Sidestep These 4 Leadership Traps
As a genuine leader, you own the wins and losses equally -- that's the totality of ownership. And with leadership, most aspire to score more victories than defeats. There are a number of leadership traps that new and old leaders can fall into. It's important to know what they are so you can avoid any potential stumbles.
Leaders are especially susceptible to leadership traps during uncertain times, such as in the face of a looming recession, when resources get tight and tough business decisions must be made. In these challenging moments, it's easy for leaders to lose their way, become the base versions of themselves, and not act right.
Below are the four major leadership traps and solutions on how you can avoid them:
1. The Affirming Echo Chamber
People have a natural tendency to surround themselves with people of similar background, beliefs, thoughts, and values. It can be comforting to be around those who are similar but it can lead to the No. 1 trap of groupthink. The problem with groupthink is that it can override personal opinion and lead you to go along with the herd.
Decision making should be respectful debate with the end goal of getting to the best solution -- to challenge, not to immediately affirm. The best decisions are data informed and not knee jerk. While it's nice to have agreement and consensus without static, it is not effective or logical to operate this way.
The solution is simple: Build a bigger circle, elevate underrepresented voices, and create space for debate. Expanding the circle gives you more data and different voices offer views that may not have been present previously because of the homogeneity of the group.
2. Ivory Tower Syndrome
There's something called the ivory tower syndrome, where leaders become out of touch with the people they manage, the customers they serve, etc. Too often we think our lived experiences are shared by everyone. It's important not to subscribe to that belief as it exacerbates the problem.
Ask yourself when you strategize, does the planning process take into account the full talent of your organization? Are you making decisions in isolation? Does your team provide the diversity of views needed to see around corners to make the most informed decisions -- and more importantly, are you listening to them? If there's too much distance between you and your intended audience, you're taking a losing position.
If you're cut off from others and your workplace culture has a decision making matrix that is homogenized, you may not be unleashing the talent in your company and are limiting information flow through selective isolation.
Counteract ivory tower syndrome by truly listening, building representative teams, and making sure voices and opinions are actively included. Enthusiastically seek feedback and willingly receive it. Data is your friend, and diversification of voices is key.
3. Intellectual Arrogance
Intellectual arrogance, where a leader is overconfident in their abilities, is a major Achilles' heel in leadership. Just because you might be great in one arena doesn't mean it will translate to other sectors. A prime example would be Elon Musk, who has had success at Tesla and SpaceX but clearly is over his skis in his clear mismanagement of Twitter.
Intelligence is important but it does not supersede experience, for experience informs intelligence and aptitude allows those learnings to be applied. Still, I've met many leaders who think their proficiency in one area translates to all others.
Too often leaders rely on their intelligence without factoring in the importance of experience. If you live long enough, you will see the fallacy of intelligence absent experience and how it shows up as just uninformed.
As a leader, it's important to know one's limitations. Sometimes you're the teacher and other times you're the student. Surround yourself with people who have complementary skills that add to your worldview, not limit it.
4. Not Listening to Feedback
I've had managers in the past who were incapable of accepting feedback -- it was their way or the highway. Basically, in their mind, they could never be wrong because they were the expert in everything. Not only would they respond in a caustic way, they'd cut off conversation and create an atmosphere where it was unsafe to share a dissenting opinion.
This is a dangerous leadership trap and can hinder success. If a leader is incapable of listening to others, they lose out on good counsel. There is no monopoly on good ideas, and the whole point of a team is to leverage the collective strength of the team, including their ideas.
The best path forward lies in the fusion of feedback. Martin Luther King, Jr. may have put it best when he said, "A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus."