Absolutely agree with Mark Evans. Mark, my former client when he was a CMO, is now an advisor, coach, trustee and plural NED. Mark has focussed on leadership for many years now, and it is always worthwhile to read his blogs and listen to The Places We’ll Go podcast on marketing.
Less than great leaders have the opposite effect, and on the basis that sometimes it is good to reflect on what NOT to do, here are the 5 top traits of leadership that you should avoid as a leader yourself, or that you need to regard as a red flag if your leader demonstrates them in excess (after all nobody is perfect). They are in each case a behaviour or trait that would seem to be perfectly fine, and perhaps is at a managerial level, but they don’t make for great leadership in my opinion. Here’s 5 things not to do, or not to do too much of, as a leader.
- Agreeing.
At least agreeing too quickly that is. The need to create consensus is an understandable goal. However, jumping to an early consensus or even having this as the goal of a meeting, whether it is stated overtly or not, can be a mistake. First it discourages contributors from pointing out flaws in the proposal – if they know implicitly or explicitly that arguing is frowned upon then they are much less likely to disagree. And if no-one disagrees this can lead to mistakes, misunderstandings and, perhaps most disappointingly to choosing the first option that everyone can sort of buy in to, but about which no one is particularly passionate or committed to. You can see how this is a trap, as a group agreement is a pleasant and positive thing. But discouraging dialectic (the process by which an idea gets stronger as every member of the group builds on each other’s points via challenge) means that you get average decisions and this then strongly correlates with an average level of performance or success.
- Appearing to be perfect.
Or trying to appear perfect. Your leader is not Beyonce, or the pope. Or at least I think that is the case, this blog is unlikely to reach either Bel-Air or the Vatican. Their role as your leader is not to appear glamorous and soak up the spotlight. And they are not infallible. You would hardly credit this in some organisations where the leader’s image is perfectly preserved and where challenging them, especially publicly, is one of the greatest taboos. If your boss needs to appear perfect, this is taking up a huge amount of their energy. They won’t speak spontaneously, cannot answer questions freely and will surround themselves with people whose role is to protect their image. All of this inhibits proper work being done to drive the company forward.
- Exclusiveness
Some leaders don’t turn up to things very often. You might notice this in politics where a spokesperson is sent on a chat show or news programme so that the minister in question does not get asked uncomfortable questions. Being accessible is regarded by some as being too available and therefore destroying the idea of being the anointed one, as if they were an emperor of yesteryear. I was once struck by one of my leaders insisting that he personally would clear up some dog mess that he had stepped across on his way back to the HQ. When I offered to sort it he said: “No, I’m not going to ask anyone to do something unpleasant that I would not do myself”. Here was a leader to trust. Great leaders will make the time to talk to you (when you have a good point to make). Elitist leaders have a small, select, inner circle of trust and prefer not to interact outside of this unless the occasion is 100% scripted. And they definitely don’t clear up dog poop.
- Openness
You can be too open. This might seem a good quality in a collaborative environment, but it can be a problem if it fails in terms of making timely decisions. The Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator (MBTI) identifies 16 personality types based on four dichotomies: Introversion or Extraversion; Sensing or Intuition; Thinking or Feeling and Judging or Perceiving. Each type is a unique combination of preferences from these four dimensions. It is the final combination J versus P that concerns us here. Too much J (or judgement) too soon can be unhelpful, but too much of its opposite P (or perceiving) can derail a project, pitch or process. P types like to be flexible and spontaneous, which can mean that they are open to changing their mind right up until the last minute which can work havoc with deadlines whilst they get opinions from an exhaustive range of quite random unexpert advisors. So of course openness is good, and taking an agile approach to incorporating new data is crucial. But picking a route and then being open to reevaluating it on information received is better than being unable to make a timely decision.
- Bossing it.
You’ve made it, you have the big title, you are surely allowed to enjoy the power it brings.
Well no actually. The best leaders take a servant leader approach. They are there to help the wider team work as effectively as possible. They must understand everyone’s separate strengths (and weaknesses) and create a high performance playbook that leverages the overall team to its best. If your boss is concerned about even being called the boss I might worry. The best organisations that I have worked in have had a flat hierarchy and a culture (like Brainlabs) where challenge is baked in at every level and where feedback is a gift.
Great leaders make people feel valued, not sidelined. These are five common pitfalls—rushing consensus, acting perfect, being exclusive, indecisive openness, and power-tripping. Servant leadership, developing talent and playing each individual to their strengths and open, honest teamwork are the key to successful business growth and high performing teams.