Watch Out for These 5 Sticky Leadership Traps
As a relatability expert and motivational speaker for leadership teams, I’ve seen too many leaders and managers fall into these 5 sticky (and easily avoidable!) leadership traps.
Leadership can be one of the most fulfilling and frustrating aspects of your career. It’s complicated because people are complicated! And when you’re at the helm, they’re all looking at you.
If you want to lead a high-performance team of satisfied, creative, happy team members, watch out for these five common leadership traits that can dampen your team’s spirit and hurt your productivity. (Spoiler Alert: Each is easily avoidable with a little self-awareness, leadership confidence, and emotional intelligence!)
These 5 leadership traps can stunt the growth of even the most well-intentioned leaders:
1. The Trap of Micromanagement
Micromanagement has been around since the dawn of employment. But I’m convinced remote work has made it an even stickier trap for today’s leaders!
Contacting employees outside of office hours, asking for frequent project updates, controlling every detail of every project, or over-explaining each step— these actions erode trust and build resentment fast.
The best way to overcome your micromanagement leadership tendencies? Practice equipping and releasing. Give your team the tools they need to complete the task and resist the urge to track every step. Once the project is complete, have a quick debrief to talk about wins and opportunities for growth next time. It will take time to break the micromanaging habit, but a healthy, self-sufficient team is worth it!
2. The Trap of Being a Lone Wolf
Leading like the lone wolf hinders your team’s progress in two major ways: When you try to do it all yourself, your team members miss out on the chance to learn and grow, and without an emotional connection to your team, they’ll have little reason to be loyal, engaged, and invested. Unfortunately, I see a lot of new leaders (and reluctant leaders) fall into this trap.
If you tend to be a lone wolf leader, ask yourself, why do I want to lead? Is it possible you’ve been thrown into the deep end of a leadership role you didn’t want or ask for? Is there another role you would enjoy more? If you’re willing to be honest with yourself, you just might find another path that brings you deeper fulfillment and more professional satisfaction— without the pressure of managing a team.
3. The Trap of Playing it Safe
As a motivational speaker for leadership teams, this is one of the traps that hurts my heart the most— leaders that have incredible potential, but are too afraid of failure to realize all they can do. They’re on the cusp of something amazing. It could be a new product, an idea, an expansion, or a much-needed change, but they’re stuck in the safezone while opportunity after opportunity passes by.
To reach your full leadership potential, consider areas where you might be letting fear or doubt hold you back. With a bit of introspection and a little more boldness, you just might find your next breakthrough.
4. The Trap of Being a Pushover
There’s a very thin line between being an empathetic, considerate, “fun” leader, and being a pushover. And while empathy is essential in the workplace, being a yes-person is a serious productivity stunter. Allowing frequent tardiness, avoiding addressing conflict, and forgiving poor performance again and again creates an unmotivating environment where employees can quickly become frustrated.
The easiest way to avoid this leadership trap is to set firm boundaries, and stick to them. You can (and should!) listen and understand your team members. But you can be gentle but firm when the answer is no or discipline is needed. Remember, a bit of discomfort now can lead to a healthy team long-term.
5. The Trap of Being Arrogant
Nothing alienates employees faster than working for a know-it-all! And the arrogance trap is an especially tricky one to overcome because these leaders are the most likely to struggle with admitting their off-putting tendency.
As a leader, you may feel you have to know it all to succeed. But in reality, leaders who trust their employees, give each member opportunities to share, and act with an open mind build stronger rapport and more loyal teams.
Want to upskill your leaders?
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RACHEL DEALTO
Rachel DeAlto is a keynote speaker on communication, leadership, team building, and more. She’s on a mission to connect people to their most powerful resource—each other.