The Leadership Coaching Blog

Nobody’s perfect, not even management, as the Ken Blanchard Companies found out when they asked 1,400 executives what they think are the biggest mistakes or failings leaders make or have. They include some old favourites:

• Failing to provide appropriate feedback, especially praise and redirection.
• Failing to involve others in processes.
• Failing to use a leadership style that is appropriate to the personnel, task or situation.
• Failing to set clear and understood goals and objectives.
• Failing to train and develop their staff.
• Inappropriate use of communication, especially listening, and a tendency to ignore alternative viewpoints.
• A tendency to give too much or too little supervision, direction or delegation.
• A general lack of management skills, such as problem solving, decision making and consensus building.
• A tendency to provide too little or inappropriate support.
• A lack of accountability, especially in holding staff accountable for agreed goals and behaviour.

How well are you doing in these areas?

On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being poor) where do you rate yourself in each of these areas?

I know that these mistakes and failings are common; in fact, my coaching programmes are often set up to tackle these - so that Leaders and Managers can raise their awareness of themselves, and their own styles and drivers, in order to get clear on what they need to do for themselves first i.e. I take the holistic approach to leadership.

Once they’ve done this they can then concentrate on doing the same for their followers - provide clarity, focus and direction; engage with and empower their staff; and hold them to account for agreed standards and targets.

In this way they develop and improve their own behaviours and skills, and encourage the same in others.