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Another  common and costly leader mistake that can result in a loss of credibility and trust.

MISTAKE: Solving problems others should solve.

It’s not uncommon for new leaders to solve problems for their team members instead of helping them learn to do it on their own. For the overly controlling leader, you may find it faster to take care of it yourself than to take the time to teach.

For the less assertive leader, it might be easier to do it yourself so you can get around confronting an issue directly.

Another  common and costly leader mistake that can result in a loss of credibility and trust.

MISTAKE: Imposing goals on team members.

I can’t stress enough the importance of making the goal-setting process collaborative. Imposing individual goals on someone is the fastest way to lose commitment. And, leaders should be leery about imposing their expectations through online collaboration tools. Technology can be successfully used to support the goal-setting process, but should never take the place of crucial conversations.

A common and costly leader mistake that can result in a loss of credibility and trust...

MISTAKE: Getting caught up in the Popeye Syndrome – “I am what I am.”

The implied message here is: “I am the way I am and if you don’t like it, who cares?”

Leaders often exhibit this behavior when doing things like conducting meetings without involving team members, and when resolving team member issues without asking for input or engaging them in the problem-solving process.

Below is an excerpt from our latest article 3 Ways to Derail Team Formation.

Most teams struggle to reach their highest levels of effectiveness because of their inability to cultivate the right team of people from the beginning. As a result, communication breakdowns, unnecessary conflict, and poor decision making leads to a loss of key opportunities.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want you to be ruthless.

The challenge for most people is that they don’t want to hurt others’ feelings and in the process they provide feedback that is so fluffy that the true point is never stated.

This results in a lack of clarity of the message.

If you are going to sandwich your feedback with positives, make sure your constructive feedback is clear.