Marcia's Leadership Q and As: What Leaders Need to Know, but Most Don’t
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Q. What are some of the most common mistakes that you see leaders making?
A. There are many executives leading organizations who don’t understand some fundamental leadership and management concepts. They don’t know what they don’t know, so they chase the most recent shiny coin, the latest buzzword, or management fad. What’s sustainable? Some common errors are:
1. The senior executives aren’t clear about their direction, vision, and purpose.
2. When they’re not clear, they can’t articulate it. People then don’t know what to do; they can only do their best in a floundering environment.
3. Divisions, departments, silos, and barriers are still alive and flourishing. However, the more an organization is divided, the less flow of work, information, and communication it has. Bureaucracy breeds failure. Improving the process flow from the beginning of an order all the way to the customer delivery and experience is vital. Search for and eliminate, waste, complexity, redundancy, and dysfunctional conversations. A healthy culture is creative and collaborative. How’s yours?
4. If you have quotas, incentives, arbitrary numerical goals, bonuses, ask yourself why you need to bribe your employees to do great work. With these in your organization, people will learn how to manipulate the system. Eventually it is destroyed, along with their joy in work and self-esteem.
5. The more you focus on the numbers, bottom line, forecasts, budgets, and results, the less time you have to focus on what’s essential: developing the natural leadership of your people and your culture to do great, innovative work to serve your customers. The more you try to motivate and empower your employees, the more you de-motivate them. Your role as the leader is to create the environment where people are self-motivated! That’s where the power is! Stop trying to motivate people; it’s not your job, and it doesn’t work.
These are a few ideas. Search your thinking and old assumptions for the flaws in your organization. When did you last seek new thinking, apply it, transform your company, and experience joy and exponential growth in a healthy environment? If you’re still dealing with the same issues that you were one year ago, five or ten years ago, isn’t it time for a change? It’s time to pivot your actions. Find your courage to transform.
It’s time to pivot your thinking and your actions. And you can’t do it alone. You need outside guidance from a consultant who knows how to guide you through learning and applying this innovation in leadership knowledge. Get an assessment of you and your organization—just like you would get a diagnosis for your annual physical or your car.
