5 Leadership Weaknesses to Work On

Leadership is the art or practice of motivating a group of people to achieve a common goal. Leadership derives from social influence rather than strict hierarchy or seniority. Anyone with the right skills can become a leader regardless of their position in a company or organization.

Good leaders often possess various leadership qualities, such as creativity, motivation, vision, and empathy. However, the most successful leaders can adapt to the needs of different situations, employing their diverse set of leadership skills to achieve their goals. Less effective leaders may not have good communication or critical thinking skills and will have a hard time making day-to-day decisions or inspiring others to do their best work. Leadership weaknesses can affect the performance of a business and can cause burnout or lower employee retention and productivity.

Many different types of leadership styles and leadership roles exist, but just as there are a few common traits among strong leaders, less effective leaders also share commonalities. Consider the following leadership weaknesses for your own self-evaluation—but remember that everyone has leadership weaknesses and areas of improvement in business and in their personal life that they need to work on, and having a weakness doesn’t make you a bad leader. Here are five examples of leadership weaknesses:

1. 1. Low self-confidence: A leader may not always be perfect, but they should believe in themselves and remain confident in the decisions they make. A leader with a lack of confidence won’t be able to influence others to believe in their own abilities and will be a poor role model for their team.
2. 2. Poor time management skills: Knowing how to structure your time and use it effectively is one of the most important skills for great managers. A leader who wastes time or who has a laissez-faire attitude about work will appear to have poor work ethic. It’s also common to see someone in a leadership position work hard but not use their time effectively.
3. 3. Lack of communication skills: Poor communication skills can include having negative body language like slouching or looking angry, having weak public speaking skills, not being able to explain tasks clearly to others, not giving constructive feedback, or forgetting to follow up or check in with their team. Business leaders also need to learn how to be good listeners if they want employee engagement. Poor listening skills will make it difficult for a good manager to resolve conflicts or have effective team meetings.
4. 4. Distrust of team: A poor leader will lack trust in their team members or employees and will oversee every part of a task to make sure they do it correctly. This behavior, known as micromanaging, displays that the leader doesn’t understand the skill sets of the team members.
5. 5. Refusal to delegate work: A common leadership weakness is trying to do all of the work themselves rather than delegating tasks to their team members. A leader may think that working harder than others will earn them respect, but their team will instead feel like they aren’t trusted or aren’t perceived as good enough for the job.

To lead effectively, you must embody leadership skills as if they were second nature. Consider asking a mentor to help you develop your skill sets; you should also have clear expectations for yourself as you work to improve. Here are ten ways to work on building important leadership qualities:

1. 1. Build trust. Strong leaders earn and keep the trust of those they lead. Work to keep your promises and follow through on commitments because all the hard work you put into building trust with your team can easily evaporate.
2. 2. Check your biases. Everyone has preconceived notions about what the right decision is in any given situation. A good leader is aware of this and seeks out differing opinions and solutions to arrive at the best decision; they do not merely go with the idea that came to them first. By checking your biases, you can look at the situation more holistically.
3. 3. Develop self-confidence. A good leader has enough self-awareness to see where they can improve in their personal development and enough self-confidence to know they’ll be able to improve. There are different styles of leadership, but all leaders should be confident. Successful leaders take intelligent risks; to take risks, you need to be sure of yourself.
4. 4. Encourage common goals. A sign of strong leadership is the ability to establish clear goals for your entire team. This can lead to a greater sense of functionality, teamwork, and unity for a small or large group of people.
5. 5. Exhibit competency. Great leaders exhibit a great deal of competency in their fields. With both hard and soft skills, they show their team members they know what they’re doing.
6. 6. Hone communication skills. Building effective communication skills helps you relate to your team and convey your vision for the organization as a whole. If you cannot communicate effectively, you won’t get buy-in from others to pursue common goals. As a result, good communication skills are essential leadership attributes.
7. 7. Know when to delegate. True leaders know when their plate is too full or when they’re not the best person for a specific task. Delegating initiatives to others is necessary. This simultaneously demonstrates you have top-notch project management skills and trust enough in your team members, giving them a sense of empowerment. The best work environments are those in which everyone can operate from a sense of power and purpose.
8. 8. Maintain a positive attitude. Effective leaders must maintain a good headspace and positive attitude. There are ups and downs for any organization—it’s a sign of good leadership to help people keep calm and carry on even during tough times.
9. 9. Practice empathy. Develop an empathetic attitude and emotional intelligence so you can relate to your team on a personal level. Understand other people’s stresses and successes, triumphs, and tragedies to help you better lead them.
10. 10. Solve problems creatively. Problem-solving and decision-making are important elements of any leader’s job description. You’re the final say on any given initiative, dispute, and so on. To be a better leader, be ready to solve problems creatively, empathetically, and routinely.

MasterClass at Work is the learning platform to help unlock the full potential of your employees and inspire a learning lifestyle in everyone. From negotiation to mindfulness to baking—these are just a few things your teams can explore.