There are many mistakes to be made. If you are a leader and you are human (not many robots read ThadThoughts), just accept that you will make some.
Thankfully, the mistakes we make don’t have to be repeated. And we can learn from out mistakes as well as the mistakes of others.
Below is a short list of mistakes we can make in leadership and ways to avoid them. This isn’t exhaustive (meaning I likely will make a few more along the way and have more to write about).
1. Not listening to people who have walked the path. The hardest part about being a young leader is that you think you already know everything there is to know about leading in your context. You don’t. The Antidote: Listen to the wisdom of those who have led before you (whether in your company/field or not).
2. Not getting the best out of your team. You can hire well, and fire rarely, but even if you succeed in both of those areas you won’t get the best from your team if you don’t learn what they aspire to and arrange your team accordingly. Good people doing mediocre tasks does not result in excellence. The Antidote: Listen to the aspirations of your team and arrange accordingly.
It may be easier to “chill out a fool on fire, than to raise the dead.” This may entail people departing, but even that doesn’t have to be failure.
3. Not getting the best out of you. Working from habit rather than passion. The hardest part about being an older leader is that you think you still lead from passion, when, without explicit steps to avoid doing this, you actually are only leading from habit. The Antidote: Keep learning new things. Tackle new endeavors and new areas of learning constantly. Read incessantly.
4. Not focusing on the future because you are still reliving the successes of the past. When you work harder to protect what you have achieved than you work to achieve even greater things, you might as well give up. The past is gone. True success is forward thinking. The Antidote: Spend more time “visioneering” and less time reliving past victories.
The problem with living in the past is that to people new to your team, it looks like you are more interested in what you have already done than in what you have yet to do. That’s not motivating.
What about your experiences? Have you learned anything about leading through making mistakes? What have you done with what you’ve learned?
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I think this applies not only to leadership in the workplace, but also leadership at home. I’ve made all of these mistakes at different times in my parenting but have learned along the way how costly they can be. I am so thankful that God’s mercies are new every morning and that each day we get to start over and do our best.
Well said Esther. Leadership happens in many places, and the home is one of the most important!
These are all the hallmarks of a great leader, and missing just one of them can be highly detrimental to your overall team and leadership results.
All leaders must have a vision. They have to decide what it is that they want to accomplish, and figure out how it will benefit their team in the long run. And, as you pointed out, newer leaders need to listen and take the advice of more experienced leaders.
Anthony Thompson recently posted..Work-at-Home Moms – Reasons They’re the World’s Greatest CEOs
I do think newer leaders need to be given space by older leaders. We learn to lead by leading, not simply by reading about leadership. If no space is given by older leaders, young leaders will move on til they find the space they need.
Really excellent spirit ! This tips are very useful and thanks for sharing this information thad.
Not getting the best out of your team is a huge one. A big part of leadership is delegation, and being able to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of one’s team.
Daisy recently posted..Blogging Anonymously 101
Thinking about developing a team and developing leaders is crucial for any type of organization. Otherwise you are only one departure away from a major slip in impact/effectiveness.
Nice straightforward but essential tips here. Especially about living in past glories. So many people get one win and then live off that for far too long!
Forest recently posted..When did Americans stop giving a SCOTUS about each other?
“One and done” is easy to do…and then live in the past.
I haven’t lately, but I can see myself falling victim to the 1st mistake in the future.
It’s not that I don’t listen…it’s sometimes that I just don’t take the time to reflect and fully grasp what I just heard.
Jason recently posted..Blog Income and Site Statistics June 2012
I am the same way, Jason. I sure need to listen more, talk less.