4 Habits You Need to Break to Be a Better Leader

Sometimes when we take those first steps into bridging the gap from being an employee to becoming a manager, we overlook a lot of the qualities and necessities it takes to be a competent leader. We often get caught up in the excitement of getting a promotion and forget what being a leader really means.

To all of my fellow leaders and managers, I rounded up 4 simple habits many of us tend to have and need to break to really be effective in what we do. 

Whether you’re managing a team of one, or two-hundred, I can guarantee you will find this advice to be exceptionally helpful and humbling. 

Here are 4 habits you need to beak to be an effective leader:

1. Glamourizing an unglamorous job. 

Quit setting unrealistic standards for potential employees to get them in the door and for current employees to stay. If you promise that an individual will be making “X” amount of money in commissions every week, well, you better do everything in your power to help and provide them with the tools that they need to achieve that income. 

What you promise is what you should deliver, and if you don’t, you’ll start to see your employee retention drastically drop. People want to be able to trust their employers, and if that means being brutally honest and setting the expectation from the first day of the interview process, by all means, do it. At least applicants and potential employees know what they’re getting themselves into, they’ll also know that they can count on you to stick to your word, and chances are when you do start the relationship off by being honest and transparent about what the job entails, you’ll weed out all of the employees that just weren’t cut out for it, anyway. 

2. Lacking self-esteem.

Despite how much you believe it to be true, a lack of self-esteem can easily be detected by those around you and there really is nothing worse than a team led by an unconfident leader. Would you want to sit in a classroom and be taught by a professor that’s “kinda sure” about how to solve complex mathematical equations? Well, I sure wouldn’t pay money to sit in that class and I can bet that you wouldn’t either.

The same is true in the professional world. You wouldn’t want to follow the lead of a mentor that sounded unsure about themselves and chances are, you wouldn’t want to waste your time listening to anything that came out of their mouth either. No one is willing to accept information for someone that is unconfident in delivering it, so don’t be a leader that is unsure of themself. Be confident in your decisions and your knowledge in the industry. You didn’t get to a leadership position just by pure luck.

3. Micromanaging employees.

We all have a little bit of perfectionist in us, especially when it comes to our place of work, but when it comes to being a Manager, it’s time to refrain from any controlling habits that we may have. Your employees are going to make mistakes and not everything is going to be perfect, that’s ultimately just how it goes in business and life.

Having a perfectionist nature is not only setting yourself up for failure but others as well. Setting employees up with these unrealistic and unattainable expectations only leads to them feeling inadequate and getting burnt-out. In addition to being counter-productive, a micromanaging boss can also come off as untrustworthy. If you believe a candidate to be the right fit for the job, you must also believe in their ability to execute and deliver, without needing to be micromanaged.

4. Having an “I’m the boss” mentality.

It’s time that we humble you just a little… you’re not the boss. In fact, you’re the mentor. And if you can learn to understand that as a manager, it is your job to provide the knowledge and expertise to lead your team to success, well, then you’re going to be a lot better of a manager than the rest.

As a leader, your job is to deliver. Deliver the standard and the knowledge that is needed to excel in your industry and also understand that you’re ultimately responsible for the success of each individual on your team. If you can’t provide them with the knowledge that they need to be successful, then it’s time to re-think your purpose and role as a leader.