Monday, August 17, 2009
Leadership & Management Traps
What do you feel are the "traps" to which leaders and managers are most vulnerable? What types of traps do leaders and managers fall into that can delay, derail or destroy their careers? Please give us your thoughts.
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6 comments:
One of the most obvious traps that I find leaders fall victim to is that of "needing to have all the knowledge". Believing that if they hold the knowledge, then they also hold the power. It continually baffles me when I hear of this happening, still today, in so many companies. It's critical, to the success of the leader, that they share knowledge, empower their staff and mentor their staff. A team of highly trained and knowledgeable staff is a sure fire way to guarantee the leader's success. Without it - the leader will never be any more than they were when they started.
Interesting comment. I've been reading a book called Insights on Leadership which has chapters contributed by many leading thinkers of our time, including Robert Greenleaf, Stepheh Covey and Ken Blanchard. The book has to do with service, stewardship, spirit and servant leadership. It sounds like you comment on how leaders share knowledge and empower staff members fits with the books theme.
Micromanagement.
From the perspective of a worker, nothing is more demeaning than to be continually told HOW to do the job you have trained for and/or worked in all your professional career, especially when that telling comes from someone who has no appreciation for the work you do.
I earned an award for being the best at my job four times, and I still had a dictatorial tyrant (think of Freire's description of the oppressive leader) who not only denigrated the work I did, but professionally insulted my work performance.
That kind of behavior stems from someone with a micromanaging style. And that's just the surface of the negative behavior that results.
Rich
My best wishes for every success with your new book.
To keep from being undone, my advice to leaders: Watch your mouth, watch your actions, don't make rules you cannot follow.
That said, I also realize the essence of the saying 'let no good deed go unpunished' Leaders, even those whose only motive is the common good, are easy targets.
Successful leaders seem to have the intuition to know when to react, when to change and when to ignore. If there was a scientific formula to follow, we would all be better at leadrship.
Rich,
I would agree with the sharing of information. I would add leaders who cannot admit they don't have the answer to a question and are afraid to say "let me check with my staff," lose respect of their peers and their staff. In this age of rapid technological and global expansion, it is impossible to be the SME (subject matter expert) on every area over which you supervise. I can give a broad sweeping overview of projects and events, but if asked for details, I will I ask the specific staff person involved to respond. They have the in depth knowledge.
It is amazing that so many of us STILL deal with leaders who want to horde information, micromanage and "think" they know it all. I've had that experience more than once in the last decade.
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