Leadership largely determines the success or failure of a business. Every business owner has their own style of leading, with different levels of skills and qualities that they have formed throughout the years. However, the amount of experience that one has does not equate to good leadership. There are so many bosses out there that are poor leaders, and they often don’t realize it.
It is easy to tell when other people are being poor leaders, but it is often difficult to determine and understand when you have poor leadership skills yourself. It is even harder to accept, as is the case for bosses who simply don’t realize that they’re being a bad leader.
So, how do you know if you need to work on your leadership skills and hire a leadership coach such as that from Miick? Here are the signs to look for as you evaluate yourself.
You’re not producing positive results
One of the first signs of poor leadership is the failure to produce positive results in the workplace. How can you set an example for your employees if you yourself are having trouble doing a good job? There is no good reason for a leader to have poor performance at work. It shows employees that you’re not cut out for the job, and that can not only cause them to doubt your leadership, but it can also affect their motivation at their job.
You lack empathy
It’s important to appear strong and firm as a leader, but you are not a robot that is incapable of empathy.
Empathy is a necessary leadership skill that will allow you to understand your people, which, in turn, will help you predict the effect that your actions will have on them. It helps inspire your team and make them feel appreciated. And as a leader, you should know by now that appreciation is one of the most important things that employees are looking for in a company to make them stay.
If you struggle with relating to others, understanding them, and seeing situations from their point of view, it’s a clear sign that you need to work on your empathy.
You lack goals and vision
Without clear goals and a vision, what are you leading your team towards? Employees want to know why they’re doing their job; what goals are they working for; and what those goals mean to the company. That said, lacking goals and vision means that you’re leading your team through an unclear path without a common goal, and that can easily kill their motivation.
You’re bad at communication
Communication is one of the key pillars of leadership. Good leaders can communicate effectively with their team, especially in difficult situations. Bad leaders, on the other hand, are unable to properly express themselves through verbal dialogue, chats, emails, and other forms of communication. They are also unable to get their point across during difficult situations, or simply choose not to communicate at all.
Don’t forget that communication is a two-way street. Another sign of bad leadership is poor listening skills or the inability to listen to others and actually absorb what they are saying. It is usually done by bosses who don’t value other people’s opinion, much less the people below them.
You have poor flexibility
Flexibility is the ability to adapt to unexpected or unpredictable situations as they come. To overcome the issue of poor flexibility, you can undertake the executive leadership programme. It is having enough creativity to solve problems with new styles of leadership, new solutions, and modified approaches
Poor leaders refuse to change their ways when the need arises. They always want things done their way and are not open to suggestions. This type of behavior not only holds you back as a leader, but it also creates a toxic environment for your employees who have to “do it by the book.”
You are not humble enough
Good leaders practice humility and recognize that they aren’t the only ones with great ideas. They are unpretentious and make themselves approachable to make others around them comfortable with sharing their ideas.
Bad leaders are the opposite. They don’t value other people’s opinions and lack trust in their employees, often micromanaging to “make sure that the job is done right”. As a result, employees doubt their own work, feel they aren’t trusted and are slow to grow within the company because of their own leader.
Admitting your own faults is not an easy feat, but it is necessary to recognize your need for improvement. Once you do, work on the leadership skills that you lack and improve the ones that you do have.
