Why Executives Fail—and How to Prevent It

Ever wonder why executives fail in such high numbers?

According to DDI’s Leadership Transitions Report, HR considers about half of executives hired outside to be failures in their roles. The numbers look a little better for internally-promoted executives, but more than a third are still failing.

1. They don’t know how to deal with the ambiguity that comes with bigger, more strategic roles.

Most senior leaders are promoted because they have excelled in operational roles. They are diligent, conscientious, and get things done on time. And they thrive on being in the thick of execution—leading a team, but still entrenched in day-to-day decisions and tactics.

But those same skills that led to success in the past lead to failure at the executive level.

While in previous roles they’ve often worked from a playbook or operations guide, new executives now need to create their own playbook, despite having little or no experience. They also haven’t experienced making decisions in an environment that’s much more complex, uncertain, and faster-paced.

How can new executives learn to lead amid ambiguity? It can start with how they inspire and help their teams and fellow stakeholders to deal with uncertainty and complexity.

Ambiguous environments can sometimes be the launchpad for new ideas, fresh thinking, and growth. Great leaders leverage ambiguous situations and environments as opportunities to practice uncomfortable behaviors. These behaviors include accepting the personal risk of being wrong when uncertain decisions are being made, trying a new approach when success is uncertain, and speculating on new ventures or concepts even before they’re needed or wanted.

2. They spend too little time on the big picture and too much time micromanaging their teams.

As an executive, success comes to those who can effectively move away from managing the day-to-day, instead trusting their operational leaders (who are now their direct reports) to manage this, while they take a step back and look at the bigger, more strategic picture of the business.

Executives who allow themselves to get pulled back down to their previous, more technical responsibilities are going to run into two problems:

1. The operational leaders they manage are going to start feeling disengaged because they have no room to bring forth their own creativity or unique contributions.
2. They’re stunting the growth of their operational leaders because they aren’t giving them opportunities to develop judgment and decision-making skills by trying new ideas—and failing.

Effective strategic leaders spend the time necessary to create a vivid picture in their minds of a preferred future. And—this is of critical importance—they are able to describe that future in explicit enough terms to draw others to it so that they also can “see” it.

Effective strategic leaders are also able to cultivate the relationships required to successfully work with others to create and put into place a road map and a set of enablers for achieving that vision.

3. They aren’t skilled at influencing stakeholders across a larger network.

Most new executives have climbed the ladder on the strength of their superior technical skills and expertise. But once in the executive role, it surprises them their technical prowess alone is no longer enough to convince fellow executives that work needs to be done; rather, they need to influence them to gain their buy-in and, more importantly, their commitment.

New executives can learn to influence others toward a decision or plan by packaging their ideas in a way that captures the hearts and minds of their audience. They can do this by:

• Identifying, assessing, and prioritizing influence opportunities and choosing strategies that will aid in advancing the most pressing business objectives.
• Building influence strategies based on what they know about the motivations, needs, and concerns of those they need to influence.
• Evaluating their business network and building supportive and reciprocal long-term working relationships at all levels of the organization.

4. They are overconfident, without enough introspection.

Confidence is crucial to inspiring a team. But many executives don’t have an accurate picture of their own strengths and weaknesses, especially if they haven’t been through an executive leadership assessment. As a result, they may be overconfident in the wrong places.

Overconfidence can sometimes be perceived by others as arrogance. An arrogant executive “talks at” his team and stops listening to their ideas (because he truly believes he is smarter than everyone else in the organization), which can destroy the valuable relationships a leader needs to be effective.

Arrogant executives are quick to celebrate their own accomplishments but may forget to share praise and recognition when their teams are successful. Because of this, their teams start to root against them and often lack the motivation to follow them.

Worse, they often lack the self-awareness and introspection to realize that they’re doing this. In their eyes, they are displaying appropriate confidence. Without an executive feedback process, they have no idea how others are perceiving them.

As one executive put it, “Your personality is going to become public, whether you like it or not. The question is what impact is it having, and what do you need to do about it?”

5. They’re dealing with change at a rate they haven’t had to deal with before.

Amid all of these other pressures, change is happening at a faster rate than ever. For many executives, it feels like every time they start to get their footing, the rug is pulled out from under them.

Prior to their executive roles, most business leaders are shielded from the full impact of the changes. There was always someone above them who is at the front lines of change, reacting and creating strategies to navigate through it.

It’s crucial, though, for new executives to have the skills to guide themselves, their employees, and their organizations through the rough waters brought on by continuous change. They need to be adaptable and have the ability to stay focused, manage stress, and take decisive action—despite a lack of definitive information. Executives who manage change effectively create a stable environment for the rest of the organization to continue to hum, even when there’s still some ambiguity at the top.