Science now validates what many business leaders already believe: successful leadership requires more than just brilliance, competence, and foresight to be effective. Only the impact on others can reveal a leader’s genuine influence. A leader’s behavior immediately affects the energy of their people. A lack of constructive leadership practices can lead to poor results for a business. The bottom line is directly affected by what a leader does and how they do it. Research demonstrates that toxic bosses can have a wide range of negative consequences on a company, resulting in approximately $24 billion in healthcare costs and productivity losses.
A leader must have self-discipline, emotional energy, and a lot of work to succeed. Scientists have named this phenomenon “chronic power stress,” which is the outcome of an individual’s growing sense of personal responsibility for both the success or failure of a business and its employees. The more senior a position, the greater this responsibility is likely to be.
Leadership is, without a doubt, a demanding position. Acute stress is interspersed with periods of chronic stress, making this a challenging job to hold. As a result of this pressure, some leaders have found their footing. A stimulant for counterproductive work behavior that goes against an organization’s legitimate goals, according to studies, for other leaders. Extreme stress can lead to leaders and supervisors becoming antagonistic toward their employees, both verbally and non-verbally.
In times of tremendous stress, effective leaders know how to strike a delicate balance between being forceful and fair. Instead of crumbling under the weight of their responsibilities, these leaders channel their anxiety into a source of inspiration and motivation for their teams. As a result, good work environments are fostered, which, according to study, can boost productivity, innovation, and motivation by as much as 30%.
Why few Leaders behavior is different?
However, why do certain leaders behave in this way? As it turns out, there may be a neuro-biological explanation for some of the phenomenon at work. Research on the connection between well-being and leadership has discovered that the prefrontal cortex of the brain (or PFC) plays an important role in the quality of leadership behavior—and whether leaders behave badly or not.
It is possible for prefrontal cortex dysfunctions to be either long-term (chronic) or temporary (situational). The PFC can be disrupted by acute stress, such as a sudden executive changeover, which can lead to unfavorable actions, such as mishandling emotions or going to autopilot. This can be caused by genetic susceptibility, traumatic brain damage, adversity in childhood or persistent stress.
Our ideal bosses should be level-headed, organized, efficient, forward-thinking, and fair. The PFC is crucial in helping a boss achieve these qualities.”
Bad Manager to Great Leader – How?
Counterproductive conduct can be addressed and changed by leaders. Building a mindfulness practice, such as paying attention to your breath, may be the path to better conduct for some leaders. If you’re on vacation from work, you might want to spend more time with your loved ones. Writing in a notebook, stretching in the morning, and finding time for hobbies can all help leaders reduce stress and improve their conduct. Leaders can avoid being pushed over the edge in the first place by prioritizing relaxation.
It’s important to remember that our brain’s structure is neither predefined nor unchanging. Reprogramming ourselves at the cellular level is possible. All it takes is a sincere desire to succeed. Leaders can address and change their detrimental activities by taking intentional steps to confront and confront them. Every day is a new opportunity to grow and improve ourselves. We now know how to achieve this thanks to advances in neuroscience.
