Being an effective leader/manager is not an easy task. You must possess the ability to guide at the same time inspire your employees. A good leader must be able to work under pressure and still maintain composure and manage to get the job done.
Listed below are behaviors that managers and business leaders should steer clear of. These behaviors not only discount your leadership capability, credibility and integrity, but these can come back to haunt you and eventually be your downfall.
1. Act like a dictator. Do not put your position in your head and boss around employee. Acting like some kind of a supreme leader and disregarding others opinion builds a negative perception of you amongst the workforce.
2. Blame others for outcomes. Whining, pointing fingers, making excuses or putting the blame on others show lack of maturity and accountability. The leader is after all accountable for the performance of their team or employees, so it is better to look well into the mirror when things are not going the way it should be.
3. Evade dealing with and resolving problems. Running or shunning away from a conflict or problem would not make it go away. Unresolved conflicts grow until it becomes uncontrollable and greatly affect productivity of the team. No team or company would be functional if grudges or ill-feelings are hidden and avoided as it creates a negative office culture.
4. Separating self and/or team from other people in the company. This type of leader thinks he/she and or their team alone and no one else will be more effective in completing tasks. Every employee wants to feel he/she is part of the team and has contributed his/her skills and talents. Ignoring them would leave you stagnant on ideas and other people low in morale.
5. Making commitments you have no intention of keeping. You would lose integrity if you are giving false promises like added incentives or even promotions in order to meet your goal or get things done faster when you really have no intention of honoring them, let alone have the power to do grant such promise. When you agree to do something, you have to be true to your word and take action.
6. Self-deception. Portraying an image that is totally the opposite of who you are or something or someone that you are not to impress and get what you want. Once you trudge down the path of pretension, it would later come at you and haunt you. You would be more comfortable by being genuine and straight forward with people.
7. Make empty threats. Voicing reckless empty threats to employees signals that you are neither confident nor competent. This kind of behavior is immature and identical to a toddler showing a fit of temper tantrum. Be decisive and choose your words appropriately.
8. Crave power. Some leaders greed for more wealth and power more than anything else. These are the greedy type of leaders who do things for self-gain. In the enterprise world, craving for power typically ends badly.
9. Be grandiose. While having a grand vision for your company is essential, it should also be backed up by something credible and logical. A supersized, over-inflated ego almost always does make things happen.
Steering away from these behaviors will make you an effective leader with integrity to serve as a role model in the organization.