Being a leader means many things: big picture thinking, a strategic mindset, and the ability to make tough calls.
But all of leadership is easier if you know how to manage.
From department supervisors to the C-suite, we've all dealt with terrible bosses in our own careers, and we all want to believe we can do better when we're finally in charge.
But are you really as good of a boss as you think? You can be, if you avoid these five pitfalls.
1. 'Communicating' without leaving the ivory tower
Poor communication can come in many forms, but often reflects simply being out of touch with the needs of the people you count on. The biggest communications mistakes employees named are:
- Not recognizing employee achievements
- Not giving clear directions
- Not making time to meet with employees
Get out of your office and talk regularly with your direct reports. If your schedule is too packed with upper-level obligations, set a recurring time slot on your calendar dedicated to talking to your team. You need to know what your staff is doing and how they feel about it — and you need to recognize good work when you see it.
2. Favoring like minds
There are five words every ambitious upstart wants to hear from a boss: "You remind me of myself." In the right setting, those words can be the start of mentoring a valuable future leader — but they can also be the first step to organizational imbalance. This is because many bosses hire people who are "clones" of themselves, either in their personality or in the skills they possess. The result? Lopsided teams with glaring weaknesses.
Instead, hire (and encourage) a wide range of personalities:
- If you are an ideas person, seek out detail-oriented sticklers who know how to implement
- If you're a charismatic extrovert, balance yourself with someone quiet and thoughtful
- If your background is in one area of the company (sales, IT, marketing), make sure you hire based on position-relevant experience, not just similar backgrounds
3. Only trusting numbers and facts, not people
Part of leading well is making dispassionate decisions — going by the facts, even when the facts are painful. But numbers can also lead us awry. Even as organizations scramble to use big data for every decision, many fail to get insights from that same data. Meanwhile, employees carry around complex hunches and instincts, based in part on their experience getting company goals met. These instincts are valuable for several reasons:
- They're often correct
- They can shed light on areas not captured in research and data
- Employees' feelings give you the pulse of your team, and how well you have explained your goals and methods
When you ignore employees' feelings, even inadvertently, you leave them with the impression that you are the one flying blind — that you are completely oblivious to real problems they have raised. That doesn't mean your team is always right, but it does mean you have to truly hear them and, at a minimum, reconcile their experience with your big-picture strategy. This usually involves listening, not justifying.
4. Treating subordinates as friends
While ignoring employees' feelings causes one problem, becoming too close causes another. Perhaps the biggest mistake that newer bosses make is failing to maintain professional distance. Unfortunately, this quickly makes work life uncomfortable.
You will carry knowledge you cannot tell your "friends," for example, creating dissonance in every encounter. You'll also stir up feelings of favoritism, whether deserved or not, as some people are seen to be closer to you than others. Ultimately, the friendships will fail when you have to be the enforcer of unpleasant news (or high expectations).
Strive for a balance between friendly and professional:
- Don't join employees for lunch or happy hour unless there's an occasion to do so — and make sure you invite everyone.
- In the office setting, personal talk should be an opener that transitions to work talk.
- Don't confide private information to anyone that reports to you. Got to colleagues or mentors for this.
5. Pretending you don't make mistakes
When it comes to managers and business leaders, there's a bad case of impostor syndrome going around. It's normal to feel like you don't "deserve" to be in charge, or that someone will catch you not being good enough. But you have to check those feelings before you come into work.
When such feelings enter the boardroom — or a team meeting — they lead to insecure behavior, refusing to admit mistakes, and a pretense of perfection. This behavior is poison to a productive team.
Instead, a good boss will:
- Acknowledge the limits of what you know
- Ask questions, especially when someone disagrees with you
- Forgive your employees for errors, and patiently encourage growth
According the Harvard Business Review, the human brain is wired to experience empathy when someone else admits vulnerability. On the other hand, it's also wired to see through false pretenses and pull away from those who are inauthentic. Which kind of leader do you want to be?
SEE ALSO: 24 signs you're a good boss — even if it doesn't feel like it
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