Is Bad Leaders impacting you, your team and your business? Almost all of us have worked under a leader who, to put it simply, wasn’t very good at leading. When you’re dealing with a leader like this, what are the effects of their bad leadership on their team and organization? Poor leadership ultimately impacts the performance and bottom line of your organization and business…
The true measure of the value of any business leader and manager is performance.
Brian Tracy.
Birgit Schyns and Jan Schilling conducted a meta-analysis (referenced here) on the effects of bad leadership, and found the following:
- Bad, abusive supervisors are not trusted and their requests are resisted by followers.
- Bad leaders create dissatisfaction in followers and de-motivate them.
- Followers of bad leaders are less committed to their jobs and organizations, look to leave the organisation, and may even engage in counterproductive work behaviours.
- Bad, abusive leaders create stress in followers and can have adverse effects on their health and well-being.
Let’s take a look at some of the behaviours bad leaders exhibit, and how they can be corrected.
1. Being Hypocritical
If you don’t practice what you preach, then it’s no surprise that your team lacks respect for you as a leader.
Be fair, be consistent, and lead by example – none of that ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ nonsense.
2. Being Unclear
Bad leaders tend to be bad communicators as well, and aren’t clear when expressing expectations of their team.
If your team isn’t sure of what you expect of them, their performance is going to suffer. It’s hard to be efficient when you’re unsure of what you should be doing.
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3. Not Recognising Team Members’ Efforts
Nobody likes to be taken for granted at work, but it happens. And if it’s happening consistently, then you’re working under a bad leader.
Bad leaders don’t acknowledge or recognise their team’s achievements, so their team stops working as hard – why would you keep putting in so much effort if it’s never even mentioned?
4. Passing Blame
Leaders are accountable for their team, and this is something that many bad leaders struggle with.
If your team is getting bad results then you need to look at yourself, because you are their leader. Bad leaders will blame anyone but themselves, even publically. Why would you do your best work (or stick around at all) for a boss that passes the blame?
5. Being a Micromanager
Bad leaders are awful at delegating; they don’t leave their team to work autonomously because they don’t believe the job will be done. If a leader isn’t allowing their team to use their skills and talents, and prove themselves, then the work being turned out isn’t at the highest quality it could be – the thing that bad leaders believe micromanaging will solve!
If you’re a leader and you’ve recognized yourself in any of these points, it’s time to do some self-reflection and empower yourself to become a better leader. However, any leader should always be mindful that they aren’t falling into these bad habits, so that they can lead their team to success.
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