“Leadership is not magnetic personality that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not ‘making friends and influencing people’-that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.” ~Peter Drucker
Like most social impact leaders, you want to be the best leader you can be. But even if you have had leadership management training, it’s easy to fall into some fundamental leadership blunders that could significantly impact your ability to lead and your team’s performance.
Let’s explore some of the most common leadership missteps that social impact leaders make and how to steer clear of them.
Neglecting to Delegate
Getting in the weeds, trying to do it all, being controlling, micromanaging, whatever you call it, is a widespread and harmful practice among leaders. If a leader can’t or won’t delegate to their direct reports, it spells trouble for the whole team. Many leaders believe they need to control every aspect of a project. However, the team will not perform at their best if you don’t trust them and let go.
Exceptional social impact leaders who make delegation part of their practice earn the trust and respect of their team. They know they don’t have to have all the answers and have confidence in their team’s ability to overcome challenges and find solutions. Outstanding social impact leaders build structures and processes to ensure transparent communication about progress and challenges. This way, projects stay on track, and the people on the team continue to build skills and capacity.
Taking Credit
You’ve likely attended a meeting where a boss takes credit for a team’s success. Personally accepting praise or accolades for your team’s success is poor leadership for a social impact leader. Conversely, so is blaming your direct reports when things don’t go you had hoped.
Effective social impact leaders defer all commendations for the team’s work and fully accept responsibility for the team’s failures. Former US President Harry S. Truman had a small sign that sat on his desk in the Oval Office. That sign read The Buck Stops Here! Use that saying as your leadership mantra.
Not Being a Team Player
Successful social impact leaders don’t just lead the team. They’re part of the team. They show up and work shoulder-to-shoulder with everyone else when the deadlines are imminent. Influential leaders earn the trust and respect of their direct reports by working just as hard, if not harder, to achieve the team’s goals.
Authentic leadership is modeling the behavior and work habits that you want to see in your team. Listen, pitch in, make coffee, help set up the meeting room. Show that the team’s work is important and not ‘below’ you.
Thinking that Leader is a Title, Not a Job
It’s easy for people hired into leadership positions to forget that their new role is to serve the team, not the other way around. They forget they were ever an individual contributor and fall in love with ‘being the boss.’
Good social impact leaders never think that managing a team means they’re better than the rest of the team. They never allow themselves to adopt a ‘because I said so’ management practice. For social impact leaders to effectively deliver their organization’s mission, they must care more about helping their direct reports grow and empowering their team to succeed than having their name on the door.
