How to Avoid Leadership Traps
Thinking about what leadership means may help you to avoid five common traps of leadership. For the purpose of this article here, it is enough to say that: Leadership is the process by which an individual gets a group to focus on and move toward a common goal for the benefit and cohesiveness of the group or the larger group to whom the members of the group belong or are associated with. That being said, let’s get into five common traps of leadership and how to avoid them.
1 : The need to constantly remind everyone you are the leader
You may have earned the leadership position through hard work, talent, experience and skills, but remember leadership serves no purpose if it is about the leader and not about the group and its focus. Why lead from a position of legitimate power? If you find you are constantly reminding people you are the leader to remain in charge than you are lacking in your direction of the group and you are an obstacle to its progress. Group members are less likely to share their ideas with you when their ideas are not in line with your own if this is your attitude and will feel as if any suggestions they make will be used by you to benefit your position. i.e. ‘Look how well I did leading this group bring on my next assignment, reward or promotion.’. Maintain your leadership status and role with effective communication skills, sharing what you have learned and allowing others to share what they have learned, building trust with the group members and listening to their ideas and you will remain the leader by referent power.
2 : Lacking in innovation
So you have been doing x for y amount of time and it has worked for you. Why should you change your methods now? Staying on top of the latest research and developments and being willing to incorporate new ways of doing things into your current repertoire will not only leave you with a new bag of tricks when things are not going as planned but will gain you respect among your followers as well as make your followers more open to new ideas and change. After all, they are being led by you so lead by example. Change is a constant and old ways of doing business just may not work in the new economy. People are finding themselves doing more for less in these current economic times and if your methods of getting things done in a leadership role have incorporated a directive style then maybe a new style which fosters communication and a sense of accomplishment in the group may just be what will keep you on top and in charge.
3 : Not walking the walk
Or more blatantly, being a hypocrite. Model the way. If you want group members or subordinates to follow a certain dress code, show up a few minutes early to recap a strategy before a meeting, etc. then make sure you are doing this too. Otherwise your followers will not trust you and take the double standard as a message that the project, goal or the group is not all that important to you.
4 : Lack of acknowledging your own emotions
Allowing stress to build while pushing it aside is a sure way to ensure somewhere at some point you take it out on the wrong person or that you act and react to situations in a manner that shows anxiety. Also, being insincere and faking interest or any other emotion to a situation or idea is easy to spot and insulting. Gain the respect of your followers and subordinates by dealing with your emotions and being sincere with your feelings. This will help you to stay respected. A respected leader is more likely to have his or her advice and directives followed as well as get more productive results from followers than someone who is being followed simply because they are in charge.
5 : Not getting out of the office
You cannot expect to adequately use your resources if you don’t know what they are. Take the time to get to know the members of your team and potential resources by participating in team building events, continuing to network, mentoring and having a mentor. This is a great way to get to know your team and what matters to them as well as to have insight to the type of leadership style that will gain the best results. This will also foster a sense that you care about your followers which will make them more productive and committed to results. Having a mentor at any stage in your career can be beneficial in terms of having someone to bounce ideas off of and learn from.
Effective leadership is more than about being in charge. It takes a certain amount of self-awareness to be an accomplished leader. Don’t be afraid to check your pride at the door and take an assessment of how you are conducting yourself and make changes. Being self-aware of your behaviors and your motives can help prevent you from falling into the leadership traps mentioned above as well as to aid you in other ways to stay a successful leader.
