Five Leadership Behaviors to Avoid and How to Fix Them
To be an effective leader, it’s crucial to build a team that works well together and accomplishes its goals. However, some well-intended actions can might it harder for the team effectively working together and hinder its productivity. These actions have the potential to greatly reduce collaboration and innovation. Let’s take a closer look at five behaviors that can harm your team and figure out how to fix them.
Seeking Constant Agreement
While agreement may seem desirable, a team that constantly focuses on seeking agreement at the expense of constructive dissent may be hindering its own growth. Leaders who consistently focus on agreement, may inadvertently shut down valuable feedback by focusing on individuals that they feel are “experts” and ignore or otherwise dismiss other opinions.
Having diverse perspectives and healthy debates is essential for innovation. When individuals fear speaking up or feel they will just be ignored, valuable insights may be overlooked, leading to less-than-ideal solutions.
Solution: Effective leaders encourage a culture of respectful disagreement where team members feel empowered to voice alternative viewpoints. Emphasize the importance of constructive criticism and open-mindedness, recognizing that conflict, when managed effectively, can lead to stronger solutions and deeper understanding.
Overprotecting
As a leader, it’s natural to want to protect or shield team members from stress and negative feedback, believing it could hinder their motivation. Leaders who try to protect their team members from negative feedback and show overprotective behavior actually hinder their team’s growth.
Constantly shielding individuals from criticism and challenges deprive them of valuable learning opportunities and may foster a sense of dependency. Moreover, it can lead to resentment where team members may feel patronized.
Solution: Strike a balance between being supportive and protecting your team from negative feedback. Providing guidance and resources while also allowing individuals to confront and overcome obstacles is vital for the growth of your team. Encourage this growth mindset where setbacks are viewed as opportunities for learning and development. By fostering resilience and self-reliance, you empower team members to thrive in the face of adversity.
Micromanagement:
Micromanagement is a common issue that can undermine trust, autonomy, and creativity within a team. Leaders who try to be a useful resource to reduce their team’s burden or to ensure the team is headed in the “right” direction not understand that their “help” is undermining the growth of their team and hinders innovation.
Constantly scrutinizing and controlling every aspect of your team’s work not only stifles their initiative but also signals a lack of trust in their abilities. This can lead to disengagement, frustration, and ultimately, decreased productivity.
Solution: Trust your team members to execute on their responsibilities competently and autonomously. Don’t always assume that your way is the only right way. Provide clear goals and expectations, offer support and guidance when needed, and focus on outcomes rather than methods. Cultivate an environment of trust and empowerment where individuals feel valued and that their judgment is respected.
Being Everyone’s Friend
While fostering camaraderie among team members is essential, blurring the boundaries between professional and personal relationships can have detrimental effects on team dynamics. Leaders who focus on being the fun person, the person that everyone wants to hang out with, can often cause the perception of favoritism and forced loyalty.
When leaders prioritize being liked over providing constructive feedback or making tough decisions, it can significantly undermine their credibility and authority. Additionally, it can create cliques and favoritism, leading to resentment and division within the team.
Solution: Strike a balance between warmth and professionalism, cultivating a culture of mutual respect and camaraderie while maintaining clear boundaries. Encourage an environment of open communication, constructive feedback, and transparency in decision-making processes.
Lack of Accountability
Lack of accountability within teams can be a significant roadblock to achieving success. When Leaders fail to take responsibility for their actions or decisions, it creates a culture where excuses are normalized, and team members look to shift blame rather than take ownership of their actions.
The absence of accountability can have detrimental effects on team dynamics and morale. When team members perceive that others are not being held accountable for their contributions, it can breed resentment. Furthermore, without accountability, deadlines are missed, quality suffers, and morale plummets.
Solution: Establish clear roles, responsibilities, and performance expectations from the outset. Hold individuals accountable for their actions and decisions, providing constructive feedback and recognition for achievements. Foster a culture of collective accountability where team members take ownership of both successes and failures, learning from mistakes and striving for continuous improvement.
In conclusion, effective leaders build effective teams by avoiding behaviors that might block team collaborations and efficiency. By avoiding the behaviors listed in the post, you can establish an environment where people can flourish, and team goals can be reached together. It’s critical to understand that a united and empowered team lays the foundation for success within your organization. Strive to cultivate a team environment where everyone’s strengths are leveraged, and collective achievements are celebrated.
If you enjoy my articles, please check out my book on Amazon: Foundations of Effective Leadership
I have written several books on leadership, software development and robotics, drawing upon nearly three decades of experience in the tech industry as both an engineer and a leader. However, my most cherished role is being a dad. I enjoy anything that keeps me active, especially running, hiking, paddle boarding, and yoga. You can follow me on X (Twitter), BlueSky, and Medium.
