Leaders and pseudo-leaders
In the Danish reality show Robinsonekspeditionen this year there was a guy who said that he had been watching the show in the last 13 years preparing his strategy for when he would be on the show one day. The strategy seemed pretty simple – be a leader. However, it seemed that being a leader was not equal to shout the highest and regard others opinions as useless and unnecessary. He finishes his stay on the show the very first time the others had a chance to vote somebody out.
The lesson here seems pretty simple. And yet somehow it is not. As we all have witnessed some individuals in the hierarchy – higher or lower – trying to act as leaders. In doing so they might disregard others, insult them, demonstrate way to high self esteem, take the credit for others’ work, or act in one of thousands different ways a pseudo-leader might act in.
Pseudo-leaders are people who have made their way up in the system not because they have the qualities and qualifications for it but because they have made a career out of leeching of others. They are good leaders in the eyes of their superiors and very destructive leaders for those underneath them. It is simply because they know how to play the role of the carrying leader without necessarily being one.
If we concentrate on what kind of damage pseudo-leaders can cause it sums up to several main consequences:
v Employees who are not willing to cooperate with the leader for the company’s success
v Employees who do not trust their superior
v De-motivated employees who do not work at their maximum as they do not see a point in doing so
v Employees who try to silently fight the system which might seriously damage the company
v Angry employees whose reaction cannot really be accounted for
Then one should wonder why and how it is possible for pseudo-leaders to be given the leadership? And why they themselves do not see the damage they cause?
From one point of view it comes down to competences. The pseudo-leader has also some competences, it is just not the right ones. From another point of view it is all about intentions. The pseudo-leader is egoistic whereas the real leader concentrates on the common success.
As it is essential for every company which honestly strives towards excellence to employ the right kind of people, especially when it comes to leaders, it might prove to be a very good idea to never forget the “low layers” of the organization. It is not that difficult to recognize the real leader who helps the organization from the pseudo-leader but you need the help of your employees in order to do that. Some companies have therefore found practices as motivation level research and other evaluation tests as being helpful in order to identify issues. However, what happens if those evaluations land into the hands of a pseudo-leader?
Dealing with those issues is not easy as their identification might sometimes be almost impossible. However, an option for management should be education. It has always been considered that education is the path towards best practices.
If you today want to figure out how much of a pseudo or a real leader you are, you can take a look at the table here and decide for yourself whether maybe also you need a leader education. It is after all only admirable to become better at what you already are good.
| Pseudo-leader | Leader |
| Talks | Listens |
| Orders | Discusses and advices |
| Requires obedience | Grants freedom |
| Disregards others opinions | Has an open mind |
| Takes credit for others’ work/ideas | Gives credit |
| Does not allow employee advancement | Encourages employee advancement |
| Destroys self confidence | Nurtures self confidence |
| Principle: separate and rule | Principle: lead to consensus |
The list can be continued almost indefinitely as the different situations offer different possibilities to demonstrate leadership. However, what is more important is to highlight the benefits of being a good leader. Among them are:
v Loyalty
v Higher productivity
v Innovation
v Respect
v Company growth
v Better working environment/lower employee turnover
v Less absence days
Normally, if it goes downhill for a company the leadership is the first to take the blame. And normally if the company is driven by pseudo-leaders, it will go downhill. Maybe not straight away but in the long run. Therefore it is good for everybody that pseudo-leaders are rooted out of the organization.
Most companies nowadays use personality tests as tools in the recruitment process which should keep the right people in the right position. However, every now and then a mistake is made or somebody’s dominating side is underestimated and pseudo-leaders are found many places and even worse – it seems they are impossible to remove from the hierarchy.
That is why with the warning that bad leadership carries more than one threat with itself, companies are advised to control the quality of leadership by regularly going down to the lowest organizational layers and trying to ensure the organizational image is the same from bottom to top. Most companies state that their employees are their greatest asset and there is a good reason for that.
Take care for your employees and they will take care for you.
