28 Common Leadership Mistakes

How many of these leadership and management mistakes do you make?

1. Thinking and acting like you know all the answers
2. Confusing delegation with 'dumping'
3. Not being really real or genuine
4. Not being an exemplary role model
5. Treating staff like children
6. Not practicing The Platinum Rule^® - treating others as they wish to be treated
7. Not knowing what you want people's value-added to be
8. Not communicating the context for certain decisions you make or override
9. Saying, "...because I'm the boss" as justification for, basically, anything
10. Not saying, "...sorry, my bad"
11. Discounting constructive feedback instead of learning from it
12. Not really listening
13. Fooling yourself into thinking that you are listening (when you're not)
14. Not addressing the right issues
15. Not knowing what the right issues are that need to be addressed
16. Giving vague or 'coded' answers to requests for specific information
17. Not stimulating healthy debate among your staff and peers - even if it makes you wrong
18. Not admitting that you made the exact same mistake once (or twice) yourself
19. Being too serious
20. Being too fast to judge others
21. Not realizing that the goal is not to make the best decision possible, but to make the best decision given the time allotted and the info available
22. Feeling threatened by your staff's competence and zealousness
23. Not saying what you mean
24. Not meaning what you say
25. Not saying, 'Thank you', 'please', and 'nice job' often enough
26. Not saying, 'Let's talk about how to do this more efficiently' often enough
27. Discouraging others from taking vacation or leaving work early from time to time
28. Forgetting that a true leader never stops learning about how to be an even better leader

For the ones you recognize yourself doing, start tracking how many times you do them each week. You'll be amazed at the power that little tick marks can have in helping you to modify your attitude and behavior.