12 Things You Should Never Do as a Leader
Stepping into a leadership position comes with a whole lot of responsibilities and expectations. While there is no perfect way to lead, there are habits or tendencies that should always be avoided in order to become a better leader. These habits can negatively impact morale and overall productivity and reflect poorly on your leadership abilities.
Here is a list of actions to avoid as a leader that will provide you with a framework for becoming trustworthy, capable, and reliable.
1. Avoiding Conflict
As uncomfortable as it may be, conflict will arise in workplace settings. Avoiding these situations can be harmful to the workplace atmosphere and overall productivity. As a leader, you must equip yourself with the tools and the right mindset to address conflicts quickly and effectively to avoid these potential consequences.
2. Not Leading by Example
Your actions as a leader can set the tone for how others should work or act within your workplace environment. Because of this, it’s essential that you approach your work, team, clients, and any other situations in the workplace as examples of what you’d like to see from your team. Even if this means you don’t get to play your favorite games with this easy payment method during the workday or take extended lunch breaks.
3. Communicating Ineffectively
Communication is essential for everyone, particularly those in managerial or leadership positions. People will turn to what you say for guidance and information, whether in person or via email, so it’s imperative that you develop systems for effectively and consistently communicating with your team. This will help to clearly define expectations and task requirements while reducing confusion, frustration, and general miscommunications for a more harmonious work environment.
4. Dismissing or Being Unwilling to Hear Ideas
Taking the time to truly listen to and consider what your team has to say is a powerful way to boost morale and could lead to more innovative or effective strategies. It is a vital component of leadership as it boosts employee motivation, enhances productivity, and improves retention.
Listening to employees’ concerns or ideas is also an essential aspect of communication. It ensures you know how to communicate with and understand your team.
5. Assuming You Know Everything
Everyone on your team brings unique skill sets and knowledge to the table, and being open to learning from them, much like listening, is beneficial to all. Beyond seeking to learn from your team, seek opportunities beyond them, whether through training sessions, courses, or reading, which enhances your skill set. Assuming there is always more to learn, which means accepting that you do not know everything, makes you a stronger leader.
6. Expecting Perfection
Just as you should not assume you know everything, you should not expect perfection from yourself or anyone else you are leading. This is an unrealistic expectation that only breeds frustration and resentment.
7. Not Acknowledging Mistakes
Mistakes are a part of life, and everyone is bound to make one occasionally. When you’re in a leadership role, your missteps may be more broadly felt, which may naturally lead to a desire to avoid taking ownership of the consequences. However, acknowledging your mistakes is an opportunity for you to grow and build a stronger relationship with your employees.
9. Being Overly Critical
Providing constructive criticism is vital for improving performance, but too much can have the opposite effect, particularly when it is not actionable. It can be demoralizing and discouraging, create a toxic work culture, and rather than boosting performance or productivity, it can start to hinder it.
When providing feedback to employees, come from a place of empathy and understanding by offering suggestions or encouragement alongside constructive feedback and including praise for tasks done well.
10. Delegating Ineffectively
Delegating work is an essential part of being a leader. Ineffectiveness in this responsibility, for instance, by not playing to the strengths or interests of your team, can lead to poor performance or frustration among employees.
To address this, be aware of what each employee brings to the workplace and understand their strengths and interests. Doing this can help you determine who is the right fit for tasks and create an environment where employees feel valued and appreciated.
11. Micromanaging
To employees, being micromanaged can feel like a lack of trust or confidence in their ability to complete work. In the long run, this leads to poor morale and employee retention issues. As with delegating efficiently, one way to help prevent this is understanding an employee’s strengths and delegating work that plays to their strengths.
12. Lying or Gossiping
Lying and gossiping are tied to trust, and engaging in either can destroy employees’ trust and confidence in their leaders. Once lost, trust and confidence are hard to regain, and they can start eroding workplace operations—from social dynamics to project outcomes.
One of your responsibilities as a leader is to avoid gossip and be as upfront as possible with your employees. In addition to this, leaders should discourage gossiping in general. Gossiping is an easy behavior to fall into for anyone, and no matter who engages in it, the impacts can be far-reaching in the workplace.
In Conclusion
By being aware of what leaders should never do, you can build leadership habits that serve you, your employees, and your workplace in the long run. Remember, being a leader is an ever-evolving process, and keeping up with best practices and remaining open to learning will help you maintain a reputation as a trustworthy and capable leader.
