7 mistakes leaders make that turn people miserable

7 mistakes leaders make that turn people miserable7 mistakes leaders make that turn people miserableFrom Enron to Volkswagen, weve watched in horror as leaders who lack integrity have destroyed businesses time and again. But the real tragedy happens when regular leaders, who are otzu sichwise great, sabotage themselves, day after day, with mistakes that they cant see but are obvious to everyone else.In most cases, its slight and often unintentional gaps in integrity that hold leaders, their employees, and their companies back. Despite their potential, ansicht leaders harm their employees and themselves.Look for three things in a rolle intelligence, energy, and integrity. If they dont have the last one, dont even bother. Warren BuffetDr. Fred Kiel did the difficult job of quantifying the value of a leaders integrity for his book,Return On Character, and his findings are fascinating. Over a seven-year period, Kiel collected data on 84 CEOs and compared employee ratings of their behavi or to company performance.Kiel found that high-integrity CEOs had a multi-year return of 9.4%, while low integrity CEOs had a yield of just 1.9%. Whats more, employee engagement was 26% higher in organizations led by high-integrity CEOs.Kiel describes high-integrity CEOs this way They were often humble. They appeared to have very little concern for their career success or their compensation. The funny point about that is they all did better than the self-focused CEOs with regard to compensation and career success. Its sort of ironic.Kiels data is clear companies perform better under the guidance of high-integrity leadership. Companies who try to compete under the leadership of a skilled but self-focused CEO are setting themselves up to lose, Kiel says.Every leader has the responsibility to hone his or her integrity. Many times, there are integrity traps that have a tendency to catch well-meaning leaders off guard. By studying these traps, we can all sharpen the saw and keep our lead ership integrity at its highest possible level.1. Fostering a cult of rollealityIts easy for leaders to get caught up in their own worlds as there are many systems in place that make it all about them. These leaders identify so strongly with their leadership roles that instead of remembering that the only reason theyre there is to serve others, they start thinking, Its my world, and well do things my way.Being a good leader requires remembering that youre there for a reason, and the reason certainly isnt to have your way. High-integrity leaders not only welcome questioning and criticism, they insist on it.2. Dodging accountabilityPoliticians are notorious for refusing to be accountable for their mistakes, and business leaders do it too. Even if only a few people see a leaders misstep (instead of millions), dodging accountability can be incredibly damaging. A person who refuses to say the buck stops here really isnt a leader at all.Being a leader requires being confident enough in yo ur own decisions and those of your team to own them when they fail. The very best leaders take the blame but share the credit.3. Lacking self-awarenessMany leaders think they have enough emotional intelligence (EQ). And many times, they are proficient in some EQ skills, but when it comes to understanding themselves, they are woefully blind. Its not that theyre hypocrites they just dont see what everyone else sees. They might play favorites, be tough to work with, or receive criticism badly.And they arent alone, as TalentSmart research involving more than a million people shows that just 36% of us are accurate in our self-assessments.4. Forgetting that communication is a two-way streetMany leaders also think that theyre great communicators, not realizing that theyre only communicating in one direction. Some pride themselves on being approachable and easily accessible, yet they dont reallyhearthe ideas that people share with them.Some leaders dont set goals or provide context for the things they ask people to do, and others never offer feedback, leaving people wondering if theyre more likely to get promoted or fired.5. elend firing poor performersSometimes, whether its because they feel sorry for an employee or simply because they want to avoid conflict, leaders dodge making the really tough decisions.While theres certainly nothing wrong with being compassionate, real leaders know when its just not appropriate, and they understand that they owe it to the company and to the rest of the team to let someone go.6. Succumbing to the tyranny of the urgentThe tyranny of the urgent is what happens when leaders spend their days putting out small fires. They take care of whats dancing around in front of their faces and lose focus of whats truly important- their people.Your integrity as a leader hinges upon your ability to avoid distractions that prevent you from putting your people first.7. MicromanagingYou see this mistake most often with people who have recently worked their way up through the ranks. They still havent made the mental shift from doer to leader. Without something tangible to point to at the end of the day, they feel unproductive, not realizing that productivity means something different for a leader.As a result, they micromanage to the point of madness and fall off schedule. An important part of a leaders integrity rests in giving people the freedom to do their jobs.Bringing it all togetherThe bad news is that these mistakes are as common as they are damaging. The good news is that theyre really easy to fix, once youre aware of them.Travis Bradberry is the co-author of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 and the co-founder of TalentSmart.This article originally appeared on LinkedIn.7 mistakes leaders make that turn people miserableFrom Enron to Volkswagen, weve watched in horror as leaders who lack integrity have destroyed businesses time and again. But the real tragedy happens when regular leaders, who are otherwise great, sabotage themselv es, day after day, with mistakes that they cant see but are obvious to everyone else.In most cases, its slight and often unintentional gaps in integrity that hold leaders, their employees, and their companies back. Despite their potential, these leaders harm their employees and themselves.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreLook for three things in a person intelligence, energy, and integrity. If they dont have the last one, dont even bother. Warren BuffetDr. Fred Kiel did the difficult job of quantifying the value of a leaders integrity for his book,Return On Character, and his findings are fascinating. Over a seven-year period, Kiel collected data on 84 CEOs and compared employee ratings of their behavior to company performance.Kiel found that high-integrity CEOs had a multi-year return of 9.4%, while low integrity CEOs had a yield of just 1.9%. Whats more, employee engagement w as 26% higher in organizations led by high-integrity CEOs.Kiel describes high-integrity CEOs this way They were often humble. They appeared to have very little concern for their career success or their compensation. The funny point about that is they all did better than the self-focused CEOs with regard to compensation and career success. Its sort of ironic.Kiels data is clear companies perform better under the guidance of high-integrity leadership. Companies who try to compete under the leadership of a skilled but self-focused CEO are setting themselves up to lose, Kiel says.Every leader has the responsibility to hone his or her integrity. Many times, there are integrity traps that have a tendency to catch well-meaning leaders off guard. By studying these traps, we can all sharpen the saw and keep our leadership integrity at its highest possible level.1. Fostering a cult of personalityIts easy for leaders to get caught up in their own worlds as there are many systems in place that make it all about them. These leaders identify so strongly with their leadership roles that instead of remembering that the only reason theyre there is to serve others, they start thinking, Its my world, and well do things my way.Being a good leader requires remembering that youre there for a reason, and the reason certainly isnt to have your way. High-integrity leaders not only welcome questioning and criticism, they insist on it.2. Dodging accountabilityPoliticians are notorious for refusing to be accountable for their mistakes, and business leaders do it too. Even if only a few people see a leaders misstep (instead of millions), dodging accountability can be incredibly damaging. A person who refuses to say the buck stops here really isnt a leader at all.Being a leader requires being confident enough in your own decisions and those of your team to own them when they fail. The very best leaders take the blame but share the credit.3. Lacking self-awarenessMany leaders think they hav e enough emotional intelligence (EQ). And many times, they are proficient in some EQ skills, but when it comes to understanding themselves, they are woefully blind. Its not that theyre hypocrites they just dont see what everyone else sees. They might play favorites, be tough to work with, or receive criticism badly.And they arent alone, as TalentSmart research involving more than a million people shows that just 36% of us are accurate in our self-assessments.4. Forgetting that communication is a two-way streetMany leaders also think that theyre great communicators, not realizing that theyre only communicating in one direction. Some pride themselves on being approachable and easily accessible, yet they dont reallyhearthe ideas that people share with them.Some leaders dont set goals or provide context for the things they ask people to do, and others never offer feedback, leaving people wondering if theyre more likely to get promoted or fired.5. Not firing poor performersSometimes, whe ther its because they feel sorry for an employee or simply because they want to avoid conflict, leaders dodge making the really tough decisions.While theres certainly nothing wrong with being compassionate, real leaders know when its just not appropriate, and they understand that they owe it to the company and to the rest of the team to let someone go.6. Succumbing to the tyranny of the urgentThe tyranny of the urgent is what happens when leaders spend their days putting out small fires. They take care of whats dancing around in front of their faces and lose focus of whats truly important- their people.Your integrity as a leader hinges upon your ability to avoid distractions that prevent you from putting your people first.7. MicromanagingYou see this mistake most often with people who have recently worked their way up through the ranks. They still havent made the mental shift from doer to leader. Without something tangible to point to at the end of the day, they feel unproductive, n ot realizing that productivity means something different for a leader.As a result, they micromanage to the point of madness and fall off schedule. An important part of a leaders integrity rests in giving people the freedom to do their jobs.Bringing it all togetherThe bad news is that these mistakes are as common as they are damaging. The good news is that theyre really easy to fix, once youre aware of them.Travis Bradberry is the co-author of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 and the co-founder of TalentSmart.This article originally appeared on LinkedIn.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people