Leadership is Failing: The Persistent Lack of Trust and Action

We live in some pretty turbulent times. Think Brexit, fleeing refugees, bombing all over the world... It's pretty scary out there. 

No wonder then that there's a crisis of leadership that's been going on for years. You want evidence? I've got it for you: the latest annual Leadership Communication Monitor by Ketchum is out and reveals for the fifth year in a row that "a low-trust, high-expectation gap is the new normal for leaders and leadership concerns have a direct, sizable impact on both bottom-line and political outcomes."

It's the fourth time I'm covering the KLCM research.

In 2013, leaders were too stubborn to start embracing change, new media and the digital reality.  

In 2014, the need for a new style of leadership arose – a feminine one.

In 2015, the era of title-less, shared leadership at the speed of now began, where not just CEOs, but anyone in the organisation can be a leader. 

In 2016, a worrying picture of lack of political leadership and some serious blocking barriers to equal corporate leadership arises. 

Breaking Through Persistent Barriers to Leadership

Here are the major findings this year, many of which collide with or expand on those from previous years: 

• Consumers still favour leadership from across the organisation, trusting peers more than just the top ranks. Only 23% believe that their leaders are leading them well. What they really want is leaders who are down-to-earth, collaborative and measured, and who use everyday language, bring real-world experience and are willing to admit fault.
• The corporate community has an unprecedented opportunity to lead the way on key social and economic issues but only if business leaders align what they say with what they do. The global leadership index for industries such as consumer technology, business technology, professional services, hotels, travel and tourism is pretty high in the positive ranks above average, unlike utilities, banks, oil & gas and insurance. 
• Consumers believe that female leaders are outperforming male leaders by better leading by example, communicating in an open and transparent way and being able to admit mistakes.
• People have lost confidence in political leaders believing that they are getting the right things wrong and the wrong things right. This is backed by a sizable gap between the perceived importance of issues like corruption, the national economy and education, and political leaders’ effectiveness in addressing them across the globe (e.g. Germany, UK, Japan, Spain all have a negative satisfaction index that's far below the average). 
• Race, gender, disability, sexual orientation and religion are huge barriers to equal access to leadership opportunities across business, politics, local communities, non-profits/NGOs and union/labor organisations.

Fifth year in a row and the global leadership crisis continues. That's pretty disturbing.

I hate being stuck in the same place. I hate when things are not moving. And I hate when expectations are not being met because leadership doesn't listen.

Take a look at the five-year overview of the attributes people seek in leaders and what they expect of organisations. The attributes haven't changed much. Unfortunately though not much action seems to have been taken so no wonder this crisis persists so heavily. 

The Five Most Needed Leadership Attributes

Leading by example and open communication are at the top this year as attributes for leaders, but actual performance seems to be lacking. The gap between leadership expectations for communication as well as action and leadership delivery is extremely high. It's a staggering 40%! 

Aligning words with deeds seems to be the key. In business, and in life. 

If you want to get there, here are five key areas you should test for leadership and adjust if needed to balance that say-do gap and establish a leadership advantage. 

How to Be a Walking the Talk Leader 

Leadership is not easy. It's not a skill you go to a one-day workshop and you master it. It requires practice, patience, and shutting up. It requires far more listening than talking. Listening leads to learning, learning leads to good decisions and correct actions to then really walk to talk. Only so do true leadership and trustworthy communication come together.