How to Detect a Selfish Leader

"I'm a great collaborator—everybody says so."

It's not hard to detect the flaw in a statement like that. A leader who takes pride in commanding the room and guiding an organization's staff and volunteers can easily convince themselves that everybody's agreement means they're skilled at collaborating. It's a common self-delusion: According to research by leadership experts Ivan Matviak and Heidi Gardner, high-level senior leaders tend to underestimate how much they "engage in two key behaviors that are detrimental to collaboration: dominating conversations and micromanaging."

In their discussion of the phenomenon in an article for Harvard Business Review, Matviak and Gardner explain that leaders who demonstrate those behaviors don't necessarily mean ill; they got where they are because they have proven their expertise and care about quality. But in any environment where collaboration is key—which is to say any association office or volunteer group—that kind of dominance only sows alienation, tension and people eyeing the exit.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.