Ten Leaders to Avoid Becoming - Part Two
Your enterprise will rise or fall on the strength of your leadership team. Let me know if you've ever seen any of these characters and how you dealt with them. Busy Barry: Barry is too busy to stop and listen to his people. He expects people to understand that as a leader, he has a lot on his plate, and no time to stop and hear them out. By doing so, he elevates himself above his people, who also lead busy lives. By engaging in this behavior, he repels good people and breaks down the organization. Dictating Donald: Donald is a non-participatory leader- he doesn’t allow others to participate in his leadership decisions. He practices “top-down” leadership. Donald’s mantra is: “When I need your opinion, I’ll tell you it.” Because of this, Donald is one of the most dangerous leaders of all. He is the leader no one approaches because he already knows everything. He is not open to feedback, suggestions or constructive criticism. Because Donald is blind, he’s unaware of his negative impact on his people and productivity until it’s too late. Selfish Sally: Sally hates to share information or knowledge with her team. Her feeling is that if she tells everyone what she knows, she won’t be needed. For this reason, she also struggles with sharing credit when a teammate accomplishes something praiseworthy. Sally fails to understand that the team is only as good as the strength of its members. For any organization to grow, its leaders must develop a leadership pipeline – a source of identifying, and developing new leaders. This is the life line of all growing organizations. True leaders are the most generous and selfless with their resources and knowledge.
Insecure Iris: Iris actively opposes anyone she perceives as a threat to her position. She constructs active roadblocks to the progress of anyone she deems more talented than herself. Iris goes further than Sally, because not only does she fail to share information or resources; she takes affirmative steps to cut off another’s growth or progress. Iris’ effort to truncate other people's growth has the same effect on her organization.
Over-friendly Freddy: Freddy’s insecurities lead him to be overly friendly with everyone. He thinks by being everyone’s “pal” his leadership will be accepted. Because he’s perceived as a “buddy” rather than a supervisor or team lead, his followers are confused about his role. Some of the ways that Freddy crosses the line is by hanging out with his team at inappropriate places; discussing inappropriate subjects or getting involved in “watercooler discussions,” often a disguise for plain gossip. Freddy has forgotten that his job is to lift his team to their best, not to join them at their worst. How do you handle these leadership patterns in your environment? Are they "handled" as infamous crisis manager Olivia Pope would say? Or, are they left to fester until a breaking point? Please leave your feedback below. I’d love to hear from you. Wayne
Thanks for reading my post. I'm an attorney and Christian minister. I'm also a #keynote #speaker and an author. I write about business, life and faith, focusing on how to know God's vision for your life so that you may fulfill your purpose. You may connect further with me here or by clicking below!
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