Leadership Fails: Avoid These 10 Mistakes

Leadership fails, every great leader will have some during their time on top. Being the leader of the pack is not easy, it is stressful at times but can be rewarding if done right. A great leader is critical to a teams’ success; the way they choose to lead will have a huge impact on the entire organization. A strong leader can lead good employees to greatness but a bad leader can bring extraordinary employees down to sub-par.  I have personally worked for many horrible bosses but have also worked for a few amazing ones. I’ve been a leader, both in my own business and working for others, and have always avoided these leadership fails because after seeing them from the side of an employee, I learned how detrimental they can be to the team.

Lacking Vision
Leaders without vision will fail. Leaders who lack vision cannot inspire teams, motivate performance, or create sustainable value. Poor vision, tunnel vision, vision that is fickle, or a non-existent vision will cause leaders to fail. A leader’s job is to align the organization around a clear and achievable vision. This cannot occur when the blind lead the blind.

Resisting New Ideas
Poor leaders believe change is bad. They will often say, “that’s not the way things used to be done around here.” They cling to old ways and habits and often stand in the way of progress. They generally want to know how things will benefit them and don’t encourage regular feedback from coworkers.

Not “Walking the Talk”
This is one of the classic mistakes of leadership — not leading by example. Leaders who fail in this area expect results, but rarely take the time to help their fellow colleagues. They only delegate and never seem to come down from their high horse to roll up their sleeves and get things done. They generally defend their behavior by saying things like, “That’s not my job” or “I’ve done my time.”

My Way or The Highway
As a boss, there is a delicate balance between staying in command and allowing your employees to express their own creative ability. Although your employees may not always have the right solution, many times they will. When you are in charge you need to learn to guide your employees to discover the right decisions but let them make these decisions on their own. A leader who sets a tone of my way or the highway will create a toxic environment for employees. If employees stick around with this kind of leader they won’t be satisfied or happy in the long run.

Settling for Mediocre Performance
Poor leaders aim low and are complacent. They don’t respond well to high expectations, accept that their team members do the same and are not likely to rise to any occasion for that matter. They don’t challenge their team to realize their potential and their favorite word is “settle.”

Micro-managing
Many first time bosses will make this mistake, part of being a boss is to learn to let go of the responsibilities of your employees. This doesn’t mean you don’t hold your employees accountable, it means to judge their results, not their actions. There are many ways a beaver can build a dam, there is no correct way to build it. If the damn washes downstream the beaver has failed, if the dam remains in tact and provides a shelter for the beaver and it’s family the beaver is successful, regardless of how they went about building it. A good manager understands this and wants their employees to be productive on their own. They will focus on the results the employee produces, not how they go about producing them. Micro-managers do just the opposite, they focus on what the employee is doing daily, always tracking their activity. Micro-managers will keep all their employees on speed dial and expect their calls be answered every time they call.  

Passing the Buck
Everyone is human, we all screw up at one time or another, however as a manager, you need to accept when your employees downfall is because of your doing. The best of leaders will have their employees back, they will not only take the heat when they have created a problem but will also help redirect conflict which the employee may have mistakenly created on their own. There will be times where an employee makes a deliberate mistake and appropriate corrective action is required but in most cases it’s just a simple mistake, one which could have been made by anyone.

Too Reactive
Leaders need to be proactive, not just reactive. If you find yourself spending all of your time trying to put out fires, then you aren't using your time effectively. Proactive leaders have an influence on the future and form the right alliances to advance their causes. Of course you should make sure your group is getting all the answers and resources they need, but don't ignore the future.

Lack of Clarity
This is one the largest and most leadership potential-killing communication failures that you can make. If employees lack a clear goal for what the organization is striving to achieve, this can lead to many negative consequences and overall chaos. When employees are not clear about the organization’s goals or what their leaders want, they become frustrated and their motivation nose dives. After all, if they don’t know what they are working for, why work at all? Employees don’t like to feel directionless. A lack of clarity can lead to mixed messages that will frustrate you, your employees and your organization.

Failing to Develop Others
Because selfish, failing leaders view others as a threat to their position, they are very reluctant to develop top performers into company leaders. On top of their other nine flaws, it makes it almost impossible for anyone to want to work under these managers. This behavior decreases productivity and makes for poor team morale, increasing turnover in the long run.

It's true that making a mistake can be a learning opportunity. But, taking the time to learn how to recognize and avoid common mistakes can help you become productive and successful, and highly respected by your team.

The world’s greatest leaders know that success is fleeting and that no amount of success in the present can prevent a future failure. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of thinking that it can’t happen to you, but the truth is, it’s much easier to fail than you think. An essential part of leadership development is understanding the warning signs that indicate potential problems; learn what they are and how to combat them to reduce the risk of a leadership failure.

The Importance of Leading by Example

Good leadership isn’t something that just happens. Leaders are those who make good things happen. One of the best ways they do it is by giving people a reason to believe and to follow. That’s simple and easy to say, but it takes a lifetime of trying to put into practice. There are no shortcuts, but there are signposts. The job of a manager is to get the system running; the job of a leader is to turn on the system, and, more especially, to get others to do the same.

Whether you realize it or not, if you're a leader, your employees are watching every move you make. Good leaders must lead by example. By walking your talk, you become a person others want to follow.

Our concept of a leader may be shaped in part by the nineteenth century model of a cavalry officer. This person earned his position because he could outride, outshoot, and outdrink every man in his regiment, not to mention outcharm all the ladies. There is a gem of truth in the cavalry officer’s approach to leadership, and that is the capability to do the job and do it well.

Leaders should do the work and know the trade. You don’t have to be the most advanced technician on the team, but you must have an in-depth understanding of your industry and your business. Employees have to know that their manager has what it takes to do the job. Today’s executive jobs are less physical , but they do demand critical thinking skills. Leaders need to communicate by example that they have the smarts to handle the job.

Leaders have many responsibilities, but it is important to work alongside your team. This is a great way to build trust and continue to develop your own knowledge and skills. Building trust can be accomplished by demonstrating credibility. Leaders must find ways to show that they not only possess valuable expertise, but also do not withhold or manipulate information to suit their own needs.

Honesty matters more than anything else. An effective leader will regard honesty and reliability as paramount and their behavior within the organization will reflect this: everyone, at all levels of the business, must act honestly.

Leadership is not a solo act; they point the way, but others carry the load. Therefore, the person in charge earns credibility by working collaboratively with the team as well as sharing credit for any success. Furthermore, managers who stand in the spotlight when things go poorly earn more than respect; they gain the hearts and minds of their followers. Such commitment, nurtured by respect for individual and collective abilities, will prepare the whole team to accomplish more in the future.

A good leader shows their employees how to work together to achieve solutions. By encouraging active listening among employees, a good leader ensures that people actually understand what others mean. A good leader will give constructive criticism and ensure that employees feel a true connection with the actions and processes required to achieve the company’s goals, making them willing to work – and put in extra effort – to achieve them.

Leaders who understand the power of their example treat coworkers at all levels with respect, mentor and coach people, seize and take advantage of teachable moments, show up on time and take responsibility for their actions. They show empathy, passion, integrity and compassion.

Command is granted; leadership is earned. That’s an adage that governs our military. People are put into positions of authority, but it is up to the individual to earn the respect and trust of his followers. The chief coin of such earning is example. When followers see the leader doing what is right for the team; that is, supporting, developing, nurturing, and defending in good times and bad, they grant their trust. The same trust-building revenue applies to individuals. Managers who put the interests of their people first by finding ways to help them grow, develop, and take on more responsibilities cease to be mere managers; they are leaders of men and women who have earned their rank by giving their people a reason to believe.

Setting an example isn’t just about finding ways to motivate employees in the short term; it can also inspire them in more lasting ways. Inspirational leadership generates enthusiasm and passion for the organization’s mission by helping employees to align their personal values with company initiatives. An inspired team is more likely to meet its goals, demonstrate higher levels of engagement, and produce higher quality work.

One of the responsibilities of a leader is to inspire other people to do the best that they can do for the benefit of the organization. To achieve this, the leader must show them the way by getting involved in the process – leading by example.

Lean Quote: Be a Leader, Not a Manager

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"Great leaders don’t set out to be leaders. They set out to make a difference."   — Jeremy Bravo

The primary difference between management and leadership is that leaders don’t necessarily hold or occupy a management position. Simply put, a leader doesn’t have to be an authority figure in the organization; a leader can be anyone.

Unlike managers, leaders are followed because of their personality, behavior, and beliefs. A leader personally invests in tasks and projects and demonstrates a high level of passion for work. Leaders take a great deal of interest in the success of their followers, enabling them to reach their goals to satisfaction—these are not necessarily organizational goals.

Below are five important traits of a leader:

Vision

A leader knows where they stand, where they want to go and tend to involve the team in charting a future path and direction.

Honesty and Integrity

Leaders have people who believe them and walk by their side down the path the leader sets.

Inspiration

Leaders are usually inspirational—and help their team understand their own roles in a bigger context.

Communication Skills

Leaders always keep their team informed about what’s happening, both present and the future—along with any obstacles that stand in their way.

Ability to Challenge

Leaders are those that challenge the status quo. They have their style of doing things and problem-solving and are usually the ones who think outside the box.

Leadership works on inspiration and trust among employees; those who do wish to follow their leader may stop at any time. Generally, leaders are people who challenge the status quo. Leadership is change-savvy, visionary, agile, creative, and adaptive.

Lean Tips Edition #157 (#2566-#2580)

For my Facebook fans you already know about this great feature. But for those of you that are not connected to A Lean Journey on Facebook or Twitter I post daily a feature I call Lean Tips.  It is meant to be advice, things I learned from experience, and some knowledge tidbits about Lean to help you along your journey.  Another great reason to like A Lean Journey on Facebook.

Click this link for A Lean Journey's Facebook Page Notes Feed.

Here is the next addition of tips from the Facebook page:

Lean Tip #2566 – Connect Every Day Tasks And Efforts To Long Term Goals

Every aspect of your daily business should connect back to your long term mission statement and over all goals. This allows managers and employees to see how their every day work helps the success of the company – and improves their long term career prospects.

Lean Tip #2567 – Encourage All Employees To Commit To Your Strategies

The more that your employees engage and interact with your goals, the more likely it is that they will stay committed to them in the long run. During meetings and performance reviews, remember to encourage commitment and remind everyone of goals and their own roles in achieving them.

Lean Tip #2568 – Transparency is Key for Alignment

Maintaining a sense of transparency throughout your entire organization will allow your employees to see the productivity of their managers and vice versa. Overall transparency can translate to a healthier and more productive work environment for everyone, improving overall engagement.

Lean Tip #2569 – Promote Individual and Team Efforts for Alignment

Raising self-awareness and allowing teams and individuals to have more autonomy can help drive organizational strategic alignment and have employees centered on the company's goals. In order to promote team and individual efforts, a company must offer transparency and provide sufficient information for employees to complete tasks, as well as include other company stakeholders. By promoting efforts to individuals and teams, a company helps build trust, which can increase loyalty to its organizational strategic alignment goals.

Lean Tip #2570 – Decentralized Decision Making.

Unexpected events may require shifts to the execution plan, but these pivots may need to be sparked by managers lower in the organization’s hierarchy — those with the frontline knowledge to ensure the pivots will work. If improperly handled, pivots may be under-resourced, untimely and doomed to fail.

Lean Tip #2571 – Leaders Should Take a Key Role in Communicating Company Strategy

Have you ever played the children’s game “Telephone”? By the time the message gets to the end of a long line of people, its content has likely been drastically altered beyond recognition. Miscommunication costs businesses more than $37 billion USD each year – you don’t want to add to that total. Be direct, make sure everyone understands your plans, and ensure that you communicate your vision and goals to all staff members.

Lean Tip #2572 – Connect Every Day Tasks and Efforts to Long Term Goals

Every aspect of your daily business should connect back to your long term mission statement and over all goals. This allows managers and employees to see how their every day work helps the success of the company – and improves their long term career prospects.

Lean Tip #2573 – Encourage All Employees to Commit to Your Strategies

The more that your employees engage and interact with your goals, the more likely it is that they will stay committed to them in the long run. During meetings and performance reviews, remember to encourage commitment and remind everyone of goals and their own roles in achieving them.

Lean Tip #2574 – Encourage Transparency From The Top

Maintaining a sense of transparency throughout your entire organization will allow your employees to see the productivity of their managers and vice versa. Overall transparency can translate to a healthier and more productive work environment for everyone, improving overall engagement.

Lean Tip #2575 – Recognize and Reward Your Employees’ Strengths

A recent Gallup study shows that encouraging strengths (rather than focusing on negatives) has a very positive effect on productivity. In fact, positive employee feedback was shown to increase productivity by at least 12.5%! Focus on their strengths, compliment them rather than criticize, and find ways to align them with your company’s goals.

Lean Tip #2576 – Coach Employees By Asking Guiding Questions

Open-ended, guiding questions lead to more detailed and thoughtful answers, which lead to more productive coaching conversations. As a manager or leader, it is critical that you develop strong relationships with your employees. This will help you determine if your employees are curious, have the capacity to perform and improve, and what kind of attitude they have towards their work.

This is where communication skills and emotional intelligence really come into play. Managers must guide conversations both by asking questions and listening, not by giving directives. Employees learn and grow the most when they uncover the answers themselves.

Lean Tip #2577 – Listen and Empower

Coaching requires both encouragement and empowerment. As a manager and a leader, your job is to build one-on-one relationships with employees that result in improved performance.

Your employees are likely to have a lot of input, questions, and feedback. It’s important for them to know you care enough to listen to what they have to say, so encourage them to share their opinions.

Some employees will have no problem speaking their mind, while others will need a LOT of encouragement before they share an opinion with you openly. Once they do open up, be sure to respect those opinions by discussing them, rather than dismissing them.

Lean Tip #2578 – Understand Their Perspective

When you’re coaching employees to improve performance and engagement, approaching things from their perspective, rather than your own, will help enormously with seeing the changes and results you want.

Everyone has different motivations, preferences, and personalities, so if you ask questions to help you understand where their “why” comes from and what their preferred “how” looks like, then you can tailor your coaching conversations to align the way they work best with the improvements you’re both aiming for.

Lean Tip #2579 – Coach in the Moment

If an employee comes to you with a question about a process or protocol, use this opportunity to teach them something new. If you’re not able to stop what you’re doing right away, schedule time with them as soon as possible to go over it.

Better yet, keep a weekly one-on-one meeting scheduled with each employee so you can go over questions and issues regularly, while maintaining productivity. Coaching employees with a goal of improving performance means making them a priority each week!

Lean Tip #2580 – Commit to Continuous Learning Yourself

Make a commitment to improve your own skills and competencies. If you’re not continuously learning, why should your employees? Lead by example and your team will follow.

Show that you are interested in their success (why wouldn’t you be?). Ask questions about where they see their career going, or how they see their role evolving in the company. Even if they don’t have a plan laid out yet, these questions will make them think about their career and what they want to accomplish within the organization.

Show your employees that you don’t just want them to do better so you look better, but that you’re actively interested in their career, accomplishments, and professional success.

Six Proven Ways to Earn Employees' Trust

Trust in any organization works on three levels: at a company level in terms of culture, at a team level in regard to the relationships among the members, and at an interpersonal level between two people.

You can’t always control the level of trust in your organization as a whole, but you can definitely influence it by building trust in your immediate work environment. This may be your department, your work team or your coworkers in the cubicles around yours. Building trust with employees in a smaller unit where you have more control helps to propagate trust in the larger organization.

So how can managers build trust with employees and colleagues as well?

1. Recognize that building trust takes hard work

Trust must be earned. It comes from conscious effort to walk your talk, keep your promises and align your behavior with your values. Building trust is worth the effort because once trust is lost, it can be very difficult to recover.

2. Be honest and supportive

Even when it’s difficult, tell the truth and not just what you think people want to hear. Understand what employees need to know and communicate facts while being considerate of their effort and sensitive to their feelings. Showing support and understanding for your team members, even when mistakes are made. It goes a long way in building trust as a leader.

3. Be quiet sometimes

Actively listen and check for understanding by paraphrasing what you’ve heard. Use a variety of feedback tools to ensure everyone has the chance for their voice to be heard. You must engage in dialogue with employees, giving them the opportunity to ask questions, get answers, and voice concerns. Then, apply what your internal stakeholders share for future actions.

4. Be consistent

Consistently doing what you say you’ll do builds trust over time – it can’t be something you do only occasionally. Keeping commitments must be the essence of your behavior, in all relationships, day after day and year after year.

5. Model the behavior you seek

Nothing speaks more loudly about the culture of an organization than the leader’s behavior, which influences employee action and has the potential to drive their results. If you say teamwork is important, reinforce the point by collaborating across teams and functions. Give credit when people do great work and you’ll set the stage for an appreciative culture.

6. Build in accountability

When you and other leaders acknowledge your mistakes as well as successes, employees see you as credible and will follow your lead. You can encourage honest dialogue and foster accountability by building in processes that become part of the culture, such as an evaluation of every project (positives, negatives, things to change) or a status report and next steps in each meeting agenda (tracking deadlines and milestones).

You build and maintain trusting relationships and a culture of trust in your workplace one step at a time through every action you take and every interaction you have with your coworkers and employees. Trust may be fragile, but it has the capacity to grow strong over time with the deliberate efforts above.

Without trust in the workplace, communication and teamwork will erode. Additionally, morale will decrease while turnover will rise. However, by using these six strategies, you can build your employees’ trust in management, thereby making their workplace an environment filled with innovation, creativity and ultimately higher profits for all.

Lean Quote: Learn to Think Differently

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."   — Ian McLaren

The illustration and story below, while short, is the perfect example of why sometimes switching your view on a situation can go a long way in empathy.

The man doesn’t know that there is a snake underneath. The woman doesn’t know that there is a stone crushing the man. The woman thinks: “I am going to fall! And I can’t climb because the snake is going to bite me! Why can’t the man use a little more strength and pull me up!” The man thinks: “I am in so much pain! Yet I’m still pulling you as much as I can! Why don’t you try and climb a little harder!?”

The moral is— you can’t see the pressure the other person is under, and the other person can’t see the pain you’re in. This is life, whether it’s with work, family, feelings or friends, we should try to understand each other. Learn to think differently, perhaps more clearly and communicate better. A little thought and patience goes a long way.

Be kind to people. Everyone we meet is fighting their own battle.

Five Ways to Motivate Your Team With Empathy and Authority

A crisis pressure-tests leadership and culture. Many new values are formed under the strain, and employees gain new perspectives on their organization and its leadership. Communication is the key to keeping them motivated and productive in a season of enormous distraction.

The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t my first financial crisis. No matter how well you run a business, external forces will test you, your culture, and your resolve. Leaders are constantly processing the future, and our employees are watching to see how confident we are and how clearly we see the situation.

So, what exactly does “empathy” mean right now? It means focusing on goodwill and doing no harm. It means prioritizing people and their well-being. Making decisions that are in your employees’ and customers’ best interest. This may sound simple, but it’s not always easy to execute. Here are some tips to help you navigate communication in the midst of a challenging situation.

Let Employees Ask Questions

Remember, during a crisis people are scared. Actively listen to what employees have to say. Even if you think you know what questions are on your employees’ minds, giving them the opportunity to ask makes all the difference in how “heard” they feel. Displaying empathy through solidarity can assuage concerns.

Seek Opportunities to Learn & Grow

While crisis can be detrimental to normal business operations, such as having to cancel events, it can also lead to positive growth and learning. We are already seeing signs of this positive growth and learning opportunity. Many companies have leveraged their built-in virtual infrastructure and transformed massive in-person events into virtual meetings to protect participants’ health. And, while some may be concerned about how remote work and work-from-home flexibility may impact business, research shows that there are a variety of benefits when companies provide remote work flexibility. Those may include: an increase in productivity, increased morale, less stress for workers, and lower operating costs.

Build Trust

To feel confident to act on your recommendations and direction, your team has to trust you. Why is trust so critical in a crisis? Because, according to several studies, the more we trust the people who are supposed to protect or inform us, the less afraid we will be. The less we trust them, the greater our fears. To build trust, communicators must manage expectations and communicate openly, honestly, and often.

Arm Employees with Facts

Knowledge is power, and during a crisis information and events can move quickly. Educate your team on the best ways to take care of themselves and others. Provide your team with updated links to reputable sources with accurate and up-to-date information that includes advice. Research shows, the more people are armed with facts and understand what they can do to take care of and protect themselves, the more they will gain self confidence that they can care for themselves.

Challenge Your Biases

We all have biases. Some of them are conscious biases, because we know we have them. Others are unconscious – we react automatically, without thinking. Biases are built from our upbringing and experience. We can never eliminate them, so the next best thing is to be aware of them, so we can ensure they don’t affect our decision making.

Leading isn’t for the fearful. How you show up and how you communicate can dissipate anxiety and help your team be more connected to the purpose of your company and to one another. It can also help them be productive while getting there.