The first thought that pops into my head when I think of a bad leader is Michael Scott from The Office. I know he’s not necessarily a bad leader but his actions place him into that category.
Michael was always well meaning, or at least his character came across that way. However, everything he did left his employees feeling low and down.
His actions made his team view him as a bad leader.
Image by Ken Teegardin
Michael Scott isn’t the only bad leader out there in TV land. There’s plenty more. And their actions tell you they need help!
Sadly, we see too many people placed into leadership who follow in their footsteps. They make the same mistakes over and over again.
Let’s see what 4 actions will lead others to see you as a bad leader.
Bad Leader Action 1: Lead and interact with everyone the same – There are leaders who look for a textbook on leadership and decide to follow it verbatim. That means finding one way to treat their team.
After this leadership style is carried out for an extended period of time, you begin to see the fatigue of the team. The loss of energy. A dead team.
Ouch!
Have you ever seen a leader who does this? They don’t know the key to motivating their key players is to discover their strengths and place them in areas they can shine.
Don’t bring the one size fits all mindset to your leadership. Instead, cultivate an environment that values the expertise and strengths of everyone on the team.
Bad Leader Action 2: Play the blame game – What happened here? Who’s fault is this? Heads are going to roll!
These are words that come from a leader who’s ready to play the blame game.
There’s something wrong. Someone messed up. And they’re going to discover who, what and why.
The only problem is, they’re always looking externally. They’re looking at their team.
The blame always falls on someone other than themselves.
Rarely does the bad leader look internally to examine what has happened. To discover if they’re the root cause of the issue.
Playing the blame game puts everyone on edge. It stifles creativity. It destroys passion.
Instead of playing the blame game, begin doing some internal examination. Look for areas you can improve and that could help prevent the mistakes you’re seeing from your team.
Bad Leader Action #3: Be oblivious to what’s happening within your organization – Having worked in many different industries, I’ve seen this bad leadership action repeated time and time again.
As leaders rise in the ranks, you can become oblivious to what’s happening within your organization and on the ground floor. You become disconnected and don’t even realize it.
Bad leaders become disconnected. They lose the insights they had of those on the lower end of the chain.
Realize this happens. Also realize you can avoid this by staying in touch with every level within your organization.
If you can’t connect with people on each level, find people who can communicate to you what’s happening. Don’t let the disconnect happen.
Bad Leader Action #4: Reward yourself frequently while leaving the rest of the team out – We’ve all heard the complaints of how corporate executives no longer care about the working man. They’re happy in their corner office, collecting the big checks, driving new cars, and taking expensive vacations.
All the while, the employees haven’t been rewarded in years.
Times are tough. Money is tight.
But your team is watching. They’re seeing more and more money go towards perks for the leader. And they’ve stopped buying what you’re selling.
It’s time for a turnaround.
Decide you’re going to freeze your pay alongside the employees, or even take a pay cut. Stop with the frivolous expenses, the new vehicles, the fancy digs.
Show your team that you’re in it with them.
Sometimes we fall into bad leadership actions due to a lack of attention. Other times it’s from a selfish desire. Or it could even be a lack of information.
If we want to be a great leader, we’ve got to be aware of the unique talents of those we lead, own up to our faults, realize what’s going on with our employees, and join in with the suffering of our team.
Don’t be the bad leader. You’re better than that. You know what you need to do to be better. Go do it!
Question: What other bad leadership actions have you seen leader do? Please share one or two and how we can avoid it in the comment section below.
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.