Strategies to Avoid Leadership Pitfalls
Miralis Davis
Course Number (ORG300) – Name of Course (Applying Leadership Principles)
Colorado State University – Global Campus
Annette Roter
July 10, 2015
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Strategies to Avoid Leadership Pitfalls
There are many ways to show employees that they are valued and they matter. Comaford
(2013) explains why mattering matters, stating that it is, “One of the three most primal human needs, along with safety and belonging.” She goes on to state the commons ways that leaders communicate and how to avoid those pitfalls. The six common pitfalls that Comaford lists are failing to respond, failing to provide feedback (positive or negative), acknowledging people only when they make mistakes, failing to celebrate victories, showing favoritism, and burning out employees. As a leader, one must develop strategies to avoid these common pitfalls.
Failing to Respond to Employee Emails
Many employees may feel ignored or reject, which in turn leaves them feeling as though they don’t matter when a leader does not respond. Most leaders may feel as though this is not necessarily important because employees should know that leaders are busy. Although they may know this, as a leader, the employee should still be acknowledged. A way to avoid this would be to set up automatic messages in within the email account. Leaders can set time frames for these automatic emails to go out to let employees they are in a meeting or they’re currently working on a project and they will respond as soon as possible. Another way to avoid this pitfall, would be to send a short quick message to the employee, letting them know the email was received and it will be read and a response will be provided as soon as possible.
Failing to Provide Feedback
Imagine you are a manager for a distribution company and your employer received a last minute order for the next day. The type of toner the client usually orders were out of stock, so the
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employee remembered that other clients told him that the other brand of toner was of the same quality. The changes were discussed with the client at the time of deliver. The client felt this compromised standards. As a leader, the way you provide feedback on the above situation will determine whether the employee feels deflated or changes the way he handles the next time a situation like this occurs.
Providing feedback is probably one many leaders use but not necessarily effectively.
Most leaders provide positive feedback but not negative feedback. There are successful ways to distribute feedback whether it be positive or negative. Hicks (2011) states that, “First, you need to be able to create a climate of trust, openness, and positive regard. Second, you need to avoid coming across as evaluative or judgmental, which tends to create resistance or defensive-ness.
Fortunately, this is a skill that can be developed.” He then goes on to list guidelines to assist in providing difficult feedback. The six guidelines are:
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Describe behavior, not intentions — this means that as a leaders when addressing an
employees behavior, the leader must not relay what they believe the employees intentions are. As a leader, assuming what the employees intentions are can cause the employee to shut down and the feedback will not be taken to heart. Instead the leader should address the actions only, not the intention.
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Be specific — Make it clear what behavior you are addressing.
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Avoid global labels — Effective feedback avoids using global labels that categorize
the whole person, e.g., “You are incompetent" or “You are uncaring." When giving difficult
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feedback, you must refer to the person's behavior, not their worth as an individual (Hicks
2011).
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Immediacy is key — Timing is everything. Give the feedback immediately after the
