Covid-19 has thrown unprecedented challenges to everyone in the past year, even more so for people in the leadership positions. It created huge pressure on them to make some risky and quick decisions as a result of the global pandemic. Covid-19 or not, leaders will most likely have to make risky decisions and face pressure to certain extent on a day-to-day basis. Are poor and risky decisions leading to your organization's ruin? Would you like to know how you can spot warning signs of leadership derailment and mitigate it? Join us for a FREE webinar co-hosted by Talentpraxis Ltd and Talent Grader, as we explore these areas and provide you with some key takeaways on • How to identify and address signs of leadership derailment and • How to address these while recruiting and developing leaders

1. Co-hosted by
Recognising and responding to the warning signs of
leadership derailment
Renu Gundala, Talent Grader and
Piers Courage-Jones, Talentpraxis Group

2. About Renu Gundala
▪ Founder of Talent Grader
▪ Talent Grader is a dedicated assessment platform that supports HR &
recruitment professionals and SMEs to place right people in right jobs by using
reliable and valid talent assessments
▪ 15+ years of experience in recruitment
▪ Design and delivery of recruitment strategy for c-suite roles
▪ Led on continuous process improvement projects in recruitment in public and
charity sectors
▪ Delivered assessment centres for leaders and managers using variety of talent
assessments with a focus on candidate experience and D & I
+44 (0) 773 0444 949
Renu@talentgrader.com https://www.talentgrader.com

3. About Piers Courage-Jones
▪ Founder & Director
▪ Chartered Psychologist
▪ Chartered Scientist
▪ Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society
▪ 20+ years’ experience of assessing people using a wide array of assessments,
has personally assessed over 22,000 people globally
▪ Guest Speaker and Masterclass Deliverer for KornFerry Group’s psychologists
and clients on the links between evolutionary behaviours, our hard-wired need
to avoid risk and associated derailment behaviours and the implications for
organisational effectiveness
▪ Has also worked closely with some of the Industry ‘Giants’, including Roger
Holdsworth (co-founder of SHL & TalentQ) and Dr Alan Bourne (Founder of
SOVA Assessments)
+44 (0) 1271 864016
piers@talentpraxisgroup.com www.talentpraxisgroup.com

4. Recognising and responding to the warning signs of
leadership derailment.
Piers Courage-Jones
CPsychol, CSci, AFBPsS.

5. What we will aim to cover today
1. Leaders
under
pressure
2. Recognising
derailment
3. Addressing
derailers

6. The personality of an individual plays a key role in this process from a psychological perspective,
with increased risk of extreme behaviours occurring when under acute or continued pressure.
Much of the early research relates to the clinical understanding of personality disorders.
Responding to change - the evolutionary need to avoid risk
The ‘fight or flight’ response
▪ Triggers the stress response at a physiological level
▪ Stress is the ‘perceived’ inability to deal with an external stressor
▪ Behavioural and physiological symptoms – all align to derailers with clear ‘warnings’ beforehand
Personality and Derailment

7. The 3 R’s and understanding our behaviours
√
√
The Human/
Computer
(5-10%)
Source: The Chimp Paradox, Professor Steve Peters
Requirements
What do I need to do?
Risks
High, Medium, Low
Resources
(1) Internal, (2) External,
(3) Derailers

8. How to address the risk of derailment
Risk reduction in the recruitment process
▪ Always assess for derailers
▪ New hires stay longer
▪ Organisation is aware of derailers and able to align resources with derailment activities
Benefits to Clients
▪ Understand work-related stress as a consequence of under and over stimulation
▪ Reduce risk for hiring Managers – ‘”what you see is what you get”
▪ Reduce attrition rates
▪ Targeted support for new hires – onboarding.

9. How to address the risk of derailment
Risk reduction in existing employees
▪ Self-awareness – help them understand which aspects of their personality could lead to
derailment
▪ Focus on reducing business risk – ensuring potential derailment factors are a key aspect of
leadership development is likely to have clear benefits in terms of managing and reducing risk to
the business
▪ Coaching and development - In a developmental context, addressing potential derailment factors
is not simply a case of sending someone on a training course to learn some useful skills (although
this has its place). Rather, considerable personal development and experiential learning is likely to
be required for someone to learn to accept, better understand and finally manage their
derailment factors. With this in mind, coaching leaders to tackle their derailment factors is likely
to result in improvements over a period of time.

10. Derived from the DSM 5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual)
But we’re not talking about ‘abnormal psychology’…
Stubborn
Unpredictable
Detached Unconventional
Rigid
Individualistic
Hesitant
Meticulous
Boldness
Dramatic
Casual Intense
Over-sensitive
Dependent
Tough-minded and assertive in
pursuit of own goals, prepared to
break rules to get things done. May
give limited consideration to
others’ feelings when seeking to
overcome obstacles and trying to
deliver results.
Tends to be firm in own opinions
but risks continuing down one path
relentlessly rather than changing
course if the situation demands it.
May be unreceptive to others’
views.
Cautious when faced with
challenging situations, prefers to
look carefully at all possibilities
before taking action. Risk averse
and slow to make changes unless
they have the full support of
those around them.
Focused on organising tasks and
ensuring details are completed, but
may set unreasonably high
standards for self and others,
risking micro-managing others
activities.
Has strongly held views on many
issues, tends to be inflexible when
faced with information that does
not align with their view. May
ignore voices which disagree with
their perspective.
Reliant on the group for support
and encouragement and less
willing to make decisions without
input from others. May lack own
opinions, or confidence in own
views.
Prefers an unpressured
environment and avoids risks
where they need to deliver for
others within clear deadlines. May
push back when pressed for
urgency.
Highly charged, competitive and
pursues activities with great
intensity and passion. Shows
consistent energy but may drive
others too hard, failing to
appreciate the need for a realistic
and healthy pace at work.
Sensitive to criticism, pessimistic
and finds it had to bounce back
from setbacks. Likely to be
distrusting of others.
Works independently from others,
tends not to look for support
during challenging situations and
instead focus on own activities.
Tends not to share how they are
feeling or seek counsel.
Focused on finding novel
approaches to problems which
may not be grounded in practical
realities. Looks for unusual and
creative solutions but may not test
these against data or the views of
others.
Excitable, volatile and erratic,
tends to respond more emotionally
to events as they occur. May
behave supportively when things
are going well but be distant and
confrontational with others if
they feel under pressure.
Expects to be appreciated by
others and enjoys being the centre
of attention. Wishes to stand out in
the group and lead events. Has a
strong need to be heard and may
react negatively if contribution
is not valued highly.
Bold, assertive and confident with
a tendency to take risks. Holds own
status in high regard, promoting
own achievements and demanding
recognition. May present an overly
positive image to get what they
want.
The SOVA Potential Derailers

11. Questions?

12. About Talent Grader:
Talent Grader portal is one of its
kind designed to help HR and
Recruitment professionals make
informed decisions about the
assessments and also help
improve the future design of
assessments by sharing their
honest and constructive
feedback online.
We also give a voice to test
users by providing a mechanism
for them to feedback on their
experience through reviews of
products. This brings together
the experience of test users with
the expertise of test providers
and as such promotes
continuous improvement of test
products.
What Next?
Sign up for a FREE TRIAL SOVA Personality Assessments and/or Bespoke Personality
Assessment based on SOVA Personality https://bit.ly/3iQrS80
Or
Book a call with Piers using the link : https://PiersTalentpraxisGroup.as.me/Webinar27121
renu@talentgrader.com, +44 (0) 773 0444 949
https://www.talentgrader.com/