Leaders consistently strive to be effective. Who doesn’t want to be performing at their best for themselves and their team?
Except, today’s business world is more complex, expectations for leaders keep growing and leaders can become overwhelmed. This causes many good leaders to fall into survival mode and work in a reactive manner that’s neither productive or satisfying for them and their team.
It becomes a vicious cycle of trying to keep your head above water, so you start building bad habits.
These bad habits are unproductive, but they are also energy drainers that take their toll over time and become debilitating for leaders. It’s not a sign of being a bad leader, it happens unconsciously to many good leaders. That’s why people say, “they fell into a bad habit”.
Typical Bad Habits that Leaders Can Fall Into
Habits that drain leaders:
- Hero Syndrome-Wanting to be seen as the do-all boss that the company can’t live without. Wanting to be seen as the savior.
- Martyr syndrome-Same definition as above, but this person does the hero thing and constantly makes sure people know how they suffer for their company.
- Insecure and focused on politics-They protect their territory. These are leaders that are fixated on wowing their bosses with their performance and their team’s performance. They constantly worry about their status and undercut colleagues and team members.
- Being reactive and flying by the seat of their pants-This is a habit that many, many leaders fall into out of pure necessity. They don’t want to be reactive. It is stressful and inefficient, and it is not sustainable.
But their job is so complex, and they have so many responsibilities, they are putting out fires as fast as they can.
- Too much multi-tasking-For many years it was considered a badge of honor to say leaders were great multitaskers, that they could handle a million things at once. Well, now people look at that as a sign that leaders can’t or won’t delegate.
Positive Habits that Can Reinvigorate You as a Leader
- Being intentional and proactive-When you intentionally plan out your day and become more strategic, you can reduce your reactivity and the constant feel of uneasiness that comes with daily chaos. It is possible, but you have to be intentional and have a plan.
- Clear vision and consistent messaging-When you don’t have a clear vision and your message bounces all over the place, you lose your team’s focus and your own focus.
- Serving & supporting your team as a true servant leader-This is opposed to being self-serving and politically motivated. Today’s employees need to feel supported and satisfied with their job.
Even top management is pushing their managers to be servant leaders, instead of command-and-control leaders. Being a servant leader is win-win for you and your team. You will benefit you more than you may think.
- Set boundaries with your team and your boss-Put heads-down time on your calendar every day. The enables you time to be more strategic, creative, able to plan calmly and decompress when necessary. Don’t let your boss or team constantly break into that time.
Try to take control of your time instead of letting everyone else control it for you.
- Delegate and give autonomy-It not only builds your team’s skill sets, confidence and engagement, it reduces your workload so you can focus on serving/supporting them …instead of you doing it all yourself.
- Work life balance-Post pandemic has created an environment where health and wellness are valued much more than ever before. Leverage this new environment to build a true and sustainable work-life balance.
- Keep your finger on the pulse of your team-Consistently communicate and engage your team members to understand their needs and concerns. This can show you how to support them but it also helps you to understand their strengths and weaknesses.
Pushing team members into the wrong roles (square peg into a round hole) is debilitating for them and unproductive for you.
- Focus on listening, empathy, and connection-This enables you to build loyalty and trust with your team, boss, and colleagues. It’s not just about making your team perform well.
It’s about making your life as their leader so much more pleasant and productive.
When you make mistakes…and you will. Your team is more forgiving, less judgmental and they want you to succeed as much as you want them to succeed. They will be more open to your delegation and asking for their responsibility & accountability.
- Ask more then you tell-“Seek first to understand, then to be understood”. If you focus on asking more questions than giving orders, you’ll be amazed at how you’ll learn so much more about your team’s challenges, concerns, potential and abilities.
This then enables you to utilize them in a way that helps your team succeed and makes them feel a greater sense of accomplishment.
It’s absolutely possible to learn new habits that can make your job easier. As much as you swear your job is just too complex and too busy to be intentional and proactive, it is possible. You can make behavior changes and influence others’ behaviors in a way that can make your position so much more enjoyable and productive.
If you don’t know how, ask for help from a qualified coach/advisor.
