7 common leadership mistakes

Someone shared with me the following list of common leadership mistakes, which appeared in the September issue of the Harvard Business Review.

I thought you might find them useful reminders, as I did.  They’re all really easy to slip into, particularly when you have a fairly informal leadership style (or leadership situation), but they’re worth thinking about.

Here they are:

1. Establishing too many goals

2. Not requiring a plan for how and when goals will be achieved

3. Failing to push for significant improvement for fear that people are already overwhelmed

4. Not assigning clear one-person accountability for each key goal

5. Signaling an unspoken “if you possibly can” at the end of a statement of expectation

6. Accepting reverse assignments (“Sure, boss, I can get it done if you will see to it that…”)

7. Stating goals in ways that may not be definable or measurable

I think number 3 is probably the one I am most likely to slip into.  everybody’s busy, everybody’s stressed, asking them to work harder (or even just ‘smarter’), especially if they’re volunteers, is really challenging.

Which do you find easiest to slip into?  Have you got any good stories, encouragement or tips for people finding different ones a challenge?

We can learn so much from our own and each other’s failures and triumphs. Join in (if you possibly can…)!

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