Typical leadership mistakes and remedies Date:   Monday , December 31, 2007 Leadership and management skills are something that rarely come naturally for most people. However if you follow some basic rules and are willing to learn how to work with people, you will have things running much more smoothly in the workplace. Here’s a list of some of the things you should ‘not’ be doing. Ignoring workers I would call your workers the lifeline, strength, and core of the organization. They are the ones who help us achieve the corporate goals of growth. Incorrect messages sent across to workers can be a financial and productivity drag for any business. They are the people who, under all circumstances, push across right from top to bottom and ensure that the organization grows. They are people filled with feelings and emotions and have to be sensitized about their importance, their need in the organization, and the purpose of their responsibilities. Mishandling criticism Leadership does not mean being a dictator just because we are in a leadership position. It means, you as the head of a large family, should be the guide and mentor to their growth and also have the responsibility that each and every team member in your organization contributes to it. This enhances your ability to lead and help out the member. As a leader you need to have patience to listen to their constructive criticism and make necessary changes. If a worker cares enough to share his views by way of criticism, the least you can do is to listen. Inability to delegate responsibilities Change, always, is for the better of the organizations and not just for the betterment of the individuals. People feel that to prove to be a leader you need to have complete control. This is often a problem for small business owners and managers. Trust is an important factor for managers and leaders. We need to trust and believe that the team members are capable to deliver what we have been able to deliver for long. As a leader if you don’t delegate responsibilities and give each member his responsibilities, you will never grow yourself. If they really can’t do the job because they lack a particular skill, then get them the training required or hire someone who has that skill. An important part of leadership and management is about making sure that things run smoothly and efficiently, and that does not mean holding all responsibilities with us and doing everything ourselves! Pretending to know everything You can’t be a mister Know-All. Many of the world’s greatest leaders are people of average intelligence who don’t know all there is in their industry. Leaders understand that they can’t possibly know everything and they hire people that do know things that are not known to them and are specialists in their field. As a leader you need to lead and take careful and sensible decisions for the organization. The success of any business is in the hands of its workers and the leading managers and entrepreneurs of the world all strive to hire the best in their field. Procrastinating the work Pushing the issue to tomorrow does not resolve the issue, it just pushes it away for the next day but also haunts you like a ghost, while the issue doubles in size. Putting something that should be done today off till tomorrow results in procrastination and is often a result of having no plan or list of priorities. Time management and prioritizing important tasks are very essential. Focus shift Fixing priority is important. There will surely be times when we have various things coming up during the day that will require immediate action and distract us from our work. However we have to have a clear set of priorities to follow. Doing a little bit of everything gets nothing finished, and causes stress and a feeling of being overwhelmed. So, just prioritize the list of works you have at hand. Phobia of change The ability to change is essential in business. Changes are pertinent in technology, the way we deal with people, the way we do business, and in every other aspect of running and operating the company. Holding on to the old ways of doing things, just because they’ve always been done that way, is a sure way to lose business. If any aspect of the business can be improved then there has to be a change, even if this means getting rid of a low-performing worker or product range that is no longer profitable. As a manager or leader you have to treat your business like a garden. Continue to water, fertilize, and weed your garden and it will continue to yield a quality harvest year after year. Lack of Credibility A leader’s credibility is the result of two aspects: ‘What’ he or she does (competency) and ‘who’ he or she is (character). A discrepancy between these two aspects creates integrity problem. Being a leader in terms of competency and character need to be well balanced. The highest principle of leadership is integrity. When integrity ceases to be a leader’s top priority, when a compromise of ethics is rationalized away as necessary for the ‘greater good’, when achieving results becomes more important than the means to their achievement — that is the moment when a leader steps on to the slippery slop of failure. At the end, the leader needs to know what he talks, be knowledgeable to lead, and lead by example. Lost Love and Dreams The last warning sign of impending disaster that leaders need to heed is a move away from their first love and dream. Paradoxically, the hard work of leadership should be fulfilling and even fun. However, when leaders lose sight of the dream that compelled them to accept the responsibility of leadership, they find themselves working for causes that mean little to them. They must stick to what they love, what motivated them at the first, in order to maintain the fulfillment of leadership. As a leader one should self innovate ways and techniques to reach his first love and dreams as situations change with time. As a leader one should be in a position to adapt immediately to the new circumstances. To make sure that you stay on the track of following your first love, frequently ask yourself these questions: * Why did I initially assume leadership? * Have those reasons changed? * Do I still want to lead? * Has the situation changed after I accepted the leadership? * What has changed? * What should I do to still achieve my goals? No self management Tragically, if a leader doesn’t take care of himself or herself, no one else will. Unless a leader is blessed to be surrounded by more-sensitive-than-normal followers, nobody will pick up on the signs of fatigue and stress. Leaders are often perceived to be superhuman, running on unlimited energy. While leadership is invigorating, it is also tiring. Leaders who fail to take care of their physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual needs are headed for disaster. Think of having a gauge for each of these four areas of your life — and check them often! When a gauge reaches the ‘empty’ point, make time for refreshment and replenishment. Clear your schedule and take care of yourself — it’s absolutely vital to your leadership that you continue to grow and develop a task that can be accomplished only when your tanks are full. Fear of risk Leaders at risk often begin to be driven by a fear of failure rather than the desire to succeed. Past successes create pressure for leaders: Will I be able to sustain outstanding performance? and What will I do for an encore? are questions that nag on the mind. In fact, the longer a leader is successful, the higher his or her perceived cost of failure. When driven by a fear of failure, leaders are unable to take reasonable risks. They want to do only the tried and proven and attempts at innovation — typically a key to their initial success — diminish and eventually disappear. To ensure growth on a regular basis, leaders need to self-innovate techniques and ways to achieve their goals. They need to think out of box to see what others don’t see, and see beyond the direct approach. Which is more important to you, the attempt or the outcome? Are you still taking reasonable risks? Prudent leadership never takes reckless chances that risk the destruction of what has been achieved, but neither is it paralyzed by fear. Often the dance of leadership is two steps forward, one step backward. Lack of Team spirit Ensure you look after people and that your communications and relationships are good. Select good people and help them to develop via training and experience, particularly by agreeing objectives and responsibilities that will interest and stretch them, and always support people while they strive to improve and take on extra tasks. Ensure that your managers are applying the same principles. Good leadership principles must percolate down the whole organization. This means that if you are leading a large organization you must check that the processes for managing, communicating, and developing people are in place and are working properly. Negativity towards instability As people are working harder but taking less time off than ever before, the level of their stress increases proportionately. Also, the days are gone when people worked for the same company for 30 years and retired from there. Job changes are more frequent now, and that’s an additional source of stress to the manager. As leaders, you also need to ensure that you are prepared for changes in your team. The author is Country Manager of 3Com India. He can be reached at mohit_rampal@3com.com