We’ve all been there. \u00a0You work for a person who doesn’t understand what leadership is. \u00a0Worse yet, you work for a person who doesn’t understand what leadership is but thinks they do. \u00a0Leadership is hard, no 2 ways about it. \u00a0Some people are born leaders but I believe that most people need to hone their leadership skills and constantly improve them. \u00a0So in this part 1 I will offer up to you the first 5 things that lousy leaders do. \u00a0Next week I will offer up the final 5 things. Don’t do these things.<\/p>\n
1. \u00a0Not leading by example<\/strong> – If you are going to require your employees to show up early and stay late, then you need to do that too. \u00a0If you expect them to respond quickly to your communications, then you need to do that as well. \u00a0If a leader isn’t willing to lead by example for his\/her followers, that’s bad. \u00a0If you are in a leadership position, everyone is looking at you. And whether you like it or not, that means they follow your example. So what kind of examples are you leaving them with?<\/p>\n 2. \u00a0Running down employees in front of others<\/strong> – \u00a0One time I worked for a person who would talk bad about other employees in front of me. They would tell me what that other employee did wrong and how I would need to watch out for that. \u00a0They would also communicate with me to dig dirt up against other employees. \u00a0Seriously? \u00a0You get the picture. \u00a0Don’t do it.<\/p>\n 3. \u00a0Publicly correcting employees<\/strong> –\u00a0I have seen way too many leaders who simply don’t know how to properly correct an employee who has done something wrong. \u00a0When you correct someone in public, in front of their peers, it is humiliating. \u00a0And it builds resentment. If you have to correct someone then you close your door and do it in private. \u00a0To do otherwise is simply wrong.<\/p>\n 4. \u00a0Delegating responsibility without authority<\/strong> – I worked for a person one time who would delegate projects to me, but then would constantly ‘follow up’ with me to make sure that I was doing it exactly as they would have done it. \u00a0I couldn’t actually make any decisions or implement anything without first checking with them, so it was as if I wasn’t really working on the project. \u00a0This is a control issue, and bad leaders do this all the time. \u00a0And honestly, isn’t it really about getting credit for when the project goes good? \u00a0Yeah, it is. \u00a0(Except for when it goes bad, then skip to #7 next week.) \u00a0 If that is how you are going to lead, then why don’t you just do everything yourself anyway?<\/p>\n 5. \u00a0Denying employees opportunities to grow<\/strong> – The only way that employees are going to get better at what they do is to be given the opportunity to do so. \u00a0If they are never stretched, they won’t grow. \u00a0And that sometimes means giving them the opportunity to fail without the fear of dire consequences. \u00a0If you habitually ‘banish’ people who fail at tasks you give them, what do you think others in the organization are going to do when they see you do that? \u00a0Exactly. \u00a0They won’t ever truly work hard for you because they see what happens to those who fail. Help your employees grow by providing them opportunities to learn, from both successes and failures.<\/p>\n So that’s my first 5 things that lousy leaders do. \u00a0Next week I’ll share the next 5 things, which are even worse than these 5 things. \u00a0Till then, feel free to share this with that lousy leader you work for. \u00a0On second thought, don’t do that. \u00a0It could only end up bad for you. \u00a0Just find someone else to work for. \u00a0Quick.<\/p>\n