The Hogan Development Survey (HDS), after profiling millions of employees, managers, and leaders, states that most people display at least three of the eleven dark-side traits - bold, cautious, colourful, diligent, dutiful, excitable, imaginative, leisurely, mischievous, reserved, skeptical
It also said that about 40 per cent score high enough on one or two to put them at risk for disruption in their careers—even if they are currently successful and effective. The result is pervasive dysfunctional behavior at work.
Worryingly, leaders tend to do a poor job of evaluating their own dark sides, particularly as they gain power and move up the ranks.
Some perceive their career advancement as an endorsement or encouragement of their bad habits. Eventually, however, those weaknesses may derail them, and perhaps their teams and organisations, too.
Research over decades suggests that it’s very difficult to change core aspects of your personality after age 30. But you can—through self-awareness, appropriate goal setting, and persistence—tame your dark side in critical situations, by changing your behaviors.
Dark-side traits can be divided into three clusters.
* Those in the first are distancing traits—obvious turnoffs that push other people away. Being highly excitable and moody has this effect, for instance.
* Traits in the second cluster are, in contrast, seductive qualities—geared to pull people in. They are often found in assertive, charismatic leaders, who gather followers or gain influence with bosses through their ability to 'manage up'.
But these traits can also have negative consequences, because they lead people to overestimate their own worth and fly too close to the sun.
* The third cluster contains ingratiating traits, which can have a positive connotation in reference to followers but rarely do when describing leaders.
Someone who is dutiful and eager to please those in authority can easily become too submissive or acquiescent.
Dark-side traits also differ in their consequences. A mischievous, risk-taking leader who is under pressure to demonstrate financial growth can destroy an entire organisation with a single impulsive decision.
An excitable leader might simply wreck his/her career with a public temper tantrum.
An extremely calm, even-tempered, soft-spoken manager—someone who isn’t remotely excitable—may come across as dull or uninspiring.
The key, then, is not to eliminate your personality weaknesses but to manage and optimise them: The right score is rarely the lowest or the highest but moderate.
Courtesy: www.hbr.org
