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Leadership Derailment:

Identifying the causes and changing the outcomes

First Strategies, a Division of First Transitions, hosted a presentation by Rob Kabacoff, Ph.D., Vice President of

Research for Management Research Group, our partner for leadership assessment. The following is a brief

synopsis of his presentation, shown here in a question and answer format that reflects the participatory style of the

event.

What is leadership derailment and can it be prevented?

Much hope and development funding placed to find or develop leaders and yet research shows that as many as

30 % of high potential leaders fail to reach goals and expectations. What causes this phenomenon and what can be

done to shift the train back on the preferred leadership track?

To begin, what does it mean for a leader to “de-rail”?

When a manager who was expected to go higher in the organization and who was judged to have the ability to do

so is fired, demoted or plateaued below expected levels of achievement, we describe this as “de-railing”. Lombardo, M.K, & McCouley, C. the dynamics of management derailment, Center for Creative Leadership. What is the cost when a leader derails?

There are human costs and organizational costs. The costs to humans are to the leader him/herself and to the

people the leader manages. The impact may be felt in the possibility of job loss, diminished self-esteem, status

and/or the delay or failure to achieve individual goals. Unless reversed, derailing may have impact on the physical

and psychological health or the leader and their teams. This may be measured in lost pleasures, lost opportunity

and lost income.

The costs to the organization are also significant. There may be a loss in the investment dollars spent to select and

onboard the leader. These costs may need to be incurred again if a replacement must be recruited, selected and

brought to full capability. The loss of the leader to the organization and other talented resources who may also

depart can be quite steep. During the process of making these changes, organizational productivity is likely to be

negatively affected, in measurable ways and less obvious ways. Without reversal, the organization’s culture and

brand can be impacted and often, not positively.

So, what causes leaders to derail?

A recent MRG study of 29,000 senior executives who were measured through the Leadership Effectiveness

Analysis 360 tools which rates 22 leadership behaviors and competencies, found that the behaviors of leaders in

the bottom 5% of those measured were rated higher on the following competencies:

Self (self as primary focus for decision making)

Feedback (negative feedback)

Dominance

Structuring (precise and methodical)

(deference to) Authority

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They were rated lower on:

Strategic (broad approach to decision making, thinking ahead and planning)

Communication

Persuasive

Innovative

Cooperation

Consensual (value others opinions)

Technical (expertise)

Management Focus (leading the efforts of others)

Control (setting deadlines)

Empathy

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the top 5% of leaders are rated:

High on Low on Average on

Innovative Structuring Self

Strategic Authority Dominance

Persuasive Cooperation

Excitement

Communication

Management focus

Empathy

Rob discussed the outcomes of another MRG study of 4,500 individuals who were rated low on overall

effectiveness and found that there were three distinct patterns of derailment found in this group.

They are described as:

“My way or the highway” 40% of derailment examples

High on Low on

Dominant Cooperation

Self Restraint

Feedback (criticalness) Consensual

Management focus

“It’s all about the rules” (20%)

High on Low on

Deference to authority Excitement

Structure Empathy

Innovative

Persuasive

“Not really thinking” (15%)

High on Low on

Outgoing Technical

Authority Strategic

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MRG research also includes the leadership effectiveness of a population of 453 Physicians in Leadership roles.

From this population, those who were viewed as derailing were:

Higher on Lower on

Self Strategic

Feedback (criticalness) Communication

Dominant Empathy

Restraint

Consensual

At the session, Dr. Kabacoff showed us the comparison of top Physicians with Top Senior Healthcare leaders.

As you may expect, the top Physician Leaders were 20 points higher on Technical than their non physician

counterparts. They were also at least 10 points higher in Outgoing, Restraint, Cooperation and Empathy. They

were lower than the non-physician Healthcare Leader group in (deference to) Authority, Dominance, Feedback

(criticalness) and Delegation.

What differentiates a high potential and a future derailer?

Through Rob’s research, MRG has seen that leaders, who demonstrate their high-potential designation, have

awareness that development is important and that their current skills may not be sufficient to take them to higher

levels. They show an openness to learning new skills and adopting new perspectives and also a willingness and

ability to learn from experience.

So, why is it hard for people to change?

Change is hard for some leaders because what they are doing has worked for a long time, they don’t change

problems that they believe they don’t have, they don’t know what to do to change, and for some – change is

terrifying as the outcome is uncertain.

“People do not change because of logic. People only change when they have an emotionally

compelling reason to do so.”

What are some actions leaders can take to avoid derailment?

Expanding self-awareness allows leaders to recognize the impact of their behavior on others, to become aware

that they lack some necessary skills (particularly in the areas of strategy and interpersonal effectiveness), that they

may be trying to solve the wrong problems, that resistance to learning or alternative views is not working for

them, and that they may be demonstrating a maladaptive reaction to a perceived threat.

What can the Organization do to support them?

Assess behavior and key motivations during the selection and on-boarding process

Provide career enhancing assignments to hi-pos

Improve on-boarding during internal career transitions

Assess leadership skills for individual and organizational awareness and provide coaching and

development

Why should we help leaders avoid derailment?

“The cost to the organization of failing to manage derailment (i.e., exit and re-hire costs, organizational

disruption, opportunity costs, lowered morale and productivity) will almost always be more than the time and

resources invested in getting a high potential manager back on the fast track. In other words…it’s worth the

effort.” Source: Cubiks Online – how to recognize and management derailment.

For more information about how First Strategies utilizes MRG research and assessment capabilities in

executive coaching and team leadership development, please contact us:admin@firsttransitions.com