Many people aspire to be a leader. But the sad reality is that most are exceptional individual contributors. Leadership is as much an art as it is a skill, and requires time and practice to perfect. Jack Welch put it succinctly when he said, “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” Leadership requires you to be a friend and a manager and perfecting this balancing act can be tough leading to some common leadership mistakes.
As a leader, your choices impact your entire team and the organization at large. Losing a valuable employee can impact team performance and morale. So, it is up to a leader to get people to do what they want while pushing them to be the best version of themselves.
Let us delve into the three most common leadership mistakes made by leaders.
Leadership eventually comes down to how well leaders know themselves and their teams, and how they use this to grow outside their comfort zone.
So, what are the common leadership mistakes that cost organizations good employees and how can you avoid them? Is leadership just about a title and getting employees to follow your lead?
Micromanagement
Yes, leadership is about delegation. But it also calls for trust and gives employees the autonomy to manage their work. A leader’s role can be compared to a help desk at any major institution. You approach the help desk when you feel lost and in need of direction.
Delegating a task to an employee should be a sign that you believe them to be capable of handling it. But for some leaders, a change in their title means the ability to tell people what to do and how to do it. They also constantly pester them for minute updates, wreaking havoc with an employee’s self-esteem.
Micromanaging is one of the biggest leadership mistakes as it does more harm than good. It tells your team that you do not trust them to do their job and severely demoralizes them.
Delivering Criticism the Wrong Way
Everybody makes mistakes. Capable leaders use it as a teachable opportunity and help employees figure out a feasible solution. While constructive feedback is always welcome, publicly criticizing an employee hurts self-esteem and the residual humiliation affects performance.
Destructive criticism, Howell well-intended, can damage a team beyond repair. When done publicly, it also serves a warning to others and as the saying goes, most people leave bad bosses, not the company.
One leadership mistake that is extremely expensive is the inability to deliver criticism constructively. Leadership skills include the capacity to be empathetic even in the midst of highly-charged emotions.
Leaders must make their employees feel valued and seen, and must tone their advice in a manner that is beneficial to the employee.
Confusing approachability with friendship
A leader is expected to be approachable and friendly. But the position also calls for some hard boundaries so that you are not accused of partial behavior. Friendship between leaders and their constituents is generally frowned upon by those not in the circle.
A common leadership mistake is to either alienate former friends or being too pally with old teammates despite moving into a higher position. To avoid mistakes that result from these behaviors, leaders must find healthy boundaries between leadership and friendship in the organization.
To do this, leaders must understand and regulate their own emotions. Transparency in professional relationships will help you earn the respect of all your colleagues and keep things efficient.
Leaders fail because they often do not devote enough time to reflect over these daily activities that can significantly impact their team. Having good leadership skills calls for the ability to reflect on one’s shortcomings, understand one’s team and their motivations, and work hard to create their own leadership style.
Becoming a good leader is not a fixed process and requires constant evaluation and learning. The best leaders are always looking for ways to better themselves and their teams, and keep an open mind when it comes to feedback. Good leaders also follow the golden rule and know that they must treat employees as they wish to be treated.
