Leadership is a critical component of any team’s success. However, not all leaders are created equal. Some leaders inspire and motivate, while others may fall short. In many cases, weak Leadership creates the feeling that team members have been lied to by the leaders and have been left to struggle. The weaker the leader, the bigger the lye they create around the promise to help team members balance relationships and environment. Senior leadership teams have at least one weak leader who comes to show others how to improve and what to focus on in their growth journey. The role of the weak leader is to show a blind spot everyone’s Ego creates – self-awareness. But help a weak leader stop creating a lye.
HOW WEAK LEADERSHIP LOOKS LIKE
A weak leader can be characterized by indecisiveness. They often:
- Lack of clear communication – which is not intentional but comes as a result of the skills gap in this area…
- They are unable to inspire or motivate their Team. Because of the gap in the previous point, the leader struggles to provide meaningful purpose to the Team. With this gap, the most obvious is the inability to provide an engaging environment that creates internal motivation.
- Struggle to set clear goals – not good at communicating with the Team; no matter what happens in their head, the weak leader often struggles with setting the agenda and what is most valuable for the Team. That creates a sense of chaos and weakens team performance and efficiency, directly impacting the Culture’s direction.
- Lack of providing constructive feedback – the hardest thing to do as a leader is to keep the thin line between constructive and negative or overly positive feedback. While the last two types of feedback come to praise or punish, constructive feedback is the one that sets room for improvement. Learning how to structure this specific feedback is a valuable skill the leader must learn.
DISHONESTY AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE TEAM AND CULTURE
Not having the skills to manage situations, weak leaders often try to escape from what is happening. In some of these situations, the behavior turns to dishonesty, actually lying as a try to push the consequences in a different direction. And when a weak leader resorts to dishonesty, the situation becomes even more complex. Setting the lies as a daily agenda, the leader eroses team stability and works toward minimizing team success in favor of instability and toxicity. Lies lower morale and build distrust between team members. As a result of that, productivity and efficiency suffer. When setting this agenda, the weak leader jeopardizes the results and sustainability of the Team and turns cultural norms outside of the acceptable zone.
ADRESSING THE ISSUE NEEDS BRAVERY
While weak Leadership can creatediscrepancies in the Team, addressing this behavior is not a one-time action but an ongoing process cycle. To develop different cultural norms and introduce behavior that is not only wanted but also required to ensure sustainability, this process moves companies’ agenda for creating a healthy environment. With that in mind, here are some elements that may be crucial to turning the sustained behavior and situation into a new – more productive, positive, and happy.
Open communication – The more the weak leader focuses on lies and distrust building, the more toxic the Culture becomes. The opposite of this behavior is open communication, where the other side explains how weak leadership behavior hars the system and Team productivity and effectiveness. Communicating the consequences of the unwanted behavior directly is crucial to start the transformation process.
Continuing constructive feedback – Gone are the days when people met once a year to discuss something that happened months ago and how it impacted others, Culture, and results. Nowadays, feedback comes in many different forms and has content that resonates with the current moment, feelings, understandings, and desires. The leader is no exception to this rule. The more often and the more constructive the feedback toward the weak and toxic behavior is, the better the transformation results are.
Empowerment – Team members should feel empowered to voice their concerns, and leaders should be open to this feedback. In some cases, intervention from higher management or HR may be necessary.
THE PATH TO IMPROVEMENT
Here is what a modern leadership mindset looks like: “Every individual has the potential for growth and improvement. With the proper support and resources, a weak leader can develop into a strong one. Leadership training, mentoring, and coaching can all help with this transformation. The blockers along the path of improvement must be accepted and anticipated. They should be transformed into positive milestones pushing for improvement. This approach prevents them from stopping the transformation.”
IN CONCLUSION:
Weak Leadership and dishonesty can pose significant challenges for teams. However, by fostering open communication, providing constructive feedback, and supporting leadership development, teams can overcome these challenges and thrive.
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