The sting of doing your best and falling short is a giant kick in the gut.
5 painful leadership blunders:
- Believe others perceive you the way you perceive yourself. Blind spots prolong frustration. Powerful influence requires strong connection.
- Forget how power causes others to adapt to you. You seldom hear the unvarnished truth.
- Win every discussion and control every decision. The more you control others the less energy they have. When you aggressively push back:
- Subordinates feel forced to either argue or back down. Many will back down.
- Observers learn to shut-down and clam-up.
- You feel powerful, but you weaken your team.
- Speak first. I can always spot the power person in a group. They tend to speak first and most frequently. Or, they give permission for others to speak.
- Too many options – too few decisions.
7 ways to rise above painful blunders:
- Seek feedback.
- What do you think I’m trying to accomplish? (Don’t tell, ask.)
- What am I doing that makes you think that?
- What am I doing that hinders my performance?
- Where am I most effective?
- How am I impacting others when I’m at my best? Worst?
- Find insightful, courageous people to speak into your life. Look inside and outside your organization.
- Interpret your impulse to seize control as a nudge toward giving it.
- Breathe deep and stay open when others push back.
- Invite others to talk, when tempted to control conversations.
- Use questions to create focus. Ask more. Tell less.
- How might we achieve a 3% increase in revenue?
- What could we do to attract top talent to our organization?
- What’s important right now?
- How does this help us move forward? In what way?
- Prioritize staff development. Stop complaining about the people around you. Develop them. If they resist development, remove them.
Bonus: Enhance energy by eliminating options.
What painful leadership blunders have you seen?
How might leaders deal with painful blunders?