Being a leader is not an easy task. You have to look after various people in the operation while managing individuals with different personalities. There are also many difficult situations where you have to confront issues to make sure they do not occur again. While a good leader is capable of pushing a team to greatness, a bad leader can harm the whole team.
Leadership is highly stressful work and mistakes can happen with everyone. But if you want to become a good leader, here are the top 10 common mistakes that you should avoid to gain growth and self-improvement that takes your career further to success.
10 Common Mistakes
1. Lacking Humility
A position of power is good for you but you and the other employees must understand that a leader is above his shortcomings. When everybody recognizes that failure is natural for leaders as well, they get more open-minded and confident in their work. So, do not just feed your ego.
2. Avoiding Conflicts
It is difficult to handle a situation when a conflict arises but does not allow the leader to avoid it, but they should rather solve it. Proactive conflict resolution is a crucial virtue of a leader that allows for avoiding potential conflicts within the team before they occur.
3. Too Friendly Behavior
It is important to have a good relationship with the employees in your team but being too friendly might not be a good choice in a professional workplace where there are set boundaries for every designation. A leader must identify the line between being approachable and respectable. It is important to feel amicable with your team so they can trust you but there should be a balance to make things not too casual.
4. Not Offering Feedback
Open communication is the key to growth and performance for both you and your team. Feedback is a great medium of communication where you allow the employees to rectify themselves. If you do not offer feedback, they will be unable to understand the potential areas of mistake which obstruct the growth and productivity of the team.
5. Being reactive Instead of Proactive
It is highly important to adapt to tech developments as it is inevitable in this digital age with a constant flux of change. As a leader you have to confront these changes and a proactive approach can help be honest with your team. It allows for alleviating stress that is caused by such transitions.
6. Taking Too Much Work
A leader must understand what work has to be done and how it is going to be done. But it is a dangerous attitude to handle every aspect of a project where you already have a team to handle different tasks. Learn how to assign a particular work to the right person to get it done efficiently.
7. Unable to Define Innovation
Innovation is different for every person as well as every company and as a leader, you must know how to define innovation. Trust your team to go through the processes and make sure to encourage their creativity without being too much involved.
8. Lacking Vision
Without a proper vision, it is difficult for a company to progress in the market. As a leader, it is your responsibility to set expectations and goals that your team will work to reach. Each member of the team is accountable for reaching them so you cannot lack vision.
Final Thoughts
Leadership is a skill that can be nurtured with the right practices and it is the only way to progress as a leader that improves team performance. Avoid the mistakes given above and become a true leader.
