Why Are We Celebrating Dysfunctional Leadership!

Employee Disengagement Crisis

I remember the celebration last year when Gallup published an article titled Employee Engagement on the Rise. Employee engagement measures how passionate employees are about their jobs and commitment to the organization. Engaged employees go beyond the call of duty and put discretionary care and effort into their work. The article reported, “34% of U.S. employees were engaged” and “The percentage who are "actively disengaged" -- workers who have miserable work experiences -- is now at its lowest level (13%).”

So, we are celebrating that employee engagement remaining at 34% and disengagement dipping to 13%. If you are a leader, let that sink in and consider what it means for you as a leader! 

The leaders I train will process this at the analytical and human level. They will first tell you that this means that most hiring managers hire, pay, and support about 34 employees for every 100 people’s work, while about 13 employees are getting paid for being actively disengaged. Studies have shown that these 13 employees actively disrupt the other 87. For example, when you (as the leader) work hard to hire a super-engaged professional, even that person’s engagement is subject to the gravitational pull of the disengaged and apathetic majority. I believe that every leader needs to hold themselves, not your team members, accountable for this mess.

Employee disengagement is a leadership crisis! 

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Leadership Crisis

I have tuned a framework that I call CAT to drive engagement using practical and effective methods that I have learned from my coaches and practical experience. CAT stands for Care Assist Trust, the three pillars of leadership that I leverage to drive engagement. I will dedicate a separate article on CAT, but please know that CAT is easy to understand but needs personal guidance to perfect.

Few people are equipped to lead, yet so many aspiring professionals strive to outmaneuver each other to seek leadership positions. (This is the root of many toxic work environments, but that is a topic for another day). Hardly anyone turns down a leadership opportunity. What may appear as a career advancement opportunity is usually setting unequipped leaders for dismal failure. 

Some leaders inherit a family business while others jump on a corporate leadership opportunity before they and/or their employers invest in their own professional development. Some confluence of their inflated egos, bad time-management, and mismanaged finances prevent them from being equipped for leadership. No wonder first time leadership experiences leave scars that never heal. With these high stakes, low standards, and weak support, few are able to rise from the ashes. The worst leaders compensate by inventing a world of self-congratulatory delusion, and they die a slow torturous death. Others get engulfed in their own insecurity and die a quick, but less painful, death. A few invest in themselves and rise like a phoenix.

Respawning as a Superhero

My first leadership experience ended in an instant painless death because I was unequipped to lead. Even worse, I didn’t know that I was not ready for the challenge. A company that acquired my startup decided to convert me from a techie into a leader, without equipping me. My insecurity compounded as I found myself struggling to manage my team and make tough decisions with incomplete information. I failed miserably. 

I eventually respawned as a leader, but this time I was coached and trained by some of the superheroes of Silicon Valley who helped me rise from my own ashes. Now, I am helping others become superheroes.

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? 2020 Dr. Salman Azhar. All Rights Reserved.

Salman Azhar is a co-founder or a co-investor in over 100 companies across diverse industries and also served clients such as Lamborghini, Sony, SAP, HP, ADP, Oracle, and Agilent. He has helped launch thousands of careers at hundreds of companies using a blend of analytical and personal skills. Over 50 of his mentees are now founders and/or CEOs. He wants to share the learnings from his coaches and experiences to help others become stellar leaders and human beings. He is developing more superheroes, who are interested in undertaking an authentic and vulnerable journey using analytical and personal skills, to achieve rare success while maintaining a fulfilling professional and personal life.