“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” - Mahatma Gandhi

In the aftermath of The Great Recession of 2008-2009, leaders are faced with a serious organizational challenge: a workforce that is increasingly disengaged and burned out. Leaders only succeed by getting things done through others, and that just got tougher. As a leader, where do you start?

Ironically, the first step is to hold up the mirror and look long and hard at the reflection. For leaders who want improved performance and increased effectiveness of their people working together, they need to first exemplify the desired behaviors. And they are not doing that now.

In our Third Annual Leadership Report Card, we found three key trends that are impacting organizational results:

1. With an 8% drop in the overall confidence of the workforce in their leaders, the gap is widening between what employees want and value in their leaders and what they feel they are getting.
2. Senior leaders are seen as losing their interpersonal connection with their people. Personal skills are the leadership characteristics that separate leaders who achieve sustainable success and those that fail.
3. The top four leadership characteristics most valued by employees is the same year over year, regardless of gender or age. For leaders, there is clarity in terms of what they need to provide their people to improve performance.

Leaders need to look closely in the mirror and start taking the steps necessary to make the connection with their people and gain better results.

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