Leadership is of the highest importance in any organization for the employees to work competently. Good leadership stands for a big part in motivating employees and increasing their productivity. Therefore, the managers need to try and be the perfect role-model for their employees. To encourage them to grow their skills and qualities in good times, and help them to boost their performance in bad times. They need to set standards that the employees can follow. But, in many cases, there can be negative leaders in an organization as well. No matter how much the company tries to filter the best people for the job, they can never achieve it perfectly and negative leadership might be spotted in almost all the organizations. But, how the company tackles this problem plays a huge role in determining how effective the organization is and how sincere it is with its employees.
What Is Negative Leadership?
While a good leader motivates the employees to increase their productivity, be better at their job, fulfil their potential, be a great colleague to their fellow employees, and create a pleasant work environment, you can expect the exact opposite of the person having the tendencies of negative leadership. Instead of having the capacity of motivating the team members to achieve the team’s goals, they just fill a job title, and by doing that they are hurting the organization. These unmet targets can be very problematic for the organization as it can create a negative image of the company out there, and also create a company culture that makes employees significantly less engaged and committed to the company’s goals. Thus, negative leadership can impact both the employees and the organization, and even destroy the organization eventually.
How To Detect Negative Leadership?
Negative leadership can impact both the organization and its employees in a lot of ways. Therefore, it is extremely important to detect negative leadership right at the spot so that it can be avoided. While there may be separate character traits of every bad leader, there are a lot of common habits as well. Can you spot the following ones in your organization?
• There Is No Vision
An inspiring leader plays an important role in making the employees work for the betterment of the organization. This cannot be done without proper vision and leadership qualities. The major sign of negative leadership in a person is that they lack a vision. This is what leads to failure. They cannot motivate or inspire their team members to achieve any goal. They will only fill out the job title but will have no role in inspiring the employees to achieve anything for the organization. As a result, they will fail as a leader and the organization will suffer as well.
• Others’ Opinions Do Not Matter
If you want to spot a person with negative leadership qualities, observe how they talk about themselves. A person with uncontrollable narcissistic tendencies can never be a good leader no matter how much they try. They will have too much ego and arrogance which are not the qualities of a good leader. They will always keep their personal interest above the interest of employees and the organization and others’ opinions will not matter to them. As a result, they will not be able to gain the trust and confidence of their team members and employees nor will they be able to make decisions that are beneficial to everyone.
• Employees Are Not Given Due Recognition
Recognizing people for their good work is very important in any organization. It’s not only keeping them happy and providing meaning to them, but other employees are motivated to perform good as well. Whereas a manager with bad leadership will never recognize the employees for their hard work nor will he appreciate them. When a manager with bad leadership does not recognize the efforts of high performers, it will only de-motivate them and their productivity will decrease as well. Also, when the employees are not getting recognition, no one will be motivated to work and healthy competition will decrease as well.
• Employees Are Treated Like Bee Workers
In many organizations with bad leadership, employees are treated as an object of expense rather than an asset to the organization. The leader does not realize that if it hadn’t been for the employees, the organization will never have succeeded in the first place. The employees should be recorded as an asset rather than being written off as an expense. Being treated this way will only make them feel worthless, and they will not be motivated to work hard for the organization.
• Everything is Under Their Control
One of the classic tendencies of bad leadership is that they want to control everything. This makes them no less than a control freak! They hardly let anyone participate in decision-making and force their decisions upon everyone. Since the manager wants to control everything, no important tasks are given to the employees. As a result, their growth hinders. What they don’t realize is that too much control can suffocate the employees. They might even think of leaving the workplace just because of this.
• There Is No Trust
A bad leader keeps all the information to himself as he does not trust anyone to share the important information. This creates a lack of transparency between the organization and the employees. When the employees will feel left out due to a lack of trust, they will also start trusting the organization less. Also, the employees will not trust the manager with important information. As a result, there will be a lack of communication between the employees and the organization which will only hinder the progress and growth of the company.
• Consistent Failures
While we should not let past failures cloud our judgment of the future performance of the leaders, and of course everyone can successfully let go of failure, but if someone has been consistently failing at everything they attempt, their incompetence will probably affect the rest of the team. The unfortunate fact that often times in organizations people are being promoted due to nepotism and corporate politics and not because of their actual skills, should not be taken lightly. Managers who consistently fail at being leaders are certainly not good leaders. Therefore, the past record of failures should not be taken lightly as it tells us a great deal about what kind of leader the person is. A long list of failures indicates a negative leadership which should be taken into account while selecting someone for a management position.
How To Avoid Negative Leadership?
The rate of negative leadership has alarmingly increased over the last few years, as the rise of internet and social networks is making current bosses and managers much more heavily involved in their employees’ lives. This is something that needs to be taken care of or else it will affect the whole organization and its productivity while jeopardizing its future. There are many things that an organization can do to avoid negative leadership in the workplace. This will not only improve the productivity of the employees, but the company will grow as well. Let’s take a look at some ways to avoid negative leadership in the workplace.
• Improve The Hiring Criteria
Many times, and especially when an organization needs to hire someone fast, the decision makers do not pay much heed while selecting a manager or director for the company. As a result, they have to face the consequences of negative leadership. And it gets a lot worse when they are reluctant to admit their mistaken choice and hire someone else. Therefore, it is extremely important to improve the hiring criteria for the selection of managers and directors as the right ones will play the most prominent role in the success of the organization. Failure to do so will only reduce the productivity of the employees and the organization will have to face consequences as well.
• Strengthen The Leadership Development Committee
The majority of the public companies have boards for the leadership development committee. Weak or negative leadership is the reflection of a weak leadership development committee as well. So, you should try to strengthen the leadership development committee of your organization. Once the committee will improve, the leadership will improve as well because the committee will guide the leaders in what needs to be done and how.
• Arrange External Training Programs For The Managers
In many cases, a leadership development company can prove to be too burdensome or unrealistic for the managers and the directors of the organization. They can set unrealistic expectations for them that may seem impossible to achieve. In that case, you can always make the directors and managers attend external leadership training programs to know where they are going wrong and how can they correct themselves.
• Hire Coaches For The Training Of The Managers
Sometimes a consistent and close external source can play a great role in determining where the managers are going wrong and where they lack leadership. They will provide an insight to the managers and directors that will help them improve their leadership qualities. This step is best executed when it is practiced from the 1st day of hiring, in order to show the new leader that such coach is not a threat to him/her, but a natural part of the company’s policy and philosophy.
• Do Not Let Them Off Hook
Many times, the managers or the directors may be too stubborn to take advantage of all the training programs arranged for them. But, you should not let them off the hook and make them participate in these training and programs so that you may avoid negative leadership at your organization. Even small increments can be very significant, as they can help them build up massive momentum.
Detecting negative leadership at work is extremely important for the growth of the organization. This is why you should spot them and try to improve their efficiency. When they are given what they need to succeed, they will start producing better results which will positively influence your company as well.
