6 Leadership Weaknesses and How to Fix Them

Common leadership weaknesses

These common leadership weaknesses can hinder a team’s ability to operate effectively. That’s why it’s so important for leaders to regularly self-assess and solicit feedback from their team to ensure they are improving consistently. If you recognize any of these leadership weaknesses in your organization, they could represent important opportunities for growth and improvement.

1. Lack of trust in employees

New leaders often either micromanage employees or take on more tasks than they can handle, all because they don’t trust their teams to perform as well as they do.

“This happens when leaders mistake their role and instead serve as taskmasters or managers in an effort to ensure that things get done,” said Keisha A. Rivers, founder and chief change officer of The KARS Group Ltd. “The best approach is not to micromanage every detail of what has to be done, but to focus on specific outcomes and trusting your team to follow through. Having periodic checkups is best to ensure progress is being made, rather than wanting to be cc’d on every single email or requiring your team to provide daily status reports.”

Heather Monahan, founder of career mentoring group Boss in Heels, added that many managers are afraid to trust their employees with company information, failing to share valuable material with them.

“Deciding to share key pieces of information and watching how your team manages the information is a good recipe for building companywide trust,” she said.

2. Excessive connectivity

Being connected 24/7 has become a hallmark of the modern mobile workforce. Constant connectivity allows managers to provide feedback on the go and more easily manage workers across time zones, said Nicholas Thorne, CEO of digital badge platform Basno. The problem is that this can lead to an always-connected, omnipresent approach to leadership – and that’s bad for managers and team members alike, he said.

The state of being constantly plugged in can also lead to a malady known as “hurry sickness,” which is defined as the constant need to accomplish more, be faster and multitask everything, even when there is no apparent need to do so. “Hurry sickness” causes leaders and employees alike to get caught up in minutiae rather than standing back and taking in the bigger picture.

Monahan added that overcommitted and overstressed leaders are often inaccessible. You should hold yourself accountable only to reasonable expectations, as stretching yourself too thin will do more damage than good for you and the entire company.

“Creating boundaries and realizing you can’t do it all will allow you to cut back on additional commitments and focus on priorities,” Monahan said.

3. Stagnancy

All leaders eventually face the danger of getting stuck in their ways. The current way of doing things may be working, but it’s important not to let yourself – or your team – grow stagnant.

“The biggest threat to a successful business is becoming static and losing a desire for innovation,” said Liz Elting, co-CEO of business language services firm TransPerfect.

The best thing you can do for your team as a leader is communicate and instill a clear sense of why you’re doing what you do, Elting said. Your company mission will likely lose credibility without continued innovation, and reminding the organization of its purpose will motivate you to collaborate and grow.

To stay adaptive, leaders also need to listen to feedback from anyone who has a stake in the business, including clients.

“Their feedback is the most valuable piece of information to the success of your company,” Elting said. “Make it a top priority to not only solicit feedback from them, but [also] decipher that feedback and act upon it.”

4. Needing to be liked

Leaders are people first, and it’s natural that they want to be liked, said David Scarola, chief experience officer of business resource The Alternative Board TAB. But the need to be in everyone’s good favor can sometimes cloud solid business judgment.

“A common mistake with new managers and new business owners is that they make decisions that are popular, which are often not the best decisions for the business,” Scarola said. 

“[Leaders] need to sometimes make unpopular decisions. That comes with the territory.”

Instead of trying to be well-liked among your employees, seek instead to be understood and respected. Learn how to communicate openly and frequently with your team, and always keep staff members in the loop about the reason behind any decisions, popular or not.   

“The best leaders have learned that if they make the right decisions for their business, even if unpopular, and also take the time to explain their reasoning, they will earn the respect of their employees,” Scarola said. “In the long run, this is the best outcome a leader can aspire to.”

When you’re dealing with performance evaluations, Monahan recommends conducting them based on specific metrics rather than being subjective. You can’t stress over being someone’s friend before being their boss.

5. Hypocrisy

A “do what I say, not what I do” mentality is toxic to your work environment. As a leader, you set an example for your team. If you want your employees to respect and listen to you, you must follow your own rules. You can’t hold your staff accountable if you aren’t willing to work just as hard.

“A leader must have the utmost and highest level of integrity and model the way for their team,” said Daniel Freschi, president of leadership development company EDGE. “If you leave early during the workday or speak offhand about a colleague, it will likely be repeated by your direct reports.” To avoid this, a leader needs to clarify their values and be hyper aware of their behavior and hold themselves to the same or higher standards that you would direct reports.

“Leaders often want to create a certain type of environment, but don’t want to actually participate in the culture they are determined to create,” added Monahan. “If you are seeking to create a collaborative environment, ask yourself first if you are collaborating and sharing with others. Putting yourself in everyone else’s shoes will pay dividends.”

You don’t want to isolate yourself from the rest of your team, so don’t be aloof or act like you are better than your employees, Monahan advised. This will only create tension and frustrate employees. It’s better to be open about your flaws with your workers. The more transparent you are, the more authentic your entire team will be.

“By slowly letting others in and sharing failures and challenges, you will begin to appear more real, and employees will begin to believe in you,” she added. “When you make yourself vulnerable, you make yourself relatable.”

6. Failing to set clear expectations

Employees would rather be instructed on what to do than be left with questions and uncertainty. Providing directions and outlining missions will motivate your team and keep them on track.

“When a leader does not set expectations, their direct reports often limp through their day with no clear direction,” said Freschi. “Direct reports want to be productive; they want to know their work has meaning and is contributing to a bigger picture. Without expectations or goals, they are not able to prioritize the workload.”

While it’s important to trust your workers with their tasks, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t delegate assignments and highlight objectives to get the ball rolling. Leaders should set individual goals for workers and explain how they align with the broader work of the organization, Freschi added.

“As leaders, it’s up to you to provide a clear but succinct picture of the vision and desired outcomes for the team and the organization,” said Rivers. “People connect to a project or task much easier if they know where it’s headed. Don’t keep them in the dark … Determine what information is important and then provide clear instructions and expectations to set them up for success – not failure.”

How to improve as a leader

Improving as a leader is all about practice. Luckily, there are plenty of things you can do to identify your shortcomings and grow beyond them.

• Perform regular self-assessments. As a leader, you have to understand your own strengths and weaknesses in order to improve. Keep daily notes about achievements and shortcomings that you can reference on a monthly basis. Write a self-assessment that covers each of these areas, and set clear goals for the month ahead. This will help you keep track of your growth as a leader and identify areas to improve upon. Consider employing methods like a SWOT analysis to better understand how you perform.
  
• Solicit feedback in employee surveys. No one knows your leadership style better than the people you work with. Create employee surveys and collect feedback anonymously to ensure your team is comfortable offering pointed criticism. After all, critical feedback is the most important thing to helping you overcome blind spots in your leadership style and fix problems you might not have been aware of.
  
• Conduct regular one-on-one meetings. Meeting with your team regularly over time is a good way to build a rapport and get them to trust you. It’s especially important to use this time to give your employees the floor to speak about any issues they may be facing. One-on-one meetings should be more than just a check-in to run through the latest agenda items; it should be an opportunity to strengthen the relationships you need to make your team successful.
• Find a mentor. Find a mentor who has been in leadership roles in their career, and learn everything you can from them. Even if you meet with them periodically to discuss what’s recently happened on your team, you can gain valuable insights from these fellow leaders who have walked in your shoes. To meet potential mentors, consider joining a networking group or trade association, or you can simply search online for like minds on professional platforms like LinkedIn.

Following these tips can help you improve as a leader, but the most important thing is to consistently practice your leadership skills to ensure they’re always improving over time.

To be a good leader, be a good learner

Good leaders are those who can facilitate communication and discover new facts by asking the right questions, as well as those who can continuously learn and grow in their own leadership style. If you’re looking to become the kind of leader who can build a successful team and business, look to eliminate your weaknesses by identifying them and practicing the skills you need to overcome them.

Jacob Bierer-Nielsen and Sammi Caramela contributed to this article. Some source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article.