6 Signs of Poor Leadership

It's hard to identify the exact symptoms that result from poor leadership. Organizations, by nature, are very convoluted and there are many factors that go into how things are run in a company.

“Failed leadership is a complex and difficult phenomenon to identify, mainly because anytime a business is performing poorly, the knee flex reaction is to blame the leadership,” says Jonathan Poston M.E., who has taught leadership worldwide and currently a leader at BooksSetup.com. 

To help pinpoint the most common characteristics of bad leadership, we spoke to several leaders about the top signs that leadership is failing.

If the following sounds all too familiar, you might be positioned to fall:

1. Unclear or conflicting goals

“If you ask any member of the team what the team’s goal is, and they aren’t sure, or don’t understand how their efforts contribute to reaching that goal, leadership has failed at the most fundamental level,” says Jeffrey Scarcella, president of Metacomet Partners LLC.

Yes, it’s basic. But it’s essential.

2. When they have to be the smartest person in the room.

Richard J. Sherman, president and CEO of Gold & Doman Research, says this is a surefire sign of poor leaders.

If they don’t laud your insights or value your niche expertise, it’s hard to grow and progress.

3. There are too many silos.

A strong leader can interface with any team and folks at any level. For instance, a CTO with a tech background should be able to engage with the marketing team. It’s the only way to keep the vision alive across the board.

If “the leader fails to interface and engage with folks cross-functionally, with peers as well as managing up and down the organization,” he won’t be as effective, says Elene Cafasso, executive coach at Enerpace, Inc. “A silo-ed leader is a failing leader.”

For instance, one great way to engage cross-departmentally is by asking for a team’s input. In fact, one survey by A Fierce, Inc. found that while 98 percent of respondents believe everyone’s input should be considered by a leader, 40 percent feel leaders fail to ask.

4. She plays the blame game.

Taking responsibility and holding yourself accountable for results takes courage. Cafasso makes this key point as well. Anyone who “plays the blame game and doesn’t take responsibility for their area’s performance,” is not a strong leader.

5. There’s no employee recognition.

Seventy-eight percent of employees would work harder if their efforts were better appreciated, according to a 2012 Globoforce Motivation Worldwide survey. Of course, you don’t need a survey to know that.

There should be some sort of recognition system in place to reward all-star team members.

6. She is way too controlling.

“Ironically some of the most effective leaders do the best for the organization as a visionary and delegator, leaving the critical operations to capable employees,” Poston says.

“Counter-intuitively, one of the most profound signs of failed leadership is when leaders become short-sighted and lose touch with the big picture and desperately attempt to correct performance by being overly hands-on, and micro-managing.”

Choose strong people. Give them a vision. Then, step back and allow them to succeed in their own way.