Essay on the Biggest Mistake a Leader Can Make

Ideally, the tenets of good leadership are attained through discipline and experience. In real life, every person is bound to make mistakes. However, to a great extent, leaders are accountable to a much higher standard of the mistakes. While there is no such perfect approach to leadership, and given the fact that every persons leadership is unique, there are certain mistakes leaders make that often compromises the dignity and effectiveness of their teams. For inexperienced leaders, however, leadership may prove to be tricky.

Even though there might be a series of pitfalls that a person can encounter in his/her leadership role, to me, the biggest mistake a leader can ever make is failing to understand the true meaning of motivation. It is known that the aspect of team motivation is the responsibility of a leader. The problem is most of the leaders fail to understand this vice. By so doing, they generalize the aspect of motivation in almost all the departments, forgetting the fact that motivation does not cut across to every individual.

For instance, some of the team members may be motivated by money and others may be motivated by mere praise. For a good leader, you need to differentiate between the two, such that you may raise salary or give a bonus, where necessary to motivate your team and at the same time identify those who may just need a pat on their back for a job well done. Therefore, in instances where a leader fails to recognize the two and understand what truly motivates his team, then he is bound to fail as a leader.

Secondly, failing to play to the strengths and weaknesses of your team members as a leader is another such biggest mistake a leader can make. All employees have their strengths and weaknesses. As a leader, one should not expect to build a team without incorporating its strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, the main goal of a team leader is to effectively manage the strengths and weaknesses of the team itself.

Furthermore, the leader should also be in a position to understand that an individuals weaknesses and strengths differ from one employee to the other. For instance, if a leader decides to pair his team up by their complimentary abilities, then he or she will stand a better chance of understanding their distinctive strengths and weaknesses. Also, in the case a leader notices that his/her social media marketer is brilliant enough when it comes to timing and individual engagement, he or she should ensure that he brings in a good writer to fill the missing gap.

In this regard, it is imperative that as a team leader, certain aspects of work-related mishaps be avoided to ensure proper checks and balances at the workplace. Consequently, if a leader finds out that the assigned writer is skilled in technical elements of writing but is not endowed with coming up with great ideas, then he/she should devise other alternative ways to ensure that he does not fail in the delivery of his mandate. In conclusion, therefore, some of the mistakes that leaders make are self-centered, and as such, they can be avoided. For viable and good management skills, leaders should at all times ensure that certain management mistakes are avoided.