Good leaders often unknowingly diminish the performance of their team. In an effort to set a good example, be a high performer, or protect their people from failure, these leaders think they’re acting in ways that help their team, but in reality they are lowering the performance of their staff.

Re-blogged from Blanchard India Blogs



Liz Wiseman, author of Multipliers – How The Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, spoke at Blanchard’s annual Client Summit the past two days. She shared the following six ways leaders diminish the performance of their team and offered strategies to combat these tendencies. Do you recognize yourself in any of these descriptions?

1. The Idea Guy – You know this kind of leader…He never came up with an idea he didn’t like! Every new business book he reads is a reason to redesign the organization. Every wild idea about a new product or service results in changing business strategies. His ideas are always the best, and even though he may pay lip service to the input of others, he’s always the smartest guy in the room and his ideas prevail. At some point team members get their ideas shot down enough that they stop trying. Even though this leader thinks he’s doing a good thing by coming up with new ideas, he’s actually diminishing the performance of his team dramatically.

How to Fix It: – Instead of offering ideas, consider asking questions like: What do you think? How would you solve this problem? What are the pros and cons of our alternatives?

2. Always On – The Always On leader is, well, always on! He doesn’t have an off switch and he’s constantly moving at Mach 5 with his hair on fire. It’s one thing to have a strong work ethic and give work your all, but it’s a whole other thing to expect (or require) people to live at the same breakneck pace you choose for yourself. You’ll eventually burn people out and reduce their effectiveness.

How to Fix It: - Play Your Chips – When you go into meetings with your team, pretend you only have 3 to 4 poker chips to play. Reserve your input for the most strategic and important times where you feel you can add the most value. That will allow your team members the space to breathe and devise their own strategies for managing the work.

Read continue for remaining 6 points.....Team Leadership – 6 Ways Leaders Diminish Their Team’s Performance (and how to fix it)