The 7 most common leadership mistakes

Seven is a fairy tale number. But leaders who make these mistakes turn the story of success into a horror of business failure. Businesses are living organisms that evolve in terms of products, services, and employees. Leadership is a function that must meet the challenges of development and must always be one step ahead of everyone else. Being a leader is not something we are born with; it is a skill we acquire. If you recognize yourself as a leader in any of the seven mistakes, you must act quickly.

Attention at the operational level

Every day begins with a pile of tasks. Managers often interfere with the operative unit and deal with the details. With this, they are suppressing the need for control. Leaders who often overreact to operational tasks are usually leaders who were excellent as operatives. Or may it be that the company was smaller in the past and the distribution of work was different? Those who have excelled in their work and have been promoted to leaders often return to the operative center for a sense of sovereignty. Managers who own a business are also caught in the loop of the operational tasks. because of the need to survive the business.

This may have been necessary in the past, but once a business has grown to at least five employees, a management function must be in place. Leadership means a broader view of internal organization and the establishment of forward-looking guidance. When a leader devotes too much energy to operational tasks and details, he simultaneously reduces his added value and increases the company’s costs.

2.Personal View

The leadership function is very personal, but leaders need to be aware that this can be a trap at the same time. A personal view in decision-making reduces the objectivity of the decision and brings additional challenges to employees. Despite all the titles, a leader is still someone who creates a view of all things through his or her own filters. So will decisions be when a leader is of a more conservative nature? But it can also bring about growth inhibition and the loss of market opportunities. On the other hand, are the adrenaline-fueled leaders who jump at every opportunity. This often results in volatile growth, undefined processes, and increased risk.

When making a decision, it is always necessary for the leader to step outside his own frame and make a decision based on the information, even if it is not within his frame. Remember, growth is beyond our comfort zone.

3. Employee mistrust

At one point, each leader made the decision that a candidate was the best choice for the task. The individual is introduced to the work and begins to develop creatively and constructively in their workplace. Because of the expertise in the field, it often undertakes tasks in a different way than what is known to managers. At such times, managers often begin to interfere with the execution of tasks (begin to devote themselves to operations) and exercise excessive scrutiny. Such actions result in a decrease in employee motivation, fewer ideas and solutions by employees, and the departure of professionals from the company.

4.Inappropriate delegation

Time, money, and work efficiency are always key criteria in selecting and performing all tasks. The leader’s job is to find the right balance between all three criteria. This is where the leader can collide with his or her personal view. In accordance with his or her values, he or she creates a way of delegating tasks that are focused on just one criterion or constantly changing them. When the benchmark is time, the risk of inferior products increases, there is more stress among employees, and consequently higher costs due to employee complaints and sick leave. At first glance, work efficiency seems like an optimal benchmark, but its key essence, employees, is often overlooked.

Employees can optimally perform their work only in the right conditions and workloads with the appropriate reward. And managers too often interpret their work efficiency in terms of “do more in less time”. The consequence of such delegated tasks is, of course, employee burnout and general dissatisfaction. They say that money is the ruler of the world, and it would certainly not work in companies without it.

But what happens when money is the only guide? Attention is paid to sales, but the need for development is neglected because it entails costs. Another aspect that is observed in this way of managing and delegating tasks is that employees do not feel that they will see any of this money. They feel they are not rewarded enough. Such a strategy is only possible in the short term (often at the beginning of business). In the long run, employees also need a piece of this cake.

5. Ineffective communication

Poor communication in companies is reflected in daily routines and relationships. Most of the poor communication is in terms of expectations and goals. Most employees do not know exactly what is expected of them and why they are performing a particular task. Poor communication leads to poor relationships, unfulfilled tasks, and dissatisfaction, all of which have a profound effect on productivity in the company. Poor communication is the reason for inefficient work processes, which represent the most hidden costs of the company and threaten its profit. Managers play a key role in establishing and maintaining a communication culture within the company and are responsible for solving the problem.

6.Excessive visionary

When a business is growing and visions of the company are being created, managers are exposed to the risk of being blown away. The vision is absolutely necessary for the company. Only to the extent that it gives the company direction and ambitions. In the short and medium-term, the leader must focus primarily on the implementation of the goals that will lead to the vision. Executives are overwhelmed by the desire to achieve a vision. It often does not sufficiently address the actual capability of the company and the operational implementation of its goals. Leaders who change direction quickly, change priorities and have no clearly defined short-term goals by over-focusing on the vision. That they threaten the company’s sustainable growth.

7. Resistance to change

No one is really a big fan of change, but the key task of leaders is to introduce and manage change. The only constant for leaders is change. That is stressful for everyone, so leaders often strive to maintain what is already known. Maintaining what is known to businesses means stagnating and threatening a business. The market is changing. Marketing approaches are changing, development guidelines are changing, technology is changing. And most importantly, the needs and conditions of employees are changing. By adopting changes, managers give up control for a short time, which is not easy but absolutely necessary. If employees often come to you with ideas that are unrealistic and dreamy for you, you are definitely the leader who got caught up in that mistake.

The good thing about it is that mistakes give us the opportunity to grow and develop. So hurry up and make sure your business is successful.