Developing leadership is an important role for every manager, but what if I told you that you are probably making a lot of leadership mistakes? Jane Yow, founder of Performance Link, shared the top ten leadership mistakes in business organizations at a recent luncheon. The things she spoke about weren’t monumental truths but are things that many leaders, myself included, sometimes let fall through the cracks.
At our firm, we consult with many of our clients’ businesses about how to improve processes, efficiency, or profitability. In some cases, a leadership change is necessary. I picked 5 of Yow’s “Top 10 Mistakes That Leaders Make” that should be implemented in all business leadership positions. After all, happy, healthy employees positively affect your bottom line.
5 Mistakes That Stand In The Way Of Developing Leadership
1. Failure to make eye contact
Obvious, right? Be honest do you turn completely away from your computer monitor when someone is in your office? Do you look at your phone or tablet when you should be having a meaningful conversation? Regardless of fantastic technologies, people still want to connect with others. This is a simple technique that makes a big impact when developing leadership among your management group.
2. Paperwork before people work
Sometimes we can get so bogged down in the “work” that we forget the people that are working with us. A practice I try to do each day is MBWA – Management by Walking Around. This means getting up out of my chair and checking on my team. It doesn’t need to be a long chat session – just 1-2 minutes with each of them to get their vibe for the day and what their priorities are. Not only will you understand the inter-workings of your business better, but it also keeps the communication lines open.
(Related: Hiring Internal Accounting Staff)
3. Absence of affirmation
Do you give out more criticism than affirmation? Naturally, most humans do, so this reminder is always a good one. According to the Harvard Business Review, top-performing teams give each other at least five positive comments for every criticism. If you don’t daily tell employees they did well at something, then they may think they are not succeeding. Use this reminder to keep morale high.
4. Communication chaos
Yow’s definition of this common mistake is saying one thing but doing something else. In any organization, true leaders are those who can practice what they speak. Leading by example is one of the best ways to get employees to follow. Developing leadership among your managers relies on this.
(Related: How to Embrace Change)
5. Dirty delegation
This means only handing down the work that you don’t want to do. Do you use delegation as a punishment? Ouch! Hopefully, we are delegating work to others that will broaden their experience and challenge their skills, not just keep them busy with things we don’t want to do ourselves. The purpose of “clean” delegation is to teach the employee something. When you delegate, you almost always learn something about yourself, about the process and how to make it better or about the person you delegate it to.
Yow ended with this thought, “It’s important that we focus more on what we need to be, than on what we need to do.” Great leaders are always developing. And as they develop they can truly develop others.
By Jeanie Ebury, Director of Administration and Operations
