London (CNN) - in 1989 Steven R Covey Wrote A Business and Self

London (CNN) -- In 1989 Steven R Covey wrote a business and self-
help book titled, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People." It

became a chartbuster that influenced millions to believe that those
seven habits would make them better leaders. In fact, these would
make them highly effective leaders.
However, great leadership isn't only about what you are doing right. It
is also about what you're not doing wrong. Just as there are habits that
make leaders effective, there are habits that cripple them.
From the first day we published our research on strengths-based
leadership, we have also stressed the importance of fixing the terrible
habits we refer to as "fatal flaws."
We found that when a manager possessed just one of these fatal flaws
they had an extremely slim chance of making it into the top tier of
leadership in their organization. Possessing two or more virtually
guaranteed that they would not be in the top echelon of leaders.
We analyzed data from more than 52,000 leaders to determine which

habits frequently received low scores. We sought to understand those
behaviors that best differentiated between the worst leaders (e.g. the
bottom 10%) versus all other leaders.
In other words, we identified the habits that were millstones around the
leader's neck and were most likely to cause them to sink to the bottom
of the heap. Then we identified the items that had the most significant
negative impact on employee engagement and led to failure in their
current job. What emerged were 20 items that clustered in seven very
bad habits.
Here's the list in order, from the least to the most fatal:
Failure to Coach and Develop Others

Ineffective leaders get into the habit of focusing only on getting their
jobs done. They fail to show concern for the development of a group of
people who can get the job done in an ever more competitive world,
and who will take over when they are no longer around.
Bad Role Model
Less effective leaders get in the habit of saying one thing and doing
another. They firmly believe that it is appropriate to have one set of
rules that apply to themselves and a different set of rules that apply to
team members. After all, they are the boss. But this has a greater
consequence than they think. Subordinates keep score of the number
of times the leader says one thing and then does another.
Less effective leaders get in the habit
of saying one thing and doing another
Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman
Lack of Strategic Perspective
Ineffective leaders develop the habit of only looking down -- they fail to
look up or out. They are less comfortable considering the bigger picture
or peering over a three-to-five year horizon. Having become
comfortable in this small arena, it is hard to break away from their
myopic view. This shortsightedness causes team members to focus
only on the task at hand rather than the vision and mission of the
organization.
Prefer Working Independently Instead of Collaborating
Ineffective leaders get into the habit of working independently. It
requires less effort than collaborating with their peers. They so much
enjoy having their own turf and building a silo in which to live that they
fail to see the most important work occurs horizontally in an
organization.
Resist Goals and Improvement
The twin demons of ineffective leaders are arrogance and
complacency. These leaders develop a terrible habit of avoiding any
personal development. They believe they must be wonderful or they
wouldn't have been promoted into a position of leadership. Worse yet,
they conclude that they have reached their "peak" and self-
development or stretch goals aren't necessary, or that they are
beneath them.
Poor Communication
These leaders were not skilled at communicating insights and
understanding of the issues or problems. Additionally, they struggled to
provide others with any sense of direction or purpose. They either
didn't take the time or couldn't communicate how their work contributed
to the broader business objectives. When they do communicate it is a
one-way channel with a loud speaker, but no listening device.
The number one most devaluing
quality of ineffective leaders is their
failure to motivate subordinates
Failure to Inspire and Motivate Others
The number one most devaluing quality of ineffective leaders is their
failure to motivate subordinates. Most leaders now how to push to get
results, but fewer understand how to pull. Leaders with this bad habit of
only pushing and not pulling, were described as autocratic and micro-
managing. Others were described as unenthusiastic and passive.
Energizing people and inspiring them to high levels of performance is
the most challenging struggle for these ineffective leaders.
These sound like obvious flaws that any leader would try to fix. Would
it surprise you to know that the ineffective leaders we studied were
frequently oblivious to their own bad habits? They consistently rated
themselves more positively in these areas than others did, and usually
by a wide margin. They were suffering from self-awareness deprivation.
Maybe it is time to take a moment and analyze if you possess any of
these fatal flaws or ask for candid feedback on your performance in
these specific areas. There are many glowing habits that make a
career successful, but beware of the ones that can make you fail.

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London (CNN) -- In 1989 Steven R Covey wrote a business and self-

help book titled, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People." It

We analyzed data from more than 52,000 leaders to determine which

Failure to Coach and Develop Others

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