3 Mistake All Great Managers Make

Great leadership, management, and the development of leadership and management centers on experience. Experience is the often the key to a great leader and manager.

How do we gain that type of experience that will turn the average manager and the average leader into that great leader and manager that is able to take the resources and people they have and turn out great things?

Most successful people, and specifically great leaders and managers are very open about what type of experiences have made the greatest impact in their personal development and in helping them be who they are now. Those experiences mostly come from those things that were hardest for them.

It’s the development challenges, stretch assignments, or heat moments where they personally grew the most and learned the most important lessons that have made them a great leader and manager. Furthermore, it’s not so much the successes of these experiences that stand out the most, but the failures that resonate with the great individuals. It’s in learning from mistakes and failures that have made the greatest impact in their leadership and managerial development.

Here’s 3 of those mistakes you see most leaders and managers make at one time and those who learn these lessons are the ones who often times go on to really become the great leaders and managers.

1. Putting Too Much Emphasis on Credentials and Experience

Too many times the glamorous resume of a candidate blinds managers and leaders from seeing through the piece of paper and being able to really grasp the personality of the individual and the ability of the individual to culturally fit into the existing team. I am often times overly paranoid about wrecking the awesome atmosphere and feeling we have within my team.

I pass on candidates with extensive backgrounds and experience because I have nightmares of an individual who doesn’t gel with the rest of the team and would ruin the great atmosphere I have created for my team. A ruined atmosphere drags people down and saps the excitement of team members to come in and perform.

You’ll quickly begin to see a downward shift in performance and quality of work; It’s only a matter of time before your team members are jumping ship and begin looking for work elsewhere.

2. Not Having a Vision / Not Converting the Team to the Vision

Without a clear vision and without a strong leader actively converting his team members to follow that vision, there is little sense of purpose, priority, mission, or urgency in the work the team is doing. The team develops a sense of business as usual and there is no drive to innovate or excel in the work that is being done.

Vision is often times underestimated because of can often be intangible and is difficult to tie back to operational efficiencies or problems the team is facing. But with a clear vision and a team rallied around that vision and working towards it, you’ll see each individual cog in the the big machines working effectively and together to accomplish the overall goal that the organization and its leader has in place.

3. Relying Too Much on a Few Strengths / Compensating for Too Many Weaknesses

It’s natural to try to hide weaknesses or excuse them and attempt to over-compensate for them by relying too much on strengths currently available. Sure, this is a quick, short-term solution. However, great leaders and managers know their weaknesses and they are always working on improving in those areas and overcoming their struggles. This is the core of personal development.

Compensating for weaknesses is a cheap solution which completely neglects personal development. In the end, you’ve temporarily been able to get around a problem, but you’ve never actually solved it.

Great leaders and managers don’t simply side step problems, they eliminate them so that they cannot be plagued by the problems again in the future.