was guilty of habits 3 and 16 from the list below.
You can try this today and notice the below habits in your next meeting (group meeting or 1:1). Identify common themes in others first and then become mindful of your own behaviors.
Winning too much: The need to win at all costs and in all situations.
Adding too much value: The overwhelming desire to add our two cents to every discussion.
Passing judgment: The need to rate others and impose our standards on them.
Making destructive comments: The needless sarcasm and cutting remarks that we think make us witty.
Starting with “No,” “But,” or “However”: The overuse of these negative qualifiers which secretly say to everyone “I’m right and you’re wrong.”
Telling the world how smart we are: The need to show people we’re smarter than they think we are.
Speaking when angry: Using emotional volatility as a management tool.
Negativity, or “Let me explain why that won’t work”: The need to share our negative thoughts even when we weren’t asked.
Withholding information: The refusal to share information in order to maintain an advantage over others.
Failing to give proper recognition: The inability to give praise and reward.
Claiming credit that we don’t deserve: The most annoying way to overestimate our contributions to any success.
Making excuses: The need to reposition our annoying behavior as a permanent fixture so people excuse us for it.
Clinging to the past: The need to deflect blame away from ourselves and onto events and people from our past; a subset of blaming everyone else.
Playing favorites: Failing to see that we are treating someone unfairly.
Refusing to express regret: The inability to take responsibility for our actions, admit we’re wrong, or recognize how our actions affect others.
Not listening: The most passive-aggressive form of disrespect for colleagues.
Failing to express gratitude: The most basic form of bad manners.
Punishing the messenger: The misguided need to attack the innocent, who are usually only trying to help us.
Passing the buck: The need to blame everyone but ourselves.
An excessive need to be “me”: Exalting our faults as virtues simply because they’re who we are.
Time for reflection
What habits have you noticed lately in your behavior at work?
What if you run a 360 with your stakeholders?
What would be #1 on your list?