Blog Posts

By Dr. Scott.

One of the many constants when it comes to thinking about leadership is that leadership is something we all recognize when we see it.  And, that goes for both good leadership and bad leadership.  When someone is an effective leader, we know it instantly.  They praise others.  They communicate well.  They earn respect and elevate those around them.  The same goes for bad leadership.  Bad leaders typically communicate poorly, assign blame on others, and either micromanage or disappear.

Another one of those constants relating to leadership is that I am probably, as they say, preaching to the choir.  We’ve all experienced both good and bad leadership first hand.  In all likelihood, as leaders ourselves, we’ve led effectively at times and other times we’ve led badly.  Good leaders, though, learn from both their triumphs and their mistakes and prepare themselves to be more effective the next time they encounter a similar situation.

This week, then, we begin a short series and leaders leading badly with the guiding theme being to recognize these behaviors in ourselves and work to mitigate our own leading badly tendencies.  Here is this article, we’ll focus on three leaders leading badly pitfalls and best practices for leading more effectively. 

Interrupting

Most of us are guilty of this one in both social and professional situations.  Let’s be clear in that we don’t mean gentle nudges to refocus when discussions veer off topic or beyond the agenda.  What we mean here is when we disrupt the course of a discussion to make our point or, worse, change the subject.  As leaders, interrupting meetings or brainstorming with our solution or our decision sends clear messages.  And, those messages aren't very good.  Interrupting says we aren’t listening, we are uninterested in the opinions of others, that our minds are already made up, and that the opinions of others don’t matter.  Yep, interrupting, especially from leadership, sends all of those signals and messages at once!

Simon Sinek preaches that leaders should Be the Last to Speak  and “should ask questions that do not reveal your personal opinion.”  Charles Dormer in 15 Bad Leadership Behaviors (And How to Fix Them) agreed, emphasizing that leaders “should take a breath before jumping in, be last to express their opinion, and listen intentionally."  Dormer further emphasized that “if a discussion closed down without including everyone, you risk not getting access to great ideas.”

Throughout many of the blogs in this series, I’ve emphasized the importance of active listening as a key leadership skill.  For example, you may want to check out Strategic Innovation and Inspirational Communication and Leadership Potential. 

Applying active listening skills, such as giving the speaker your full attention, providing encouragement through verbal and non-verbal cues, and asking objective questions, are all ways to help us avoid interrupting and empower our followers to contribute.  However, it all comes down to applying the best practice when the need arises.  Whether its counting to ten before speaking, taking deep breaths, writing down notes to raise points later, or applying all those active listening techniques, we can decrease the instances where, as leaders, we disrupt team discussions with interruptions.

Micromanaging

Another pitfall that many leaders must overcome is micromanaging.  Whether it is a tendency toward perfectionism, an unwillingness or an inability to delegate responsibilities, or good old fashion, unrealistic expectations, leaders who micromanage their followers are top candidates for any leaders leading badly awards we might give out.

And, micromanagement is a slippery slope of other bad effects including a devaluing of team member skills and contributions, a lack of empathy, a decrease in innovation and productivity, and eventually a decrease in morale and an increase in turn-over rates.

Danielle Cronquist in 10 Signs of Bad Leadership—And How to Become a Better Leader listed micromanaging as a bad leadership quality.  Also on Cronquist’s list are taking credit for other’s work, overworking people, refusing to advocate for employee benefits, and shifting blame.  Many of these interrelated habits of bad leadership all circle back to either micromanagement or its polar opposite, a lack of oversight altogether.  Both extremes typically lead to low morale, high turnover, and a toxic organizational culture.

Learning to delegate is one of the most important skills that leaders must learn to become more effective.  Here again, Simon Sinek emphasized in his Guide to Leadership  that one of the reasons why leaders have trouble delegating is because they actually know how to do the job better than their followers because “that’s what got them promoted.”  Sinek states that a “transition” is needed to learn how to lead and how to delegate and this comes with “empathy and perspective,” but also comes with advanced leadership training and experience. 

To expedite this process, leaders can help themselves avoid micromanaging pitfalls through visionary leadership best practices, specifically inspiring and motivating team members through clear and compelling communications.  Encouragement and empowerment are also critical to helping leaders delegate more and micromanage less.  To learn more about visionary leadership, check out my six part series on visionary leadership starting with Characteristics of Visionary Leaders. 

Stagnating

Bad leadership typically leads to inflexibility and a gradual stagnation of strategic planning, organizational growth, team building, and eventually market share.  All of this impacts operations negatively, leads to toxic organizational behavior, and undermines the long-term sustainability of the organization.

When leaders are unwilling to embrace or are resistant to change, innovation and sound strategic planning suffers.  An inability to make decisions or a negative mindset toward news ways of doing things, an organization is forced to rely on outdated technologies or processes. And, the competition gains a competitive advantage, simply by continuing to improve in the areas of functional operations.

Internally, a stagnation in leadership decision making or actions leads to a devaluing of team member contributions and employee disillusionment with the organizational mission and culture.  Unhappy employees equate to unhappy stakeholders and fewer and fewer repeat customers.

Some best practices for overcoming stagnation include a dedication to effective strategic management techniques that focus on constant improvement, data driven decision making, and a forward-thinking organizational cultures and behaviors.  Personally, leaders can focus on being open to new ideas and new technologies and investing in life-long learning and professional development for themselves and their followers.

Final Thoughts

In this blog, we examined concepts relating to leaders leading badly and some recommended best practices for mitigating our own leading badly tendencies.  Specifically, we examined the negative impacts that interrupting, micromanaging, and stagnating cause.  Overarching techniques for leading more effectively include active listening, visionary leadership applications, and strategic management processes.  Next week, we’ll examine some additional bad leadership characteristics and ways to develop our own leadership skills to overcome and mitigate these common mistakes that make us less effective and less impactful as leaders.

Thank you for reading the Madison School of Professional Development Wednesday Leadership Blog where we highlight leadership best practices each week.  Check out more from this blog and other blogs hosted by MEG here.

If you have a topic that you would like to see me pontificate on, drop me an email at info@meg-spd.com.

Dr. Scott Eidson is the Executive Vice President of the Madison School of Professional Development and holds doctoral degrees in both history and business.  When not thinking about leadership, he’s usually thinking about surfing or old Volkswagens.