5 Signs You’re A Bad Leader

It’s common knowledge that leadership is nothing that you can learn from experience. Instead, it’s a happy mixture of creative thinking, setting high personal goals, and dressing for the job you want. But while these can be the key to working your way up to a management position, they don’t make you good at it. In fact, if you’re guilty of any of these 5 management crimes, it’s fair to say that you’re a bad manager.

1. Your time means overtime

Working overtime is never a sign of dedication or quality work. You might want to make a good impression or push your team to work harder, but overtime is not synonymous with increased productivity. In truth, working long hours means that you need to improve your time management strategy so that you allocate the appropriate time for each task. Your team will appreciate the change of directive, and you’ll even be surprised to find out that overall productivity increases with shorter work days.

2. You don’t share information

Managers who keep business information to themselves and only share superficial notes with their team never last long in an office. For your team, it’s unfair treatment as they deserve to know what is happening to their workplace, whether the company is struggling with debts or acquiring new partners. More importantly, your team will resent you for not keeping them informed.

3. Your staff don’t trust you

It doesn’t matter how hard you work at improving your management role. If your team doesn’t trust you, then you are doing a bad job. As a rule of thumb, staff finds it difficult to trust a manager who is happy to criticize colleagues in front of them. It is often perceived as a sign that you are more likely to blame someone else instead of being accountable for the performance of your team. Additionally, if you are obsessed with the arrival and departure time of your team, it’s likely that proof of presence is more important to you than achieving results. For your team, it’s a weakness because their work is valued by the hours of office presence instead of quality.

4. Your work matters more

The famous “Do you have a minute ?” line, dropped before borrowing an employee’s time for a matter that wasn’t on their agenda initially is an office nightmare. Interruptions in the workplace make it hard to work effectively. If you’re a manager who likes to interrupt and ask questions frequently, you are not only disturbing your team but also showing them that you don’t value their work.

“All successful businesses have one thing in common? They have great leadership. Great leaders not only have the qualities and traits to create value. They are a catalyst to ensuring that all aspects of a business work together. There may be people who are born leaders but many of us are not. If you are looking to take boost your career with a business leadership role, leadership coaching can help you get there.” – Leadership

5. You don’t show empathy

Driving your team to achieve results, no matter what is an old-school management method. It doesn’t work. Your team has personal lives and worries that they take with them to work. Knowing and respecting these – acknowledging that you work with people – makes you a great leader. Ignoring social emotions to focus on the tasks of the day instead is likely to decrease overall office performance. Nobody likes to work for a heartless robot.

Being a leader is easily done. All you need is the right knowledge and connection. Being a good leader is an art that you can master with practice and common sense. It’s about caring for the people you work with. A great leader is above all a great carer.

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