Mistakes happen. Hopefully, by learning some of the most common leadership mistakes others make, you can learn these lessons without having to go through them all yourself.
Remember, though that if you do make a mistake as a leader, one of the best things you can do is acknowledge it and move forward with the appropriate changes. We’re all human, and mistakes are part of the process.
The best leaders are always learning, adapting, and growing their skills, which brings us into the first leadership mistake to avoid!
Forgetting To Help Them Grow
Your role as a leader isn’t only to get your group through the current project. You have to keep an eye on the overall goals of the team and the company in the long term. Every project you work on together is another step toward goals far in the future. Your team has to keep growing, so the company keeps growing. They also have to keep learning so that they stay happy and motivated in their jobs.
It’s easy to lose sight of this and focus just on today. Who has time to motivate a team or sign them up for training? It’s easy to start to believe that it’s not your job to help them advance, but that’s a mistake. The best leaders know this.
So how do you avoid this? By encouraging your employees to do well and try new things when they’re ready, and to provide training opportunities for them. You can also reward your team members, even just with praise, when they are doing well at their jobs.
Not Communicating Goals To The Team
This may seem obvious, but poor communication can have a significant impact on a team’s long-term success. If this is continuously happening, and it’s happening with more than one person, then the communication problem is probably you.
Check-in with your employees to make sure they understand what their goals are on this project and the next. It’s easy for your team to lose sight of the overall goals when they’re stuck in the minutiae. It’s your job to help remind them of this through clear communication.
Failing to Delegate
You have a team of experienced people working for you. Yes, you may know how to do it best. Yes, you may trust your work more than you trust others. And yes, it may be faster and less stressful for you to do it yourself than to delegate it to someone else. This circles back to the tip about giving them opportunities to grow.
You can’t do everything yourself, and more than that, you shouldn’t. It’s important that you trust your team and give them opportunities if they make mistakes, hey! They’ll learn from them, just like the rest of us.