The biggest mistakes that leaders in Singapore make
By C.J. NgChantelle is caught in a fix recently. Her direct report, Tina, hasn't been showing a positive attitude at work recently and Chantelle's been trying to give her feedback to Tina about her recent poor performance.
Unfortunately for Chantelle, instead of responding positively to her feedback, Tina went to lodge a complaint of ill-treatment to Chantelle's boss, John. And instead of viewing the issue objectively, John thought that Chantelle has been mistreating Tina, and intervened in the matter without first consulting with Chantelle. In a nut shell, John transferred Tina to another department with lesser work load, and put it on record that Chantelle needs help in her people management skills.
John's actions obviously upsets Chantelle, whom thinks that she did not do any wrong, but was treated unfairly. She began to think that John is jealous of her achievements, and is trying to make her look bad so as to pass her over for the promotion that was due to her.
In response to John's action, Chantelle decided to be as uncooperative as possible at work.
The Mistakes that Leaders Make
- John should not have intervened into his subordinate's subordinate's matter, not at least without consulting with Chantelle before doing so. This not only undermines Chantelle's authority, but it will also send a wrong signal to other staff that they could bypass their immediate superiors and go to John directly;
- Chantelle, being a manager, should know better that her uncooperative attitudes towards her immediate superior, is not really the right behaviour that a leader should possess
- Many managers/ leaders are not aware of their mistakes in the first place;
- Some become defensive and brush off feedback (from either team members or peers or even superiors) that point out their mistakes; and
- A minor few can be delusional that they are immune from making any mistakes!
- "Authority is given, but respect is earned" is an often quote in military leadership training. Sure, a subordinate can be punished for insubordination, but if someone does not respect you, that means you haven't earned his respect yet;
- The 5 key leadership virtues according to Sun Tzu's Art of War are "Wisdom 智. Trust 信, Compassion 仁, Courage 勇, Discipline 严". It takes a combination of all 5 to actually take in feedback.
How do You Distinguish Good vs. Bad Feedback
Some leaders' concern about feedback is that some team members make use of feedback as a means to provide excuses.
Here are some tips on how you can distinguish between good and bad feedback:
- Did the person giving the feedback try to suggest possible solutions, or did he merely state the problems and challenges?;
- Did the person giving the feedback tried to improve the overall situation for your and the organisation, or did he merely try to get a selfish gain
- Did the person give only positive feedback, and omit all honest constructive criticism?
Perhaps the biggest reason that most team members don't give their feedback is that they don't feel safe about giving those feedback. Some bosses ignore the feedback from their team members. Some managers and leaders actually fired team members who tried to point out their mistakes.
As leaders, you don't really have to argue or clarify too much, IF you deem the feedback as irrelevant or misunderstood. All you need to do is to show empathy and gratitude that someone, be they your team member, superior or external partner actually bothered to take time to give you the feedback. If the feedback is useful, use it. If not, simply thank and acknowledge it, and then move on.
In one of the worst real cases, the managing director of a company was so unaware of his limitations, and totally brushed aside all forms of feedback that could have helped with the situation. Eventually, most of the loyal team members who were also key contributors left the company, simply because they were totally disappointed with their boss's attitude.
What did that managing director do after those key employees left? Did he go on to reflect how he could have handled the situation better? Unfortunately, no. In fact, he called those who left the company "Rice Christians", a derogatory term for people who show up to get paid without contributing anything.
Ultimately, it will be the leader/ manager who will suffer if she does not have the self-awareness to know where his limitations are, and how he could learn from his past mistakes. He will get less contributions from team members over time, and will eventually lose out to competitors who are better in harnessing the wisdom of their teams.
Achieving Self-Awareness in an Objective Way
While proactively getting feedback from your team might be a good way to gain self-awareness on what you have done well, as well as what you could have done better.Sometimes, though, you may need a more systematic view of what are some of inherent strengths and limitations, so that you can play to your strengths and then build a team who will make up for your limitations.
The Belbin Team Role Profile is perhaps the only online assessment tool that allows you to gain self-awareness of your strengths and limitations of your team leadership by combining the results of your self-perspective, with the observations of a number of observers who work closely with you.
Based on the assessment results, leaders and managers could then:
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Map out a developmental plan to optimise their strengths, and be aware of their limitations;
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Seek ways to communicate and work effectively with others with similar or different Team Roles Profiles; and
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Work with a team with diversified Team Role Profiles to make it into a perfect team.
If you work in an environment or culture that it is rare or even awkward for team members to provide direct feedback to the team leader, the Belbin Team Role Profile will be a convenient tool for leaders and managers to gain self-awareness through a 360-feedback easily.
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