5 Leadership Mistakes You Are Probably Making

Many leaders confuse empowerment with laissez faire leadership and this leads them to be so hands off that they don't know what's happening on their team and often can't intervene before things go completely off the rails. They think that hands off means they are giving their people the room they need to operate. Unfortunately, they become really hands on when things go wrong, which they inevitably do.

Once things go wrong these leaders make a 180-degree turn and become over-involved micromanagers in an effort to restore order avoid blame. They don't understand the difference between accountability and micromanagement and don't understand how to empower their team. This engenders resentment from those who would have benefited from clearer instructions or guidance before things went wrong and are now feeling the burden of blame.

Difficult situations are, in a word, difficult. Many people, not just leaders, try to avoid difficult conversations, uncomfortable situations, and potentially troublesome encounters. You ignore negative behavior and chalk it up to that's just how he is. You make excuses for blown deadlines and end up doing the work yourself. I was working with a team and one member of the team had determined that they were going to participate on their terms. They flatly refused to do certain things and when I addressed this behavior, the rest of the team leapt to his defense. I was amazed and also understood how bad things must be on this team.

Not only were they avoiding the difficult conversations that needed to be had, they were actively condoning and excusing behavior that was toxic to the team. Rule of thumb, difficult situations only get worse with time.

"Never mind, I'll just do it myself." How many times have you heard or said those words? Many leaders find themselves in a spiral that enables mediocrity and stifles team growth. What do I mean? When you do the work your team members should be doing you are robbing them of the opportunity to grow and creating an environment where you get stuck doing everybody's work. 

There are many reasons leaders don't delegate or delegate poorly: 1) Need to prove their value to the team; 2)Feel they are surrounded by idiots; 3) Don't understand how high-performing teams function; 4) Don't understand how to delegate; 5) Think delegating is just giving others the work they don't want to do; just to name a few. It is absolutely more difficult, and challenging, and time-consuming to show someone how to do something but once they understand it's something you no longer have to do.

If you are disorganized you will struggle as a leader. You will be perceived as incompetent and unprepared. We can agree these are not adjectives you want to be associated with. When you move into a leadership position you are now responsible for your work and the collective work product of your team. The stakes just got higher and your organizational skills will soon be front and center.

Leaders have a lot of plates spinning and often can't keep all of them spinning with out solid organizational skills. A colleague I once worked with thrived on the organizational aspect of the job. He had color-coded binders and impeccable notes from each meeting.

I was never able to achieve this zen level organizational prowess, but I was able to capture what was important for me to lead effectively and to help others accomplish their tasks. Understand that your level of organization or lack thereof will impact your team and your leadership potential.

Many leaders, young and old, seasoned and new make mistake the fundamental role of leadership and they think it's about them. Leadership isn't about you, it's about the people you lead. That title means diddly squat and that office is just a loaner. Leadership isn't about you. Your role as a leader is to help others grow and flourish, create other leaders, and herd cats. When you think leadership is about you your worst behaviors present themselves because your expectations went unmet.

Leadership is humbling, frustrating, patience-building, difficult work that directly benefits your team and only indirectly benefits you. If you think leadership is a red carpet walk or taking ownership of your own personal fiefdom then unless your mom owns the company, your tenure may be short.