Minimising the impact of your ‘weaknesses’ as a leader

by Mark Evenden @ Developing People International

In my view, great leaders are not successful simply because they are in the right place at the right time. They succeed because they play to their strengths, and they work hard at maximising them. Most great leaders I have worked for have been very conscious of their strengths and have known how to deploy them for their own advantage and for the benefit of their business. I think that this has also enabled them to be able to repeat their great leadership performance any new role they found themselves in.

However, it is clear that all leaders also have weaknesses. I have observed these weaknesses inhibiting a leaders’ success, and in one extreme cases it was their downfall, because they were not fully aware of them (or possibility and even worse, they did not accept them!). In my experience, there are a number of factors that can derail a leader and can interfere with their ability to gain the engagement and commitment from their people. A number of the most common ‘flaws’ that I have observed include the following. Leaders who:

* Have a lack of real understanding the impact their behaviour has on other people.
* Do not listen to their staff properly, either failing to empathise or communicate enough.
* Can see the ‘big picture’ but are unable to follow through on the details of a plan, creating frustration in their teams.
* Don’t delegate enough – they believe that the ‘best’ person to do the job is themselves.
* Claim that people are the organisation’s ‘most important asset’, but in reality they do not give enough time and energy for their people.
* Fail to challenge their managers and staff to improve their performance, or do not provide the necessary training and development
* Act with insensitively or without appropriate discretion.
* Are rude, aggressive or over critical of their people.

It is helpful for leaders to recognise these factors and work to minimise the impact of them. The best leaders I have worked for were very self-aware and understood their flaws and engaged people to work alongside them who balanced their ‘weaknesses’. For example, I once worked for a charismatic MD who was an excellent visionary but ensured his Operations and Finance Directors were able to keep tight control of the detailed operational activities and finances.

Ultimately it is up to the leader to recognise and manage their weaknesses effectively. However, I have seen leaders who failed to do this effectively and eventually derailed them.