Common mistakes leaders make

We have been witness to  many companies going through a massive downfall due to the leaders who lacked integrity and destroyed the business. The real tragedy is when great leaders make mistakes day after day, which are obvious and visible to everyone in the company. Sometimes, it is the unintentional gap in integrity that harms the leaders themselves, their employees as well as the companies. High integrity CEOs have been recorded to achieve a higher yield while the low integrity CEOs end up with lower yields.  The high integrity CEOs are seen as humble, with little or no concern about their personal career success and eventually they do better than any other, in terms of compensation as well as their career. 

Dodging accountability could be another major mistake. Being a leader requires confidence for their own decisions as well as for the team. The best leaders tend to take the blame but share the credit. Many leaders are not open to criticism and react badly at it. They tend to not see what others see and become tough to work with. The other common mistake many leaders make is to forget that communication is a two way street. Some leaders do not provide enough context to people for the things they are expected to do, some don’t offer feedback while some are not open to hearing new ideas and allow communication.

In order to avoid conflict, the leaders avoid firing poor performers. This could also be because they feel sorry for an employee or it is difficult for them to take a tough decision. While there is nothing wrong in being compassionate, the leaders need to know when it is appropriate to let the under performing employees go. Leaders tend to pay less attention to the people and only look into what is happening in the company. Leaders need to know that people are the most important assets of a company and they need to be paid adequate attention.

Leaders need to understand the productivity is different for a doer and for a leader. In order to micromanage every activity, they sometimes fall off the schedule and end up feeling unproductive. A leader needs to know that his integrity rests in allowing the individuals to do their jobs.  While these are some of the common mistakes, they are also easily avoidable and easy to fix.