A good leader is the one who knows how to instruct, motivate and keep his employees on the right track so as to make them perform efficiently and deliver a project on the given deadline. These might seem like the words of some book on self-help or management. But when it comes to handling real-life situations, the story may have a lot of twists and turns. Every leader has to face a lot of personal and professional challenges. And a human being tends to make some mistakes. However, there are some mistakes a leader just cannot afford to make. Some of these are mentioned below:
Punishing Your Employee
The word punishing might sound too harsh but anything done to make your employee regret his/her mistake is not a way to go for a good leader. If an employee or a junior has not performed well, raising your voice or giving a sarcastic comment can make your relations weaker which will show its after-effects further on. And they will not be good.
Carrying an Ego to Workplace
Perhaps the most important rule of leadership is leaving your ego aside and being impartial. If your employee senses that you have ego issues he or she can never be honest with you as doing that might hurt your ego. And you don’t want an unfaithful employee.
Panicking
There are moments in a professional life where the pressure is such that can nudge you to be out of control. However, you, as the captain of the ship cannot lose patience. You have to look deep into the problem and find a logical and workable solution. You might also have to encourage your employees and let them know that you trust them.
Keeping Aloof
Your employee can never be open enough to give an honest opinion if you do not have a personal bonding with him/her. Employees will really feel valuable if you occasionally talk about their whereabouts and appreciate them for their good performance. Showing that you are someone difficult to reach for an employee cannot be beneficial.
Not Accepting Mistakes
Taking responsibility for your mistake is one of the best things you can do as a leader. This builds up a confidence in your employees as well and they inturn will not be afraid of making mistakes and hence be more productive and innovative in their performance.
Being Confused
You are not qualified to be a leader if you have trouble decisions at the right time. If your team sees you as a confused person, they will not be able to rely on you or respect you. You provide a plan of action on which your team can act.
Underestimating an Employee
A good leader respects each of his/her team employees’ opinion. You may not act on it. But trying to understand an opinion wouldn’t hurt. This encourages an employee to generate even better ideas.
Being a leader is not easy which is why most of the people choose to be led by others. But you must keep in mind that just becoming a leader will not take you anywhere. You have to understand and act upon the responsibilities of at least a good leader if not an ideal one.