Todd Nielsen has come up with “50 Bad Leadership Examples” that are well worth reading, either as cautionary behaviors or inspiration to horrific heights. Wanna be a Voldemort or a Hero? The choice is yours. Here they are; I’ve highlighted the ones I see most often in politics and organizations.
- Belittling and condescending communication to staff.
- Little communication with your staff.
- Not empowering your staff to succeed.
- Asking them a hundred questions with every decision they make.
- Not admitting when you have made a mistake.
- Not giving raises to your staff or not compensating them appropriately.
- Not recognizing your staff for achievements they have made.
- Ignoring your staff.
- Not providing executive level sponsorship for your management.
- Not providing management with the authority to perform their jobs.
- Not providing the resources to your management staff in completing their objectives.
- Yelling at your staff.
- Forgetting common occasions. (Your staff gives you a Birthday/Christmas card or gift and you never do the same for them.)
- Using threats with your staff.
- Making your staff feel guilty if they do not do something extra.
- Using fear tactics to “motivate” your staff.
- Always having to throw in your 2 cents to every idea your staff offers.
- Playing favorites with your staff.
- Doing things that are self-serving.
- Incompetent in something critical to the organizations success and unable to improve or fill in that incompetence with other staff members.
- Lying to your staff—and then trying to cover it up.
- Making “examples” of a staff member in front of others.
- Disregarding the health and welfare of your staff.
- Not providing your staff the training to succeed.
- Not providing your staff opportunities to progress and grow.
- Being callous.
- Being unforgiving of staff mistakes.
- Holding past mistakes against your staff time after time.
- Not giving your staff adequate working environments.
- Analysis Paralysis – i.e. indecisiveness.
- Ignoring needed change.
- Being cheap.
- Not planning.
- Not setting a clear vision.
- Being a poor example of execution and accountability, but expecting others to execute.
- Butting into your staff’s responsibilities by doing things under their role without consulting with them.
- Not providing structure in your organization.
- Unwillingness to take risks.
- Poor management of oneself.
- Deceitful.
- Impulsiveness.
- Unable to take criticism.
- Unwilling to improve from criticism.
- Unethical business practices.
- Does not use conflict to correctly drive innovation.
- Believing your staff when they sing praises for you and then forming an ego.
- Misinterpreting signs.
- Disrespect for your staff.
- Unable to trust.
- Overly negative or overly positive. (Overly positive meaning, ignoring bad signs and taking action, because you are so positive and hopeful that things will improve.)