All Around Consulting

At some point, we've all worked for someone who was a poor leader. It's unpleasant, and we learn just as many lessons from bad bosses as we do the good ones.

You can avoid becoming the example of "what not to do" by taking responsibility for the outcomes, even if a problem wasn't necessarily your fault.

Let's use a common example and say your employee didn't complete a task up to your standards...

-Did you explain the task well enough to ensure there was no misinterpretation?

-Did you provide them with adequate resources and support to do the job effectively?

-Did you provide frequent feedback during the task to re-direct them when it started going off track?

There are some common excuses when these questions are asked:

-"I don't have enough time or energy to manage my people to that level."
-"I expect them to know what to do without requiring my involvement."

In a perfect world, your people can work effectively with minimal supervision, and there are plenty of teams that operate in this fashion. This is a perfectly fine expectation.

However, when mistakes are occurring and objectives aren't being accomplished, before pointing a finger at your people, take that look in the mirror and ask yourself "what else could I do to help them be successful?"