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.

I was just talking to a stressed colleague and it reminded me that I read a while back that CIPD and HSE had launched a research project into the links between line management behaviour and stress at work.

Whilst most of us would like to think that it’s not our own behaviour as managers that’s causing ourselves or others stress, there is a proven link between the two.

Being aware of this fact is a good starting point if you’re feeling the effects of stress yourself or you see it in your people.

Of course a certain amount of stress and adreneline is beneficial and can help us do a better job, it’s actually only when it goes too far and becomes distress that it becomes a problem!

So do you or anyone who works with you have a problem?   Because if so, you have a reponsibility to do something about it.

The legal position on stress has being tightened and this means that all managers have a reponsibility to talk about it with their staff - they need to be aware of company policy, what stress really means, ways of managing or reducing stress, and the actions they need to take if they’re feeling stressed.

This means that people need to take personal responsibility for the way they’re feeling, and for discussing that with their manager…

You as a manager also need to be doing this for yourself, as well as ensuring that you communicate this clearly so that people are aware of their responsibilities and feel able to talk to you about issues. 

Regardless of where you are in the management structure “people management” skills are crucial and need to be seen as such; as an important part of every manager’s role to ensure a healthy and productive work environment.

This means being able to set clear objectives, consult and communicatie effectively with staff, encourage new ideas, delegate appropriately and coach and develop your team(s).

• How are your stress levels?
• How about your teams?