5 Biggest Mistake Leaders Make

5 Biggest Mistakes Leaders Make

by: Billy Epperhart

Leadership is a learned skill. Like most other skills, you often learn by your failures. I have have learned some things regarding what to do and what not to do. If you are in a new position of leadership, or you just want to make sure you aren’t making mistakes, then I wrote this article for you. Whether you lead a single person or a company of thousands, I encourage you to seriously measure yourself against these mistakes.

1. You Aren’t Aware of What Your Team Is Up To

When I teach my business school students, I tell them one of the most important lessons I learned was this simple statement: never and your team. I do this through weekly report forms that my employees turn into me. It allows me to keep track of their Key Performance Indicators, and it also allows me to see how they are spending their time. They list out the projects they are working on, and the projects they have left on their to-do list.

Never let it be said that you didn't find out

2. You Micro-Manage Your Team

This may seem to contradict the first point, but there is a difference between keeping a pulse on your team and being there to witness every heartbeat. I know what projects don’t ask them for every detail regarding each project. When you micro-manage your team, you show them that you don’t trust them. Every strong relationship in life is built on a foundation of trust, and if you do not have that with your team, it will fall apart. Unless they have given you a reason not to trust them or believe that they are doing their job, then let them have some creative freedom.

3. Not Trusting Your Intuition

When I was younger, I was sometimes timid when it came to expressing my opinions about certain things. As a pastor, I would never disagree with the elders, even if my gut was telling me to say something. Now, you shouldn’t disagree in order to create where I felt like I could have done something better.

As the face of the church, it was my rear on the line for certain things, and it’s the same for you whether you lead a church, a business, or a small team. Speak up when your gut tells you to! God gave us intuition for a reason. I believe the Holy Spirit is always leading us and guiding us, so don’t disregard that small voice in your head.

4. Taking Things Too Personal

I want you to realize that even goo leaders get criticized and people leave them. Jesus experienced this, in fact in John chapter 6 he had a whole bunch of people leave. They left his church, they left his home group, they left his community, they left!

John6"66 says, “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. ‘You do not want to leave too, do you?’ Jesus asked the twelve. And Simon Peter answered him ‘Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the holy one of God.”

5. Playing the Blame Game

Sometimes there’s not a whole lot you can do to keep somebody from going or leaving. want to do is you want to blame yourself, then you want to get angry and blame them. Let’s forget about blaming them or blaming yourself and just realize it's going to happen. It’s the normal way life works. People leave. Listen - don't blame them, don't criticize them, but don't blame yourself either. Just realize it's a principle of life.

Speak up when your gut tells you to! God gave us intuition

I hope this article has helped you look at yourself as a leader honestly and clearly. Listen, we all make mistakes. We all think we’re doing the right thing when maybe sometimes we aren’t. What’s important is what you do with the knowledge that you weren’t handling things right.