Being at the management level, you need to possess excellent leadership skills. This will not only help you to avoid some commonly made leadership mistakes. At the same time, you will also command respect from your juniors & seniors.
Common management & leadership mistakes to understand & avoid
1. Not providing sufficient time to your team:
It is quite natural for you to get engrossed in your workload such that you may forget your team. Your team is your major strength & denying them quality time will only mean losing on quality, efficiency & performance. They need your guidance & support to meet their goals & objectives. You should listen to them actively, get their input & evaluate their performance from time to time.
2. Not offering timely feedback:
Perhaps, you have employed a highly talented sales representative. However, he/she may respond to customers in a rude & unprofessional manner. You may be aware of this situation and prefer to wait for his/her performance review and not respond immediately. If you do not alert him/her on time, then chances are that your company will be losing good clients very fast. He/she is only annoying valuable clients with each passing day. With your timely feedback, he/she can improve his/her performance.
3. Being excessively friendly:
It is good to be approachable & friendly to the team. This will generate a happy working environment. But there are also some tough decisions to be taken regarding the overall performance of the team. Some might take undue advantage of your friendliness. You need to maintain the right balance between being a boss & a friend.
4. Taking a ‘hands-off’ approach:
Perhaps a team member has completed a vital project recently. Since you did not pay much attention while he was working on the project, he could have gone wrong. He might have failed to grasp the needs of the clients properly & committed some mistakes. You will have to face the wrath of the highly dissatisfied client. You might not like micromanagement, one of the leadership mistakes that many tend to make. However, taking that hands-off approach will only cost you, dear. You just need to maintain the correct balance to get things done to everyone’s satisfaction.
5. Rushing with the recruitment process:
You need to have more team members as your project grows & the recruitment process should be a smooth one. Since every day can be a struggle to progress in the project, you might rush to fill in a vacancy quickly. In the process, you may recruit the wrong person for the job, who might be unproductive, ineffective & uncooperative. He/she may also require more training & handholding, thus slowing down the project’s pace. It will also be a waste of valuable resources & time. This way, more mistakes are bound to happen due to time constraints.
6. Misunderstanding motivation:
Your team needs constant motivation to put in their best efforts & to complete the project on time. Money is not the only thing that will motivate your team. Some may seek greater life/work balance and can be motivated with flexible working or telecommuting days. Others may desire a sense of camaraderie, praise, extra responsibility, or some achievement.
7. Not defining goals clearly:
Without well-defined goals, your team is likely to go haywire & be unproductive. They will also not be able to prioritize effectively their work and complete the project the wrong way. You need to set your team with well-planned & smart goals. Maintaining a team charter will help you to know what your team is doing & where they are heading. It can also show what resources are available to complete the project on time. This way, your team’s goals can be aligned with the organization’s mission & client’s demands.
Therefore, following the above leadership mistakes will help you to help your team to achieve success.
