8 Leadership Habits You Need to Avoid Immediately

Even the greatest leaders have bad leadership habits that they might not be aware of. These leadership habits can cause problems for leaders, which might impact teams, organizations, and society as a whole. Breaking habits can be difficult if they are not done consistently. This applies to both bad and good habits. Before trying to quit bad habits, an individual must have the will to change them. One of the tips for quitting bad habits effectively is to keep reminding yourself of the purpose of doing them in the first place.

Here are the leadership habits that should be avoided:

Deflecting Blame

The behavior of blaming others comes from trying to avoid accountability for one’s own actions. It is known to be one of the worst leadership habits to have since it not only brings negativity to the team but also creates a toxic working environment. Leaders must learn that blaming others for their mistakes or failures will result in consequences such as teams being afraid to be open about bringing up issues, speak up, or take risks. This behavior also contradicts open communication.

Being Controlling

When a leader is insecure and not confident in their own ability to lead others, they may try to exert control over them. If this type of behavior is not handled very well, it may cause coercive control. It is a form of abusive behavior done through manipulation, intimidation, and threats. Individuals who are controlled are aware of this. This will then build resentment between the leaders and others.

Lack Transparency

Not sharing enough data or information with the teams is not how great leaders lead their own teams. Leaders should provide full transparency to the teams to avoid communication issues due to misunderstandings and a lack of full understanding of a certain situation. Lack of transparency will cause employees to have a decrease in trust towards their leader since the leader does not trust them enough.

Refuse to Listen

Pressured and overwhelming business situations may cause leaders to face difficulties in trying to listen to others perspectives. However, a professional leader will try to provide space and make time to listen. Leaders should find the time to slowly calm down and set proper boundaries to allow time to listen. This way, leaders can prevent teams from missing out on any valuable insights or ideas.

Unproductive Meetings

Bad leaders hold constant meetings with the purpose of helping the team and checking on their progress, which helps them establish power and control. While their purpose might sound good, when there are no measurable outcomes or useful help for the team, it may disrupt the whole team’s progress. Constant, unproductive meetings can cause stress and waste valuable time. Team meetings should contain interactions that are motivational, interactive, and collaborative.

One-Man Decision

Finding the fastest way to make a decision probably sounds good since it saves time and energy. However, making decisions by one individual alone usually means that other individuals interests will not be taken into consideration. This will also produce resentment between the teams and the leader. Hence, group decision-making will produce different views from many individuals, which will induce better decision-making.

Focus on Instant Success

Multiple short-term successes leading to long-term success are the false beliefs made by leaders who just find comfort in instant success. These types of leaders tend to think that no result is a failure and move quickly to another plan, which is bad. Long-term goals require a high target, which includes many small steps to succeed. While a small amount of success is possible to create a big success, it still requires very careful planning to achieve the goals. Only then will it create the right amount of success to achieve bigger success.

Only Focus on Weaknesses

Leaders may have a fear of showing their weaknesses, hiding them, rather than fixing them. Overthinking and dwelling too much on weaknesses can make leaders forget many of their strengths. This may result in not feeling confident, which hinders leaders from believing in themselves to reach their full potential as leaders. Great leaders constantly remind themselves, whether by affirming themselves on a daily basis or working on their potential to achieve greatness.

Awareness is the key to changing behavior. As long as leaders are aware of their habits that will affect others negatively, they can change them with their own awareness.