The Qualities of Leadership- Part One

The Qualities of Leadership

 

 The Trap Of Leadership

The trap strong people or leaders often fall into is one of getting locked into pushing ahead blindly.

Sometimes this is a result of seeing no other options, whether because they do not see them, are not capable of seeing them, or are unprepared or unwilling to look for them. This tunnel vision can arise from the failure or inability of leaders to admit they are wrong either generally or at any given time.

In a crisis, strong leadership should include confidence, optimism, and clarity of thought and action. It doesn’Â’t need to show weakness, doubt, equivocation or confusion. However, admitting a mistake can be informative and empowering.

By admitting mistakes, a leader gains the ability to use new knowledge as he pushes ahead. Sometimes pushing ahead is the right thing to do.

Even when a mistake has been made, the course ahead may not be altered by the realization of the mistake. Admitting a mistake is only seeing, considering and understanding what mistakes have been made so they can be avoided or lessened in the future.

Once a mistake has been made, it can be very difficult for a leader to see or admit it. But the way forward involves acknowledging and admitting a mistake.

ntify your mistakes to yourself:

Look around for opportunities to identify your past and current mistakes. Taking stock primes you to be diligent about your choices and actions.

Understand that youÂ’’re not perfect and that somewhere along the way you made an error. To the best of your ability, identify the mistakes youÂ’ve made.

Key leadership traits and 4 Steps for Admitting Your Mistakes

1.Own your mistakes:

Identify at least one thing you could have done differently to improve a situation or choice. It may not have been the initial action; it may have been missing a sign or step along the way. Own the mistake and determine where it threw you off course or may still have an impact.

2. Learn from your mistakes:

Look for and consider alternate options you could have taken. You may not have seen them at the time because of your limited perception but consider if you can see the now.

3. Identify your blind spots:

Assess what blocked you from seeing alternate options.

Identify what steps in decision making you may have missed or overlooked, including what information and what other voices you didnÂ’’t hear. Ask yourself why you didnÂ’’t listen to someone else or why you didnÂ’’t see an option. Blind spots can come from your own past experiences or your own makeup.

Some issues that may cause blind spots include:

  • Fear, anxiety and emotional insecurity
  • Prejudice or ignorance (including a lack of knowledge) and a lack of cultural exposure
  • Pride, arrogance, ego or narcissism
  • Poor self-awareness
  • Poor or missing training and education
  • Close-mindedness, stubbornness
  • Inexperience or immaturity

Many of these blind spots are related to the development of poor emotional-intelligence skills.

If you want to understand more about your potential blind spots, try completing some self-assessment activities such as a personality or emotional-intelligence assessment and include a 360-degree evaluation that gathers feedback from people who know you.

If you canÂ’’t pinpoint and take ownership of your mistakes, youÂ’’re not ready to apologize, which means youÂ’ll have difficulty leading those impacted by your mistakes moving forward.

You may be able to admit you made a mistake, but as a leader, if you want to inspire your followers to follow you again, you have to identify and then own your mistakes so you can offer a sincere apology.

You may be sincerely sorry that a failure occurred and feel emotionally upset at the results of that failure, but if you donÂ’’t understand how or why the failure occurred, it will be difficult to inspire confidence in others that youÂ’re able to avoid repeating the mistake.

Admitting a mistake without apologizing can be an important first step and it can buy you some time, but a sincere apology is what will enable you to re-build trust. In part two of this series, we discuss options for apologizing for errors.

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Achieving Success Means No Excuses

10 Steps Toward Choosing Mental Resilienc

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