Great
article I’d like to share:
Being a leader is perhaps the hardest challenge any of us will
ever face. No matter how long we work at it, practicing the right behaviors is
a never-ending task. Knowing – and avoiding – the wrong ones is too. Thus, we
offer the following six common leadership pitfalls:
1. Not Giving
Self-Confidence its Due.
Self-confidence is the lifeblood of success. When people have it, they’re bold.
They try new things, offer ideas, exude positive energy, and cooperate with
their colleagues instead of surreptitiously attempting to bring them down. When
they lack self-confidence, it’s just the opposite. People cower. They plod. And
they spread negativity with every word and gesture.
But all too often leaders ignore (or neglect) this very basic
fact of the human condition. Why is anyone’s guess. Perhaps they just don’t
understand that it is part of their job to instill self-confidence in their
people. It may even be said that it’s their first job. You cannot unleash the
creative power of individuals who doubt themselves.
Fortunately, some people seem to be born with self-confidence. Others gain it
from life and work experience and come to a company fully loaded. Regardless,
leaders can never stop pouring self-confidence into their teams. The ways to do
so are myriad. Make sure goals are challenging – but achievable. Give effusive
positive feedback. Remind your direct reports of what they do right.
We’re not saying that leaders should blindly extol and exalt. People know when
they’re being gamed. But good leaders work relentlessly to find ways to instill
self-confidence in those around them. They know it’s the gift that never stops
giving.
2. Muzzling Voice.
Perhaps the most frustrating way that leaders underperform is by over-talking.
That is, they act like know-it-alls. They can tell you how the world works,
what corporate is thinking, how it will backfire if you try this or that, and
why you can’t possibly change the product one iota. Sometimes such blowhards
get their swagger from a few positive experiences, but usually they’re just
victims of their own destructive personalities.
Ultimately, the company ends up being a victim too, because know-it-alls aren’t
just insufferable, they’re dangerous. They don’t listen, and that deafness
makes it very hard for new ideas to get debated, expanded upon, or improved. No
single person, no matter how smart, can take a business to its apex. For that,
you need every voice to be heard.
3. Acting Phony.
Can you spot a phony? Of course you can – and so can your people. Indeed, if
there is one widespread human capability, it is sniffing out someone who is
putting on airs, pretending to be who they’re not, or just keeping their real
self hidden. Yet too many leaders spend way too much time creating personas
that put a wall between them and their employees. What a waste.
Because authenticity is what makes people love you. Visibly grappling with
tough problems, sweating the details, laughing, and caring – those are the
activities that make people respond and feel engaged with what you’re saying.
Sure, some people will tell you that being mysterious grants you power as a
leader. In reality, all it generates is fear. And who wants to motivate that
way?
Now, obviously, authenticity is unattractive if it’s coupled with immaturity or
an overdose of informality. And organizations generally don’t like people who
are too emotionally unbounded – i.e. so real that all their feelings are
exposed. They tend to tamp that kind of intensity down a bit. And that’s not a
bad thing, as work is work and, more than at home, allows us to maintain some
privacy.
But don’t let convention wring all the authenticity out of you, especially as
you climb the ladder. In time, humanity always wins. Your team and bosses come
to know who you are in your soul, what kind of people you attract and what kind
of performance you want from everyone. Your realness will make you accessible;
you will connect and you will inspire. You will lead.
4. Lacking the Guts to
Differentiate.
You only have to be in business a few weeks to know that not all investment
opportunities are created equal. But some leaders can’t face that reality, and
so they sprinkle their resources like cheese on a pizza, a little bit
everywhere.
As a result, promising growth opportunities too often don’t get the outsized
infusions of cash and people they need. If they did, someone might get offended
during the resource allocation process. Someone – as in the manager of a weak
business or the sponsor of a dubious investment proposal.
But leaders who don’t differentiate do the most damage when it comes to people.
Unwilling to deliver candid, rigorous performance reviews, they give every
employee the same kind of bland, mushy, “nice job” sign-off. Then, when rewards
are doled out, they give star performers little more than the laggards. Now,
you can call this egalitarian approach kind, or fair – as these lousy leaders
usually do – but it’s really just weakness. And when it comes to building a
thriving organization where people have the chance to grow and succeed, weakness
just doesn’t cut it.
5. Fixation on Results at
the Expense of Values.
Everyone knows that leaders deliver. Oratory and inspiration without results
equal…well, a whole lot of nothing. But leaders are committing a real
dereliction of duties if all they care about are the numbers. They also have to
care about how those numbers came to be. Were the right behaviors practiced?
Was the company’s culture of integrity honored? Were people taken care of
properly? Was the law obeyed, in both letter and spirit?
Values are a funny thing in business. Companies love to talk
about them. They love to hang them up on plaques in the lobby and boast about
them to potential hires and customers. But they’re meaningless if leaders don’t
live and breathe them. Sometimes that can take courage. It can mean letting go
of a top performer who’s a brute to his colleagues, or not promoting a star who
doesn’t share her best ideas with the team. That’s hard.
And yet if you’re a leader, this is a sin you cannot squint away. When you nail
your results, make sure you can also report back to a crowded room: We did this
the right way, according to our values.
6. Skipping the Fun Part
What is it about celebrating that makes managers so nervous? Maybe throwing a
party doesn’t seem professional or it makes people worry that they won’t look
serious to the powers that be, or that, if things get too happy in the office,
people will stop working their tails off.
Whatever the reason, too many leaders don’t celebrate enough. To be clear here,
we do not define celebrating as conducting one of those stilted little
company-orchestrated events that everyone hates, in which the whole team is
marched out to a local restaurant for an evening of forced merriment when
they’d rather be home. We’re talking about sending a team to Disney World with
their families, or giving each team member tickets to a show or a movie, or
handing each member of the team a new iPod.
What a lost opportunity. Celebrating makes people feel like winners and creates
an atmosphere of recognition and positive energy. Imagine a team winning the
World Series without champagne spraying everywhere. You can’t! And yet
companies win all the time and let it go without so much as a high-five.
Work is too much a part of life not to recognize the moments of achievement.
Grab as many as you can. Make a big deal out of them.
That’s part of a leader’s job too – the fun part.
Jack
Welch is Founder and Distinguished Professor at the Jack
Welch Management Institute at Strayer University. Through its
executive education and Welch Way management training programs, the Jack
Welch Management Institute provides students and organizations
with the proven methodologies, immediately actionable practices, and respected
credentials needed to win in the most demanding global business environments.
Suzy
Welch is a best-selling author, popular television commentator, and noted
business journalist. Her New York Times bestselling book, 10-10-10: A Life
Transforming Idea, presents a powerful decision-making strategy for success at
work and in parenting, love and friendship. Together with her husband Jack
Welch, Suzy is also co-author of the #1 international bestseller Winning,
and its companion volume, Winning: The Answers. Since 2005, they have
written business columns for several publications, including Business Week magazine,
Thomson Reuters digital platforms, Fortune magazine, and the New
York Times syndicate.
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