Are Ego-Driven Leaders Negatively Impacting Employee Performance?

Unlike narcissistic

leaders, the ego-

driven leaders CAN

and DO change

their behavior. The

reason for their

behavior is often a

lack of training &

development.

www.CaliberLeadership.com hhilliard@caliberleadership.com 416.406.3939

By Anne Dranitsaris, Ph.D. & Heather Hilliard March 2015

Ego-driven leaders are those people who have many talents and abilities for leading, but may not have the kind of self-awareness, training or confidence required to do so authentically. Most people don't know the difference between their ego and authentic self and are therefore unaware of when the are acting from their ego. This greatly impacts their ability to be an effective leader.

Our ego structure is there to protect us from embarrassment, insecurities, doubts and fears of failure or rejection. When leaders don't know they are being self-protective, they perform as the leader they think they should be and behave differently than their authentic self. Posturing, the inability to collaborate, not managing performance and avoiding conflict are ego-driven behaviors that are fear based. While these leaders have the capacity to develop, they are locked into automatic behaviors instead.

While sometimes ego-driven behaviors look like narcissistic behavior, there is a fundamental difference. Ego-driven leaders CAN be developed. A lack of leadership and managerial training and development is often at the root of ego-driven behavior and a fear of being exposed as incompetent or an impostor.

Here are some of the signs that a leader is coming from their ego:

Bringing attention to themselves. Insecurity causes ego-driven leaders to talk about their achievements and talents and find ways of slipping this information into conversations. Unlike most people who don’t “blow their own horn”, these people are often take the opportunity to boast about what they have done and what they can do. In order to reinforce themselves, they are always speaking about themselves and constantly use the word “I.” In meetings, they want to be the one who is talking, even if it means straying from the agenda or interrupting others.

Reactive or lack of timely decisions. When a leader is driven by the survival needs of their ego, they can be afraid to make decisions or take risks. They will wait until the last minute to see which way senior management is leaning before aligning themselves with them to garner favour. They can make decisions and then change their minds, leaving their employees confused and frustrated. They can take so long to make their decision that they miss opportunities and deflate the motivation of their direct reports.

Lack of empathy. The ego has no capacity for empathy. It operates in the world only concerned with the “I” and has little concern for the feelings of others. As a result, when leaders operate from their ego, they are unwilling or unable to empathize with the feelings and needs of others, as they are more concerned with their own. They are intolerant of others who talk about their problems and needs instead of theirs. The ego-driven leader can also be oblivious to how their behavior and remarks inflict pain or embarrassment on

others.

Take things personally. Because the ego-driven leader is self-protective, they view the behavior of others through the lens of “what does this mean about me.” This means that they are easily slighted and it is almost impossible to give them corrective feedback. They distrust others and believe that others are trying to get them. Easily put on the defensive, they can withdraw from or attack those who question or criticize their decisions.

Difficulty building a team. An ego-driven leader is the kind of leader that employees ultimately leave. They expect direct reports to do what needs to get done with minimal investment from them. They blame their people when things go wrong and will overwork and under praises their direct reports. Their department has constant turnover and they have difficulty in retaining highly qualified staff. Because their ego can be easily deflated, they are on the lookout for opportunities to devalue the contribution of others to make themselves look better.

At Caliber, our experience training in organizations shows that when these leaders are given ongoing leadership skills training over a period of time, their behavior changes. Too often it is assumed that leaders have the confidence and interpersonal skills required to manage their employees performance and to build their own team. This lack of development training and coaching leads to employee and management turnover, even at most senior levels. Contact us for more information on how we can help.

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