Understanding Career Derailment and How to Keep Your Career on Track

1. Understanding Career Derailment and How to Keep Your Career on Track AmericanSociety of MilitaryComptrollers Professional Development Institute Orlando, Florida June 4, 2010 Presented by: Thomas Gaffney Senior Manager Government Sector Center for Creative Leadership

2. CCL at a Glance Exclusive focus on the leadership development of individuals and organizations for nearly forty years Ranked among the world’s top providers of executive education by Financial Times and Business Week Flexible and global delivery options Ground-breaking research driving business results One of the largest leadership benchmarking databases in the world

3. Government Agencies that have worked with CCL EPA NSA Treasury DOD Dept of Homeland Security US Navy CIA US Air Force DAU Dept of Commerce Dept of Energy GAO Dept of Justice Dept of Education US Army CSTC-A

4. What is “Derailment”? What are the causes of derailment? What are the signs of possible derailment? How can derailment be prevented? What are my next steps to keep my career on track? Agenda

5. Executive Derailment Why Do Leaders Come “Off the Track”

6. The organization perceives a lack of fit between the manager’s personal characteristics and skills, and the evolving demands of the job. Why Do Leaders Derail?

7. SuccessfulA person who achieved the highest level expected or is still promotable Derailed A person who has involuntarily stalled, been demoted, fired, or asked to take early retirement. This person did not live up to his/her full potential as the organization saw it. Key Terms

8. Derailments hurt. People Retention Derailments are expensive. The higher the level, the more expensive they are. Survival of the fittest is not the same thing as survival of the best. Leaving leadership development to chance is risky. Why Should We Care?

9. 4 Research Studies Spanning 19 years 430+ Case Studies Fortune 500 International Scope Derailment Research History

10. Over 32,000 Federal Government Employees from Multiple Agencies Sampled Sample Group

11. General Demographics

12. Success Profile: What leadership skills and perspectives do bosses say are critical for success? Current Bench Strength: How strong is the leadership in these critical skills and perspectives as judged by co-workers? Effectiveness: What skills are most closely linked to effectiveness? PotentialPitfalls: What potential pitfalls lie ahead for senior leaders? Four Key Questions

13. Key leadership competencies: Importance Skill (Bench Strength) Prevalence of characteristics that can lead to being involuntarily stalled, demoted, fired, or asked to take early retirement Promotability Overall measures of performance What Was Assessed?

14. “What does derailment look like in government service?” Think of one person you know in the government sector that fits the definition of derailment: A person who has involuntarily stalled, been demoted, fired, or asked to take early retirement. What were the fatal flaws that led to derailing? How did the person who derailed differ from those who made it to the top? What event(s) surfaced those flaws? An ASMC Perspective

15. Potential Pitfalls

16. Primary Reasons for Derailing Failure to change or adapt (unwilling and/or unable) Problems with interpersonal relationships Failure to build and lead a team Failure to meet business objectives Too narrow of a functional orientation Reasons

17. Amazingly Similar Incredibly bright Outstanding track records Identified early Not perfect Ambitious Made sacrifices On Track Versus Derailed

18. How Did Derailed Executives Differ from Successful Ones? Successful Executives: Able to develop and adapt Establish strong relationships Build and lead teams Consistently high performance Intelligent Problem solvers Ambitious Willing to take risks Derailed Executives: Failure to develop or adapt Poor working relationships Unable to build and lead a team Fail to meet business objectives Too narrow of a functional orientation

19. Problems with Interpersonal Relationships Personality characteristics seen as: Insensitive Manipulative Critical Demanding Authoritarian (lacked a teamwork orientation) Self-isolating Aloof

20. “He is a great strategic thinker and he has high ethical standards, but he lashes out at people; he can’t build trusting relationships. He is very smart, but he achieves superiority through demeaning others. He is abusive, he hits people with intellectual lightning. He instinctively goes after people. Many people have tried to work on this flaw because he has such extraordinary skills, but it seems hopeless.” He’s a great strategic thinker, but…

21. “He had a great belief that working democratically would benefit all workers. He was honest, collaborative, and open to new ideas. He made himself accessible to everyone in the company. He was extremely ethical and dependable.” Good Relationships

22. “He was very personable, easy to talk with. He was also very credible. This is because he would get the facts before he said anything. He would follow through on things. He was very caring, straightforward, a most successful manager.” Good Relationships

23. Good Doesn’t Mean… • A personality transplant • Inauthentic behavior • “That’s just not me”

24. Failure to adapt to a new boss Over-dependence on a single skill and/or failure to acquire new skills Inability to adapt to the demands of a new job, a new culture, or changes in the market Failure to learn from feedback Failure to Change or Adapt

25. “He couldn’t change. He had a rigid and outdated management style. He was inflexible and people got tired of it.” Two Words You Don’t Want to Hear

26. You’ve been successful so far Your strengths have served you well How might your strengths become weaknesses if overused? How are the demands of the next level different than what you’ve experienced to date? What changes will you have to make in your behaviors to meet these new challenges? Transitioning to the Next Level

27. Learning Agility In many of the cases, senior executives described repeated efforts to give the leader feedback on areas for improvement. For whatever reason, the derailed leaders were unable or unwilling to learn from and apply the feedback.

28. “He was very aware of his strengths and limitations; he got help during a transition. He sought advice from HR. We set up a special program to get him in-depth assessment. People see him as open to feedback and change, and he actively works on these. He is very reflective of mistakes; he wants to learn from them. He is always talking about improving the system so it won’t happen again.” Learn and Live

29. “I was coaching her. We had many sessions together where the problems were identified and we tried to come up with an action plan. Some problems she “owned”, others she didn’t. She really didn’t change. She would change for a week or two, then return to base line.” One Step Forward…

30. Failing to staff effectively Can’t manage subordinates Poor leadership skills Failure to Build and Lead a Team

31. “We had a huge project - our biggest. It is late. It has cost hundreds of thousands of dollars because we didn’t have needed staff, systems, in time. This is her responsibility.” Team Trauma

32. Lack of follow-through Too ambitious Poor performance Failure to Meet Business Objectives

33. Upward career progress in same function Unable to wear multiple hats Lack of awareness about the whole organization or competitive landscape Too Narrow Functional Orientation

34. New boss Radically different job Reorganization/culture change Performance problem, handled ineptly Clash with a boss Trail of little problems/bruised people Expatriate assignment Over-using strengths Going it alone Events That Can Surface Flaws

35. With Apologies to Jeff Foxworthy If you tend to hear “Yabut” when your work is discussed… You may be on the road to derailment. If you notice that people who work with you on a project seem to have other obligations when another opportunity to work with you comes up… You may be on the road to derailment. If you notice that your mentor may have become your protector… You may be on the road to derailment. If you find yourself in a new and challenging situation and you hear yourself saying, “I just need to work a little harder and everything will be fine”… You may be on the road to derailment.

36. Executives should: seek feedback throughout their careers seek development opportunities that can help overcome flaws seek support and coaching during transitions be aware that new jobs require new frameworks and behaviors Preventing Derailment

37. Organizations should: consider zigzagging career paths over vertical ones give lots of “how you did it” feedback instead of “what you did” not consider one failure “off the track” allow managers to complete jobs/ assignments Preventing Derailment

38. Consider coaching Take advantage of 360-degreeassessments Ideas Into Action Guidebook – Keeping Your Career on Track (CCL) A Look at Derailment Today: North America and Europe (CCL) Preventing Derailment: What to do before it’s too late (CCL) What Got You Here Won’t Get You There (Marshall Goldsmith) Next Steps – Resources

39. Identify the derailer (current or potential) that you most want to address: Failure to change or adapt Problems with interpersonal relationships Failure to build and lead a team Failure to meet business objectives Too narrow of a functional orientation Decide specifically what you are going to do (SMART) Determine who will partner with you on this Set a deadline Next Steps – Actions

40. Understanding Career Derailment and How to Keep Your Career on Track AmericanSociety of MilitaryComptrollers Professional Development Institute Orlando, Florida June 4, 2010 Presented by: Thomas Gaffney Senior Manager Government Sector Center for Creative Leadership 336-286-4576 gaffneyt@ccl.org