Last week we talked about the major attributes of leadership. This week, I’m going to cover some of the areas where leaders fail. As I go through half of this list of where I’m only going to share 5 out of 10, please, rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10, 10, you’re a rockstar, 1, you’re not. This is about self-reflection. Because as we address these issues, work on them, find a guide to actually help us, and get better, everybody wins. Growth may be uncomfortable, but that’s where all the success lies on the other side of that uncomfortableness.
I will now share five major causes of failure in leadership that you need to be conscious of.
The first one is the Inability to Organize Details. Now, if you’re not a great organized person yourself, you hopefully have created systems. Systems stand for saving yourself, stress, time, energy, and money. To be systemized, create checklists to actually force you to be organized, to put the details in place. Over the years as a coach, I’ve developed systems, checklists, and such that keep me in line, I make sure I’m dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s, so everything is structured and detailed and I just follow the list of what I’m supposed to do. I also instruct the people on my team to follow the same process and I just follow up accordingly.
The number two is Fear of Competition from Followers. If you’re a leader of an organization, but you are afraid that if you train the people on your team too well, they will go somewhere else and become your competition, that’s a problem waiting to happen. Remember my first blog in this series, what you think about most, mixed with emotion, backed by faith will translate itself into the physical equivalent. I share a quote from my book Knock It Out of The Park Leadership, “Treat your team like they make a difference and they will.” If you are fearful of training your people on your team for them to become too great that they might go somewhere else and become your competition, you’re going to sabotage their success, you’re going to sabotage your success. Trust me, this stance will have them eventually leave to go find a better leader to work for. Be very conscious of that. Your job as a leader is to build other leaders. Make yourself the best you can be, and help them become the best they can be. This way everybody wins.
Number three is The Emphasis of Authority or Title. You may be the president of the organization, but don’t take advantage of that title like the old dictatorship ages years back and think, “I’m the president, you need to listen to me.” No, that’s just your title of the organization, understand you still have a responsibility of being a leader and example of excellence, to set the culture and brand, so your team can follow and take the business and organization to the next level.
The next is Unwillingness to Render Humble Service. As we get more confident, as we grow, as we make more money, as we become successful, don’t forget where you came from. Stay humble in your journey to greatness and be willing to share that humble service with your clients and team, and people will always want to be around you and your organization.
And the last, Expectations to Pay for What They Know versus Doing the Job with What They Know. Let me clarify. I always say knowledge is not power. It’s the application of knowledge is power. “Your actions speak so loudly; I can’t hear a word you’re saying.” People don’t care how much you know. They care about what you do and the results you get with what you know. Take action, apply what you know, get results and commit to impacting others along the way.
These are just five areas of failure in leadership. Grade yourself, and see where you need to shine up. And as we work on getting better, a day becomes a week, becomes a month, becomes a year, and all these habits compound upward. And a year from now, you’ll look back and you’ll wonder how you had a problem or challenge with leadership in the beginning as you’ve shined up your leadership skills and spilled over to your team in the results they’re producing.
Leaders build leaders; everybody wins!
COACH MICHAEL DILL is an Award-Winning Certified Business Coach, global speaker, and published author. He is a proud Action Coach Franchise partner as well as the President of Power & Ice Wealth Creation a strategic leadership company that works with business owners, leaders, teams, and entrepreneurs to both develop a systematized and structured organization while accelerating their mindset, efficiencies, and effectiveness to grow both personally and professionally to achieve extraordinary results. He brings more than 40 years of business and entrepreneurial experience in his leadership, team training, and mentoring practice. Businesscoachmichaeldill.com