SEARCH tel. +44 (0)203 031 2900 CHALLENGE US MY FAVOURITES ACCOUNT LOG OUT HOME ABOUT IDEAS LIBRARY IDEAS BY INSTITUTIONS Home Ideas Library Avoiding Managerial Derailment in Latin America 10.13007/245 Ideas for Leaders #245 Avoiding Managerial Derailment in Latin America Key Concept Why do some managers ‘derail’ and how do these factors differ in various regions of the world? In the research behind this Idea, managers in Latin America and the U.S were compared to analyse managerial derailment. The Idea offers suggestions as to what Latin American organizations can do to avoid this and effectively develop their leaders to an international level. Idea Summary Latin America has been enjoying stable growth in recent years. In January 2013, the BBC reported that the region’s economic growth had outstripped that of Europe for the past eight years. Now, it is time for Latin American organizations to take an international approach to developing leadership capacity, say faculty from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL®). Some managers in the region have found themselves prematurely fired, demoted, or stopped from advancing below their expected levels of achievement—a phenomena called ‘managerial derailment’. Such derailment not only damages the morale of the derailed manager and their co-workers, but is also financially-costly to organizations. In order to understand the factors that cause it, Stawiski, Gentry, Santana and Dinwoodie studied 492 managers from Latin America and 500 from the U.S. The Latin America sample included managers from Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Venezuela. Their findings included the following: The number one derailment factor for managers seemed to be being too focused on a specific role or function within the organization, with limited ability to see the broader organizational picture; in other words, they lacked the depth to manage outside of their current function. In Latin America, managers were rated more negatively than their U.S counterparts; on the other hand, managers in Latin America rated themselves more positively than managers in the U.S. Managers in Latin American had a larger gap between self and other ratings of derailment than the U. S. managers. This signifies a disconnect between self and others’ perceptions and seems to reveal a lack of self-awareness on the part of Latin American managers. Business Application Latin American organizations can avoid the potential derailment of their managers by ensuring that ‘meeting business objectives’ is a clear priority within the organization; training and development efforts should be established to support this priority. In addition, organizations must support a culture that promotes seeking and providing feedback, and emphasize its Authors Stawiski, Sarah Gentry, William A. Santana, Laura Dinwoodie, David Institutions Center for Creative Leadership (CCL®) Source CCL® White Paper Idea conceived June 2013 Idea posted October 2013 DOI number Subject Emerging Leaders Executive Development Emerging Markets Global Operations Haven't found what you need? Challenge us GO