Goal Driven Consulting
Are you leading or are you bossing?
In leadership, you either lead your people to where they are supposed to go or you boss them around to where they are supposed to go. The problem with the latter is that it does more harm than good. It kills morale, momentum and hope on the team, in the division, in the department or in the organization. Former American President, Dwight D. Eisenhower said, "You do not lead by hitting over the head- that's assault, not leadership."
Leaders who boss their people around show the following characteristics:
1. They are too controlling
Leaders who boss their people around keep interrupting their people in their work. They don't believe in the best interest of their people. They think they are perfect. They also think that nobody can do the job better than them. As a result, they micromanage their people, thereby causing frustrations and tensions.
Leaders with "I am the boss attitude" drive their people instead of coaching them. They inspire fear instead of enthusiasm. They depend on positional authority instead of influence.
2. They are insecure
Insecure leaders think that everything revolves around them. They don't surround themselves with strong leaders, instead, they surround themselves with "yes men". They feel threatened when people in their team perform well. They therefore, suppress such people and ill-treat them. When someone in their team performs poorly, they react with anger, because such a person makes them look bad.
3. They are selfish
Selfish leaders put their own personal desires, personal agenda, personal needs and interests above the desires, the needs, and the interests of their team, their division, their department or their organization. They don't invest in their team by giving them growth opportunities.
Selfish leaders lead others for their own persona gain. They push their own personal and selfish agenda. They seek to destroy other people who are a threat to them in the organization.
4. They are moody
Leaders who boss their people around are moody. They are unpredictable in their behaviour. They are not consistent in mood. When they are angry, they affect their people so badly. When they are happy, they make promises out of excitement and they can't keep such promises.
People don't know what to expect from moody leaders. Their morale is down and the momentum gets broken.
5. They undermine their people
Bossy leaders undermine their people. People are not important to them. They don't treat their people with respect and dignity. They don't care about their people's feelings and aspirations. All that they care about is their feelings, their aspirations and their wellbeing.
6. They don't listen to their people
Leaders who boss their people around don't listen to what their people have to say. Even when what people are saying has the potential to help the leader move forward in addressing issues appropriately, he or she decides to ignore them. They think that listening to their subordinates is a gesture of weakness. As a result, they keep hurting their people's feelings.
7. They are too political
Bossy leaders depend on employing political tactics and strategies, they play political mind games. They have their own faction that defends their interests in the organization. All that they do is to frustrate people whom they consider a threat to them.
Political mind games kill the sense of urgency in the organization. They also break momentum. Politics creates an environment of adversarialism.
Conclusion
If you show one of the above characteristics, you are bossing your people around instead of leading them. Leadership is about motivating and influencing people to bring their best out. It is the ability to get people to follow you willingly. All that you need to do is to lead, not to boss them around to follow you. Bossing your people around will backfire and your leadership will easily evaporate with you.