Top Leadership Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

You want to be the best leader you can. But even if you have had management training and lots of experience, it's easy to make fundamental mistakes that impact your performance and your team's ability to deliver. 

 

Here are some of the most common mistakes people can make regarding leadership and what you can do to avoid them.

 

1.    Failing to Delegate

 

Micromanaging, being controlling, whatever you call it if a leader can't delegate, that spells trouble for the whole team. Many leaders feel they need to keep control over every aspect of the project. But you won't get your best out of your team if you can't let go and trust them. 

 

Learn the art of delegating, and you will get a lot more achieved and the respect and loyalty of your employees. Good leaders know they don't need to know everything about the project. Good leaders trust their team to be on top of things. Good leaders set up structures to make sure things stay on track and then let the team get on with doing what they do best. 

 

2.    Taking Credit but not Responsibility

 

Most people have probably sat in meetings and seen their boss take all the credit. Just showing up to collect the accolades is poor leadership. So is blaming their staff when things don't go so well. 

 

Good leaders share the glory and the blame equally. Remember President Truman’s desk sign that said ‘the buck stops here.’ Take that as your motto. 

 

3.    Not Being a Team Player

 

Responsible leaders are part of the team. They are there, working back with everyone else when the deadlines are looming. Good leaders earn the respect of their employees by working just as hard, if not harder, than their staff does. 

 

Real leadership is being in the office every day, first one in, last one out. They pitch in and make the coffee and print the slides and help clear up afterward. 

 

4.    Forgetting that Leadership is a Job, Not a Title

 

Sometimes people get into leadership positions and confuse their new job with being a dad from a 50’s sitcom – ‘because I say so’ becomes their motto and their modus operandi. They forget they were ever an employee and fall in love with being the boss. 

 

Good leaders never think that being the boss makes them a better person than the rest of the team. Good leaders care more about doing an excellent job than having their name on the door. 

 

What is Transformational Leadership and How Can It Help You Be a Better Leader?

You may not have thought about it much, but if you’ve ever experienced transformational leadership, you’ll realize that it’s a whole step up. Ordinary leaders are focused on getting the job done, managing, and organizing to complete the tasks at hand. And there's nothing wrong with that. 

But transformational leadership can inspire and motivate their teams, stretching them and challenging them to perform better than their wildest dreams. So how can you take on more characteristics of transformation leaders? Here are four things you can start doing right now to lift your leadership game. 

 

1.    Personalize Your Leadership

 

A transformational leader knows their team members inside out and can see the potential in each one. See yourself as more than a manager: be a mentor to your employees and encourage them to stretch their personal development goals. Allocate projects and tasks based not just on current skills but also on challenges to grow and promote motivation and confidence. 

 

2.    Be a Role Model

 

A transformational leader has the power to inspire their team. Model the behavior you want to see, act with integrity, openness, and honesty. You will inspire respect in your team members and give them a model to aspire to. 

 

As a leader, your people will follow your example. They will live up to your expectations, so make those expectations positive. 

 

3.    Be More than a Manager and Inspire Your Team

 

Your job is to set the vision, the strategy, and the goals for your team. Your employees will look to you to be their guide. If you focus on getting the day to day tasks done, you probably get the result you want. But if you show transformational leadership, communicating positivity and optimism, you can fire up your team to deliver results better than the project brief.

 

Transformational leaders are continually encouraging their team members by keeping the enthusiasm high, checking in on progress, acting collaboratively to find creative solutions, and celebrating successes big and small. 

 

4.    Encourage Creativity

 

Creativity is probably the hallmark of transformational leadership. A transformational leader lifts their head above the day to day and is constantly attuned to their industry changes. They are keen to foster innovative approaches and not afraid to take some risk in doing things differently. A transformational leader is not just an active listener and collaborator. They reward independent thinking and people who challenge the status quo. 

 

Typical Avoidance Behaviors

Do you know someone who expresses several avoidance behaviors? Or are you worried that you may be exhibiting some avoidance behaviors? Read on to find out more information on typical avoidance behaviors.

 

Avoiding Certain Situations

 

This is the most accessible type of avoidance to spot. Situational avoidance is when an individual will avoid specific locations, situations, or people because of poor past experiences or anxiety. If you have that one friend who always asks who will be there before they agree to attend an event, they are probably trying to avoid the situation.

 

Cognitive Avoidance

 

This one isn’t as easy to diagnose in others, but this is one you may see in yourself. If you are experiencing cognitive avoidance, you may find yourself repressing certain memories or refusing to think of certain situations. A sure sign you are cognitively avoiding something is if you start thinking about something and then tell yourself not to think about whatever subject you were thinking about.

 

Perfectionism

 

Perfectionism and other compulsive behaviors such as obsessive-compulsive disorder can be classified as avoidance behaviors. These can manifest in several different ways for different reasons. But if you find yourself obsessing over ensuring something is done perfectly, this could be that you are trying to avoid facing or thinking about a problem or emotion. 

 

Changing The Subject

 

This is another avoidance behavior that is easy to spot in your friends and family. If you are having a conversation and find that the person you are talking with changes the subject, this could be because they are avoiding the topic. Of course, changing the topic one time isn’t necessarily avoidance. Still, if they continually change the topic when a particular subject is brought up, this is a sure sign of avoidance. 

 

Inappropriate Emotions

 

Sometimes, when you don’t want to face a certain behavior or emotion, you will replace it with a different feeling. For example, people who feel sad about something may avoid the emotion by becoming angry at the slightest occurrence. Although this is easier to see in yourself than others, you can spot this avoidance behavior in a friend when their emotions may not match the situation. 

 

These are the most common and easiest avoidance behaviors to see, but this certainly isn’t all of them. When you think someone (or yourself) may be exhibiting avoidance behaviors, it’s important to investigate further to discover what may be going on beneath the surface. 

 

Why Do We Avoid Certain Tasks?

Do you find yourself dreading a particular task in your life every time you must complete it? Do you often wonder why you avoid that task? There are several reasons humans avoid completing specific tasks, and the reason why this is can vary from individual to individual.

 

You Don’t Think You’ll Have Fun

 

One of the main reasons people avoid certain tasks is that they don’t believe that they will have fun completing it when they think about that task. Or maybe they’ve performed the task before and didn’t have fun. Humans generally want to avoid doing things that lead to unhappiness. This is especially true when the task at hand is perceived to be especially difficult or complex.

 

Fatigue

 

When you are overly tired, you will generally avoid certain tasks. Even if they are tasks, you usually have fun doing. This is because you are tired and need to get some rest. If you find yourself avoiding tasks because you feel exhausted, then it’s time to get some rest and try to approach the task again later. It is tough to focus when you are fatigued, which could lead you to become distracted as an avoidance tactic for certain tasks. 

 

You Don’t Think You’ll Do Well

 

Fear of failure is another big reason that people will avoid certain tasks. Often, they are afraid of looking bad or at the embarrassment, they may experience if they can’t complete the task. This fear of failure is quite common and one of the easier ones to overcome as it can usually be remedied by working on self-confidence and self-acceptance. 

 

Medical Conditions

 

If no matter what you do, you just find you can’t complete certain tasks, there may be a medical diagnosis behind your procrastination. Several conditions, such as anxiety and depression, can lead to the avoidance of certain tasks. Although this may sound bad, generally, if the underlying condition is treated, you’ll find that it’s a bit easier to find your motivation to complete tasks. 

 

The reasons on this list may be separate, but they all boil down to a lack of motivation. If you find yourself avoiding a task because of one, or multiple reasons on this list, you need to realize you lack motivation. Once you realize this, you can find the cause to motivate yourself in the future better.

 

3 Types of Avoidance

If you are one of those who commonly avoid tasks or certain situations, it could be for several different reasons. But before you can work on solving or completing a task you’ve been putting off, it’s essential to narrow down what type of avoidance you are using to avoid something in your life so you can know how best to combat it. 

 

Emotional Or Cognitive Avoidance

 

This type of avoidance usually happens internally and can’t be seen by anyone other than the person experiencing the avoidance. When you, emotionally or cognitively, avoid something, it means that you avoid thinking about it. This can mean either blocking out the thoughts when they come to mind or repressed memories that are incredibly stressful. Emotional avoidance is especially prominent after someone has experienced a trauma and is very common in people living with PTSD. Sometimes this type of avoidance requires medical intervention to resolve. 

 

Situational Avoidance

 

This type of avoidance is much easier to see among your family and friends. Situational avoidance is when you specifically avoid a certain person, place, or thing which may remind you of something which makes you unhappy. This frequently happens in friend groups when certain group members have had an altercation and don’t want to go to events where they may see the person they have disagreed with to avoid causing problems. You may also notice this type of avoidance in a friend who constantly changes the subject when a particular topic comes up in conversation.

 

Protective Avoidance

 

This type of avoidance is where you may go out of your way to protect yourself from feeling a certain emotion or experiencing something again. For example, someone who was the victim of a robbery may obsessively check the locks on all the doors in the house to ensure they are locked. This type of avoidance can be one of the most dangerous as it can quickly escalate to more serious conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder or an eating disorder.

 

Conclusion

 

If you find yourself avoiding certain tasks, thoughts, or people, it’s time to evaluate why you are doing so, keeping the three types of avoidance in mind. Once you have discovered just what you are avoiding and why only then can you work towards fixing the issue and getting professional help if you find that you can’t overcome your avoidance tenancies alone. 

 

How to Prepare to Speak in Public

While we can never truly eliminate the fear of public speaking, we can take some basic steps to reduce that feeling of total helplessness and channel nervous energy into our presentation.

 

The key is preparation 

 

Abraham Lincoln once said, "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe." Hold on to this thought. 

 

Feedback

 

Take advantage of having time before that next speaking engagement. Start by creating a simple two or three main point presentation, and do it in front of a video camera. Then watch yourself. Pay attention to what both looks and sounds good, figure out how it can be made better, then try again. If you can, present it in front of friends or family, and then ask them what worked and what didn’t. Often what we think looks or sounds a certain way is far different from the perspective of an audience member. This kind of feedback is invaluable. 

 

Watch Your Voice 

 

When you are watching yourself, pay attention to your voice. Don't let a weak voice betray your nervousness. A soft voice sounds apprehensive. Speak louder than you would one-to-one, but without shouting. Shouting rarely works on stage, but a strong voice draws instant attention and gives you credibility. 

 

Watch Your Eyes 

 

Use your eyes. Don't stare at the ceiling or the floor, and don't try to imagine everyone in their underwear--that doesn't work. Instead, look random people in the eye and hold them for 3 to 5 seconds each. This can take practice. Again, use your family and friends. This technique alone will make you look like a professional speaker. 

 

Don't Be Afraid to Pause 

 

A nervous speaker tends to rush. This not only gives away a speaker's anxiety, but it can ruin wonderful opportunities to make an audience think about a point that was just made. If your mind goes blank, just pause and collect your thoughts. But stay with them; stay engaged. Your audience will watch with wonder and anticipation. 

 

Learn How to Utilize Notes 

 

Prepare your notes using just key or "trigger" words. You should be speaking on content that you are familiar with - so it's enough to just talk about what you already know. The key words simply guide you to the next thought. Never write a speech out word for word and try to memorize it. A speech written out is a train ready to get derailed. Fear and anxiety will cause you to forget a word or sentence and then your brain loses the pattern. It never works. Instead, use the key words to remind you of what to say and then just speak from your heart. Your audience does not know your speech and won't know you made a mistake unless you tell them.

 

12 Tips for Nurturing Your Personal Freedom

There’s a lot of pressure to conform to society’s definition of success. Right from school, you hear that there is pretty much one path. A good job, a one-way upwards career trajectory, a family, big house, lots of money. But your personal freedom doesn’t get mentioned. Nor does inner peace. But you don’t have to step too far outside your regular life to allow space for greater contentment, and freedom from the anxieties and pressures of modern life. 

 

There are some key things you can do right now to nurture your personal freedom and achieve greater contentment with your life. 

 

• Let go of past hurts and sufferings, acknowledging what you have learned along the way.

• Believe in your heart that you deserve love and good things in your life and that you wish these for the other people in your life. 

• Act kindly in your interactions with other people, whether it’s friends, family, colleagues or the person you walk past in the street. People will remember how you treated them long after they have forgotten your words.

• Be kind to yourself and acknowledge that you mostly do the best you can. And when you make a mistake, you learn from it and do better. 

• Acknowledge that you have control only over your actions and reactions. You can’t control other people, but you can control how you respond to them.

• Own your past mistakes but do not let them define you. 

• Be at peace with change and accept that it is part of the ebb and flow of life. 

• Set goals to achieve what you want out of life but be flexible and prepared to adapt to changing circumstances. 

• Don’t compare your life to others, especially as they present themselves on social media. People always display their best sides and rarely acknowledge weakness or when things are going badly. 

• Choose to be compassionate. Most people are trying to do their best most of the time. 

• Be grateful for where you are, and what you have right now. Don’t get caught up in a dissatisfaction loop where the other guy’s life looks better. Chances are you are already living an abundant life.

• Learn to relax and allow things to be, rather than try to second guess all the time. Adopt the Buddhist philosophy of detachment, breathe, and let go of anxiety. Allow and trust that the Universe will give you what you need.

 

Using Time Blocking to Stay Motivated

What happens when we push our brain to keep thinking, focusing and creating hour after hour? It shuts down. It goes on strike. It says “I’m outa here, buddy”. This is especially true when we keep requiring it to focus on the same task for hours at a time. Neuroscience now tells us that changing tasks regularly, taking consistent breaks and blocking out our time keeps our brain more engaged when it is working so that we actually get more done in less time.

 

So, let’s look at blocking time. This is not a new concept. But it’s one we don’t use often enough to maintain our enthusiasm and focus, not to mention our mental and emotional health. Blocking time is a way to schedule your work hours in a way that sets up a dedicated time to a particular task. And then, when that time is up, you switch to a new task. 

 

But why you may ask, is this important to performance and productivity?

 

●      Keeps your brain from getting bored (aka, low motivation)

●      Mentally prepares you for the tasks ahead

●      Lowers stress because you see work getting done

●      Ensures no multitasking occurs

●      Improves self-confidence in your ability to succeed

 

So, how should you go about blocking your time? Usually, it’s recommended to work in 2-3 hour work chunks at a time, while allowing a short 5-10 minute break every 30-45 minutes.

 

1.  Decide how you will block your time. There are many ways to do this, including various apps and email calendars. Google Calendar is a great way to get started because it’s easy to use and readily available.

2.  Chose the date and time for your task. Remember to keep it to 2-3 hours if possible.

3.  Decide where you will complete the task.

4.  Include any details you need to remember before performing the task in the memo area. This will make it faster to get started when you get to that time block. No searching for the sticky note you wrote the directions on.

5.  Set reminders so you know when it’s time to switch tasks. You can get a reminder via email, pop-up or app notifications.

 

Using time blocks keeps your motivation high for all the reasons stated above, and also because it allows you to use several of your skill sets each day. It breaks up the monotony of doing the same task all day long.

 

3 Effective Ways To Make Each Of Your Videos Great

Creating videos is a time-consuming process so you want to ensure that every one of your videos is great. In this article, we will reveal 3 very effective tactics that you can use to get the best results from all of your videos. 

 

1. Use Storytelling in your Videos

 

People really enjoy stories so you can use this to your advantage with your videos. A lot of video marketers make their videos too salesy. They try to aggressively push their products and services on to the viewers who do not appreciate this. Nobody wants to watch a video where they are going to be sold to.

 

The very best videos always add value. They provide good information and advice that the viewer can use to improve their life. Just creating ads for your products and services is not going to have the desired effect.

 

With every one of your videos, you want to stir up strong emotions in your viewers. The best way to achieve this is to use storytelling. Tell your viewers the story behind the creation of your products and services. A story that explains how a product changed your life will have a good effect on your viewers.

 

Plan out your videos to include good stories. If you have proof that your products and services work (which you should always have) then weave this into your story. When you tell your story, make sure that you emphasize the benefits to the viewer of using your products and services to achieve their goals.

 

Your aim is always to make a good connection with your viewers. Tell stories about your business, yourself and your products and services. Explain how you got involved in your business and why you decided to create your products and services.

 

2. Make a Good First Impression

These days, people have very short attention spans so you need to make the first 10 seconds of your video really count. This is a very short amount of time for you to make an impact but you must focus on this. 

 

Bear in mind that your viewers have a lot of choice. If they are not impressed with the first few seconds of your video then they are likely to go elsewhere. During the first 10 seconds, tell your viewers what your video is about and what they can expect. Do this in a way that will make them want to stick around and watch the rest of your video.

 

3. Tell your Viewers what you want them to do

 

One of the biggest mistakes that some video marketers make is expecting their viewers to know what they want them to do. It is very likely that your viewers will not know this so you need to tell them more than once in your videos.

 

If you want your viewers to click the link in the description and sign up to your email list then tell them this. Of course, you need to put this in a way that they will perceive this to be beneficial to them.

 

Don’t just add your calls to action (CTA) at the end of your videos. Not everyone is going to watch your videos until the end. Tell them at the start and in the middle if your video is long enough. Make sure to tell them to subscribe and like your video too.