Professor Richard Holme’s 10 Diseases of Leadership

Professor Richard Holmes identified ten diseases of leadership. These are common bad behaviours that leaders can slip into. The good news is that if you’re self-aware, these issues can easily be corrected with some minor adjustments in behaviour. However, if left unchecked, they can cause significant damage in the long-term.

Leadership disease #1: Lack of Moral Courage

Leaders fail to do the right thing even when they know they should.

Leadership disease #2: Failure to recognise that opposition can be loyal

Challenge from subordinates is valuable. It takes a significant amount of moral courage to challenge someone in a leadership position. If this behaviour is encouraged, it promotes a culture of healthy challenge. If it is discouraged, people will not share their concerns or offer ideas for improvement.

Loyal dissent is more valuable than destructive consent.

Leadership disease #3: Consent and Evade

Leaders openly agree with the plan but secretly they are unconvinced. They then don’t play their part in supporting the implementation of the plan. This breeds misalignment throughout the organisation.

Leadership disease #4: ‘You don’t need to know that…’

Information is power. Some leaders will try to reinforce their position by holding onto information unnecessarily. This reduces the ability for their subordinates to be able to act on their initiative because they lack the wider situational context.

Leadership disease #5: ‘I’ve made up my mind…’

Leaders lack flexibility and are determined to drive through their plans regardless of new information or a change in circumstances. Michael Gove proved to be a good example of this when he said ‘Brits have had enough from the experts’.

Leadership disease #6: Looking for the Perfect Solution

Leaders delay making decisions because they are waiting for more information which in reality might not come. Often described as ‘analysis paralysis’, the inability to make decisions means subordinates cannot act.

Leadership disease #7: Equating the quality of advice with someone’s position or experience

Wisdom and insight are not necessarily connected to experience or position. Sometimes the least experienced person or someone outside the team can offer the freshest perspective on a problem. These people can be ignored by leaders who over-value experience and positional authority.

Leadership disease #8: ‘I’m too busy…’

Leaders are so focussed on executing the current plan and/or routine business that they fail to identify and exploit opportunities that might increase their chances of success. When a leader is so focussed on what they’re doing, they’re unable to ‘stick their heads up’ and look for better ways or opportunities in which they might be able to complete their plan faster and more efficiently.

Leadership disease #9: ‘I can do your job better than you can…’

Leaders who readily drop into their comfort zone and micro manage subordinate leaders. They might have done the job previously and assume that they can do it better than the person currently in the role. This is particularly common in sales teams where a sales leader will often work hard to make up the shortfall in a team target rather than coaching and developing their people to hit the target.

Leadership disease #10: Big man, cold shadow

Leaders might appear successful to those outside the team but are actually responsible for creating a negative climate within the teams they lead.

Summary

These ten diseases are relatively easy to spot in other people. Identifying them in your own behaviour is far more difficult.

Leaders that are able to create an environment where peers are encouraged to challenge and support each other will create opportunities for people to better develop their leadership skills.