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Having worked with leaders and teams for over two decades, I’ve witnessed some common mistakes that even leaders who are both well intentioned and experienced make (myself included!). These mistakes constrain leaders’ effectiveness and impact, and even their growth as a leader.  

These mistakes can be grouped under the following four categories: 

  • Self Leadership (leading themselves)
  • Team Leadership (leading their team)
  • People leadership (leading the individuals in their team)
  • Task Leadership (leading what needs to be accomplished)  

 

SELF LEADERSHIP   

1. Not displaying enough humanity…

…Instead having a big ego and/or not being vulnerable. 

2. Not influencing through personal credibility…

…Instead exercising their positional power to get things done. 

3. Not appreciating the negative impacts of their leadership style on others…

…Instead being either unaware or ignoring the impact. 

4. Not being flexible in their leadership style depending on who they are influencing…

…Instead adopting a one-size-fits-all approach.  

5. Not being coachable…

…Instead coming across as a know-it-all.

 

TEAM LEADERSHIP

 1. Not assembling the right team… 

…Instead accepting the status quo, even though deep down they know that some team members don’t belong or that they need to address their skill and/or behaviour gaps. 

 2. Not approaching team building as a strategic and ongoing investment… 

…Instead treating it as an ad-hoc, once-in-a-while adventure and/or assuming the team will become high performing through osmosis! 

 3. Not creating the right conditions for high quality conversations in the team…

…Instead tolerating mediocre conversations and/or assuming that good conversations will happen automatically.

 4. Not encouraging constructive conflict in the team to creating better outcomes…

…Instead avoiding conflict or sidestepping around it or even discouraging it. 

 5. Not addressing behavioural and/or standards issues in the team quickly…

…Instead tolerating the status quo and/or hoping they will just go away. 

 

PEOPLE LEADERSHIP 

 1. Not caring enough about the people they lead or not demonstrating caring acts often enough…

…Instead thinking of people as FTEs or resources or assuming that people already know that you care. 

 2. Not asking their team members how you can help to bring out the best in them and/or not acting on it…

…Instead undervaluing the importance of these conversations and/or assuming you already know.

 3. Not having frequent conversations with their team members as to what’s expected, what they are doing great and where they need to improve…

…Instead undervaluing the importance and frequency of these conversations.

 4. Not recognising their team members and/or not making them feel appreciated/special…

…Instead focussing disproportionately on what’s missing/not quite perfect and/or moving on to the next challenge without pausing to appreciate and celebrate. 

 5. Not having the difficult conversations early enough and often enough… 

…Instead avoiding and/or waiting till the situation worsens.

 

TASK LEADERSHIP 

 1. Not being focussed on the few important priorities…

…Instead sending signals that everything is a priority and/or routinely getting distracted by the next ‘shiny object’. 

 2. Not diagnosing issues at a “system” level… 

…Instead making it about the individual(s) and not the system and/or addressing issues in isolation of the broader context/system. 

 3. Not creating conditions where problems get solved by the right people in the right manner…

…Instead solving problems for people and/or giving it to the wrong people to solve.

 4. Not setting up conditions/systems for success… 

…Instead solely relying on individual efforts/brilliance.

 5. Not creating enough bandwidth for important (but not urgent) topics or discussions…

…Instead being constantly consumed by urgent priorities and continually prioritising the urgent over the important. 

 

Reflecting on the above, which elements are you strong at? Which ones would you like to get better at? 

 

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