Thanks to my practice, over the years I’ve had the opportunity to meet several leaders from various backgrounds and industries. All of them had remarkable personalities, self-drive and big plans about what they wanted to achieve. They all have impeccable grasp over their chosen industry and have worked hard to achieve success. They all were also, unfortunately and unknowingly, committing deadly and common mistakes. In the heat of the corporate world when you’re faced with hard challenges and tough decisions it’s only natural that you overlook the obvious. It’s inevitable that these mistakes leaders make are negatively impacting their business and its success.
These mistakes aren’t necessarily the sort that impact everyday life, not in the short run at least. These are the ones that may slip by and not hinder your short-term achievements and objectives. But over a period of time, they’ll all add up and soon enough you’ll be picking up the pieces of the damage it has done to your personal and professional life and your business itself.
Here’s an offer to leaders in the form of advice and a resolution to make. It starts with believing that you want to be a better leader. Next you’ll need to pledge to yourself that you’ll make a conscious effort to avoid the most obvious mistakes leaders make. Along with that pledge is one that has you correct or alter your habits into ones that have a positive impact on you, your life and your business. Once you’ve accepted all these, then continue reading to find out what mistakes you should be avoiding.
1. Dreaming So Big You Forget About Today
It’s great to have big plans and visions. These are important to motivate people and help them strive for more, pushing the boundaries to be more creative and innovative. But dreaming big without having a path is wandering aimlessly. Sadly, that’s what happens when the vision is so big that leaders get lost in the clouds. As important as it is to have big plans for the company, it’s equally important to lay out milestones and smaller achievements that’ll help get you there. Measuring success in smaller units can be beneficial for the company as it’s more visible. The bigger plan will always be the overarching goal, but the smaller wins are what’ll help you know if you’re on track or not.
2. Holding Back and Not Trusting Enough
Often leaders feel that their vision may or may not be completely understood by their team. Sometimes they even feel that it’s not the time to inform people about the company’s vision as they want people to focus on select goals. Some leaders even fear that by disclosing the company’s big vision there’s a threat of it being leaked to their competitors. All plausible, but in all honesty, if you’ve built a strong team of talented individuals who you believe in to execute the vision, even if it’s just a small portion of it, then why not entrust them with your true vision? Why hold back and keep them in the dark? By explaining clearly your vision for the company you gain insight from your team who then are aligned to the vision. They’ll take the challenge head on and there’s a good chance they’ll even offload some of your burden to help you and the company achieve it.
3. You’re In It to Make Money
Aspiring entrepreneurs often dream of being their own bosses and having a relaxing time on white sandy beaches while their company’s profits keep soaring. It’s a great dream but we all know the effort that goes into reaching that point. If you were to define “making money” as your company’s goal and final frontier then you’ve set yourself up for failure. Sure not all organizations are not-for-profit and I’m not saying yours should be one. But that alone cannot be the foundation of what your company strives to be – profitable. The vision and goal has to be more substantial, more meaningful. Drawn from your passion, the company’s values ideally should aim to positively impact society, people and even the environment. And along the way, sure you could be profitable. But profitability should be tied to your company’s sustainability or even its ability to do more. It shouldn’t be its ultimate goal.
4. Not Being Personal Enough
There’s often a persona around CEO’s, Founders and business owners that people perceive them as these cold, unfriendly and authoritative figures who you want to avoid getting into a conversation with. Most employees perceive the company leader as this high and mighty figure who’s stiff and cut-throat. It’s one of the most common mistakes leaders make. The main culprit behind it is how you go about your day. A big challenge for leaders is managing their time and on a daily basis most of it is consumed meeting people to discuss operations, strategies and business opportunities. Leaders need to allocate a portion of their day (or maybe even an hour a week) to spending time with their employees. Show them who you really are as a person, beyond the position. And don’t be shy to talk about your personal life. It’ll only help you be more relatable to your employees.
5. Cutting Corners
I’ve often felt a sense of urgency in the mannerism and attitude of leaders. They’re not only hungry for solutions and decisions but they want it swiftly. It’s as if everything has to be achieved now, before it’s too late. That’s not necessarily and completely a bad thing, considering if you don’t make a move now your competitor just may. Or you could lose out if you take too much time deciding. It’s understandable when things are out of your control to be swift. But it’s one thing to be swift, it’s completely another to be hasty. And that’s the mistake leaders make at times. Hasty decisions, such as hiring someone too quickly without fully screening the candidate, can be taxing for companies. At times your hasty decision to put off one fire so you can turn your attention to the next can prevent you from developing a long term solution.
6. Being Stubborn
Leaders are so passionate about the vision they have for the company that at times they forget there are others who have also invested time and their skills to the same cause. That’s the trap when you feel you know what’s best for the company and no one else can remotely come close to that level of passion. It’s where the leader becomes too stubborn to listen, learn and accept change. If you’ve been successful at communicating your and the company’s vision to the people around you, those you trust, then it’s only logical that with that trust you believe in them. Believe that they too are thinking along the lines of what’s best for the company. There may be things that you’re passionate about, however that aren’t working well. Rather than obsessing over making it work at all costs, confiding in your team, listening to them and being open to ideas could help the company come out of that rut.
7. Emanate What You Believe
Think about the values that are important to you. Your personal and professional code. Are you confident that you’re successfully living by them? Think about the values you would like to see in people. Are the people in your company living by these values and codes? Would you like them to? Aligning people to the company’s vision and values is one part of the path to success. If you’re able to align them to values and codes that you believe in then you’ll be successful in leading them through any challenge. And it all starts with the simple saying are you “walking the talk”? You could have all the fancy and textbook ideologies in mind, but what good are they if you aren’t living by them yourself. How could you possibly expect the same from your employees if you aren’t emanating what you believe in? If it’s excellence you expect, it’s excellence you have to strive for and deliver yourself.
Being a leader isn’t always easy. You’re a role model to a lot of people. People aspire to be like you. It’s a pressuring job that requires you to always remain on your toes. And that alone can lead to mistakes being made. The question isn’t how many or what level of mistakes you’ll make, it’s how you bounce back from them, more determined and committed to succeed. And it’ll only be helpful if you can avoid the common mistakes leaders make so that the more obvious ones you’ve rid yourself off.
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Paul Keijzer is the CEO and Founder of Engage Consulting and the co-Founder of The Talent Games, which aims to transform HR by digitising talent processes and creating more engaging and productive workplaces through gamification and mobile technology. As a global HR and Leadership Management expert, Paul knows how to combine business insights with people insights to transform organisations and put them on the path to growth.