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Summary

Welcome back to another insightful episode of HIQA - Human Innovation Questions Answered. Today, we're taking a slight detour from our usual live Q&A format. As I'm currently traveling, we've opted for a prerecorded session to delve into a topic close to my heart: the pitfalls of ineffective leadership.

Through my journey across diverse organizations - from small startups to colossal entities with over 500,000 employees - I've observed various leadership styles. Early in the 2000s, I started compiling a list. Not of exemplary leadership traits, but of those I found detrimental. This list, borne from my experiences with numerous managers and their superiors, serves as a guide of what not to do as a leader.

Micromanagement: A Trust Breaker

First on the list is micromanagement. It's a trust killer. Effective leadership is about entrusting your team with responsibilities, not hovering over every decision. Micromanagement stifles creativity and independence, leading to a demotivated workforce.

Empower, Don't Impose

Leaders should empower their teams to find solutions, rather than spoon-feeding them answers. This approach not only fosters growth and learning but also builds confidence and independence within the team.

The Overbearing Leader

Leaders who act like tanks, plowing through the organization with force, create an environment of tension and conflict. This style of leadership can damage a team's morale and reputation, making it crucial for leaders to be diplomatic and respectful.

The Power of Positivity

My experience with a grumpy manager taught me the importance of maintaining a positive demeanor. Leaders should strive to create an atmosphere where team members feel encouraged and supported, not dread interaction.

Public Criticism: A Big No

Criticizing or blaming team members in public is demoralizing and counterproductive. Constructive feedback should always be given in private, fostering a culture of respect and growth.

Respectful Communication

Shouting or talking negatively about others is unacceptable in any leadership role. Respectful and constructive communication is key to maintaining a healthy team dynamic.

Attention Matters

When someone speaks to you, give them your undivided attention. Typing or being distracted during conversations sends a message of disinterest and disrespect.

Decisiveness is Key

Procrastination, especially in decision-making, can have dire consequences. Leaders need to be decisive, understanding the impact of their decisions on both individuals and the team.

As leaders or aspiring leaders, it's crucial to reflect on these points. Leadership is not just about driving a team towards objectives; it's about nurturing a positive, respectful, and empowering environment. Remember, the best leaders are those who learn not only from their successes but also from their failures and the missteps of others.

I invite you to share your thoughts and experiences on this topic. Have you encountered similar situations in your leadership journey? How did you navigate them? Let's continue this conversation and foster a community of growth and learning in leadership.

And as always, if you have any questions or need further insights, feel free to reach out through my website jensheitland.com or via social media. Your feedback and questions not only enrich our discussions but also help in shaping future episodes of HIQA.

Thank you for joining me on this journey, and until next time, keep innovating and leading the change!

Description:

EP 188: How not to lead  - HIQA with Jens Heitland

The topic of the episode: How not to lead

In this episode I let the listener look into my big list of things I have written down during the last 20 years that I did not like about how people lead me.

I call this list how I will not lead. I am looking at this list at least once per year to remind myself about all the topics.

Topics I cover:

• I will not micromanage my team

• I will not jump in and solve every problem

• I will not be a tank / asshole

• I will not let  people “hurt” me in public

• I will not be the grumpy manager

• I will not  shout at others

• I will not type while a person talks to me

• I will not blame my team members in public

• I will not talk negative about people behind their back

• I will not wait to long to Take decisions

If you have questions to the topic or questions you want me to cover in one of the next live shows, please send them to me via email  contact@heitlandinnovation.com 

Link to the show:

Please find all resources like video, audio, show notes and as well some shorter clips of the episode at https://www.jensheitland.com/

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Transcript:

Hello, innovators, and welcome back to HEQA, human innovation questions answered. This time, not live. It's a prerecorded episode because I'm traveling. And when I'm traveling, I can't do live shows. So today, we're going to talk about how not to lead.

And that has a little bit backstory. It's not answering questions in the usual way. It is, um, a topic some people who know me since a couple of years know that I do that. I have started a file, and this file, I think I have started early two thousands, which is a gathering of a lot of topics I don't want to do. I have had the pleasure in working in a lot of companies, working in a lot of small to extremely large organization.

The smallest was a a three or four people company. The biggest was five hundred thousand plus employees. So just to give you a little bit of range where I've worked. And one of the things I've written down, because I've had so many managers and leaders connected to me. One part what I've written down is all the direct managers I've had and or the manager of my direct manager because sometimes I've had relationships with them as well.

And what I've written down, not specifically to the person's name, the it's basically just a list of people. The other part I've written down since early two thousands is what I didn't like about the leadership I have seen. And today's episode is all about uncovering a little bit of these topics and why didn't I like it, plus how I would do things differently. So I've picked out, uh, around ten topics out of the totality where we'll go through in this episode. And it's some fairly, fairly normal things, but I have seen that a lot of, Especially the young leaders entering into this, uh, work world maybe have never heard or have never had the possibility of doing an leadership training like I think everyone should do.

Um, so I'm covering a couple of basics, but as well a couple of very interesting topics that are a little little bit wider. So let's start with topic number one. Topic number one I have written down was I will not micromanage my team. And a big topic for me, because I hate micromanaging. I hate to be micromanaged.

And I've had a manager, and I will not name any managers here if there's any one of my previous managers. Sorry if you feel hurt by mentioning anything which you think you have done. It's not personal. I love all of you. So it's micromanagement.

I've had a manager that has micromanaged me extremely. Um, I I have always been in interesting positions being responsible for either, uh, specific topics like projects or been responsible for, let's say, a location, a a team, and so on. And I've had the manager when I was responsible for a very broad topic, um, raging over a country, um, where I've had a manager that was detailing everything I should be doing and basically taking all responsibilities from me or the the idea was not taking the responsibilities from me, but The action was like, hey. What are you doing here? What are you doing here?

Can you please put me in copy and emails here? I was spending a lot of time in answering questions, which for me are basic questions a manager above my level, at least at that time, should not ask. And one of the topics is really about what I want to give in this conversation today, conversation with myself, how not to do this. So micromanagement is is a big topic, and I see this still a lot. Number one is trust the people you have in your team.

If you if you don't trust your people, there's something fundamentally wrong in your organization or in your confidence for yourself. If you're not confident enough to trust your employees, you will have a challenge. That means you have the challenge of not letting them go. You're you should have people who are hired because they can do a specific job. If you have given them a job they can't do, you need to help them.

But that doesn't mean that you need to micromanage them. Of course, depending on which level of the organization you work, you might require or you are required to go sometimes a little deeper than in other jobs. But it's all about helping your employees, helping your colleagues to succeed. It's not about micromanaging. So please, whoever is out there starting your journey in inside of a leadership role where people are reporting to you, Please focus on not micromanaging, helping people to succeed by delegating them the role they have and enabling them to take decisions themselves.

Don't do that. Another topic I have here, I will not jump in and solve every problem. That's a bit related to micromanagement. But in in in my case, all the topics I have today are related to different managers. I've had a manager who always thought that this person knows better than everyone else.

So it was the person that knows everything. I believe this person didn't know everything at that time. Like, every, At least every leader and myself, I don't know everything. So it's all about can you enable can you work with your team in a different way? But for me, it was the the difficult part for me was There's there's a manager who is delegating your task or responsibility in a specific way and then coming up with the solution.

So it was for me just, hey. You execute my solution and my my my will, basically, which didn't empower me at all. And it was not fun to work for that because I wasn't able to use all all my knowledge to solve the problems. It was always about do it in an exactly way I give you the answer towards and let me alone with the rest. So one of the things I decided for myself, I will not do that.

I will give people the chance to solve their problems themselves. If they ask me to give them a solution, I will not give them the final solution. I will ask them questions on how they can get closer to the solution if I believe I have an answer to that solution. But it also means, at least in my experiences, leading people in a way that they can do mistakes, enabling them to do mistakes, and that will help them to grow. And it's not about let them do very major mistakes that harm themselves or harm the company.

It's more about let them do smaller mistakes, um, where where they can learn from. Next topic is I will not be a tank slash asshole. This is this is, I've had a manager who was like a tank, um, was kind of pushing throughout the organization, was having A lot of fights with everyone in the organization was and I'm now laughing because looking backwards, it's it it's it's truly fun, but it's so long time ago that that I can laugh about it. At that time, it was very, very difficult to work with a manager like that. This person was not like that to me, but was basically, creating a lot of tension in the organization.

So the whole team that was working with that manager was, um, attack from the rest of the organization. So for for me, it's truly about, like, how can you be as nice as possible. And that doesn't mean that you need to be nice to everyone in the organization because you have a role to fulfill and you have a direction to deliver towards something. But that means how can you be nice with people? How can you create an environment where people accept even if you are saying something that is not nice in their opinion because maybe you are against some specific topic or some of the decisions they have taken or You you are arguing on topics.

You can still do that in a nice way. Because what I've seen, um, basically, every department, you could say, in an organization as a brand. Every department has a kind of aura of how how are they perceived from the rest of the organization. This manager at that time has hurt this department and the topic we have worked with so badly that it took us years to repair that. So we got a new manager afterwards, and this manager was completely differently, was more engaging, more empowering, and as well was more working with the rest of her the organization.

But it took a while until the total organization was understanding, and we wasted a lot of time. So it was completely inefficient from the leader to do that. It was more about, um, uh, the the the the manager who was like that was more about how can I build my power as fast as possible in this organization, and how can I stay in my position because I'm I'm the big boss? Yeah. Was was not the nicest time as you might imagine.

Next topic I have, I will not be the grumpy manager. One of the nicest comments I ever got was when I was working in an IKEA store. Um, that was in the in the mid two thousands, and I left then that that position to be a regional manager afterwards. One of the nicest compliments I got from a very senior, uh, person, even the manager in that that store, was, I've never seen you not laughing and smiling since you have been here, and thank you for that. So I think there's There's a lot to say to that.

What I've experienced having a grumpy manager, and that manager was grumpy ninety percent of the time, just to give you a little bit. I've worked with that manager, I think, one and a half, two years or reported to that manager one and a half, two years. And this manager was grumpy all the time. So, yes, it was predictable from one perspective, but it was very hurting the team. Because, you know, you go into an environment, and that was We are now in a hybrid work environment, at least most of us.

That was in the time where you need to be in the office, where you're having FaceTime with your manager every day. And then being in a grumpy environment every day didn't help the team to kind of be in a positive mood. Uh, it was only positive when the manager was not in the room, when the manager was on vacation. So one of the things I've put down in my list, I will not be the grumpy manager. And I hope that I succeed with this.

Everyone who has ever reported to me, I'm pretty sure they can't at least say that I'm not the grumpy manager. Of course, not always super happy, but sometimes, um, or most of the time, I was I was happy and not the grumpy person. What else do we have? I will not shout at others. This this is hilarious.

I mean, in some company cultures, you can't even imagine. And some some cultures as well that a manager is shouting at you. But I have had it in the past, and that's I think that's pre pre two thousands or early two thousands. I've had the manager that was shouting not just at me, but, of course, at me as well and at others. Um, for me, this is a no go.

If you if you don't have an argument, then you get louder. And it's not about who is the loudest, who wins. So if you if you are a leader and you you feel the not anxiety, but the angriness in inside of you leveling up, don't shout. Don't be a negative person. Step back and say, hey.

I need I need a couple of minutes and then go out of the room. Never ever shout. Shouting is the worst thing you can ever do. In in a couple of country cultures in this world, you're you're done if you have ever done that. And for me, it's I have seen this this I don't I don't know.

I guess this person is still a manager today. I hope this person has changed. I have no interaction with that person anymore, but I I highly recommend if you ever are a leader or a manager. That's the worst thing you can do. Shouting at people is something I will definitely not accept.

If I have this today in any form. Um, someone shouting at me, I will I will not accept that because that's a not human way. Another topic I have here is I will not type while a person talks to me. That's a difficult one. And I sometimes see that with myself.

You are in an environment. We're all hybrid right now, as I mentioned. You are you are having a a conversation with someone on the screen or inside of the room, and you're kind of you just got a quick idea of something and you then you start typing. It's very, very distracting if you are the other person. And I've had a manager.

It was it was fun. Um, at least thinking about it right now. It was an office environment. I was going to that manager. And it was not just one time.

It was basically every day. I was going to that manager because I had, uh, an urgent information need, uh, wanted to chat, wanted to talk, um, needed a decision, whatever it was. And this person was just typing. Not looking at me, was just typing. And it's it's it's really funny if you if you imagine you you are standing in front of someone who is ignoring you and it's just typing.

For me, if you are a leader, you are responsible for leading people. That means Your number one priority is working with the people. It's not about answering emails, whatever the you are typing. If you if you get get towards your first leadership role, forget all the old school stuff. Focus on people as the number one thing.

I always say it's eighty twenty. The eighty percent is that you work for your team members. You work for your team members. Twenty percent is getting your job done. Because if you work for your team members, how many team members you have doesn't matter.

You focus on empowering them to succeed. You are listening to them when they have a problem and really human care about what they have to say to you. You can take a pen and a paper and write something down. It's way better than typing. Worst case is phone in these days.

We all see that at home when we're sitting in sofas with our spouses and friends. Someone is typing. It's not human. Specifically, when you're a leader, don't do this. Don't engage with anything else than that person.

And as I said, worst case, you take paper and pen and write something down. And the best case of doing that, hey. I just got an idea. I'm very, very sorry. I know that's That's not nice, uh, and polite.

I just need to write it down, but I'm with you. This is fine. Being open and honest and say, I just got an idea, which I need to write down. I'm I'm always trying not to lose the eye contact as well when I have an idea or whatever. I just try to blend it out and focus on the person.

So I've had this bad example. I hope you're not having that, but I'm pretty sure one or two of you have that. So you You can change that for yourself, and you don't need to be a manager to do that. I see it every day when I'm in an office environment that people are typing and listening. Same if you're on video calls and the camera is not on and you're not listening at all.

What else do I have? Three left only. So will be a short episode this time. Okay. I will not blame my team members in public.

This is a very bad one. I've had a manager who was blaming team members in public and not just team members in front of other team members, which is already bad, but team members in front of other teams and other managers. Um, you can imagine how this person feels when your manager who is responsible for what you're doing or not what you're doing, but responsible for you from an organizational context is blaming you in front of everyone else. It's already bad when you do that on a team level, but I've seen it in a wider context, which was a very, very large department with different teams in that department, and one manager was blaming a specific person in front of everyone. This is definitely something I will not accept today, uh, which I didn't do at that time.

I was too young and too unsecure myself, I would stand up and say, hey. This is not the right way of doing it. And it doesn't matter if it's the CEO or president of the organization. I would stand up today. Stand up and say, this is not good to do this in this room, and that's not the right way of doing it.

You can do that on a one on one level if you have feedback to a specific person on a specific topic, but don't do it in public. Very, very important. Specifically, one of the things I I learned from one of my mentors is positive feedback you can give in public with the permission of that person. Negative feedback you always give in person. Not via email, not via text message, not via Teams.

Whatever tools you use, you give this in person. Worst case, it is, video call in in a hybrid environment, but it's truly to be in person one on one. Second last topic. I will not talk negative about people behind their back. That's also something that's That's a bit company culture.

So there in some company cultures and worst case when it's done by the manager. I have had a manager who was doing this about a lot of people about a lot of people. So you know that, okay, you're talking about negative about that person in front of me, towards me. So I can imagine that you do the same thing with others when I'm not there. Um, and I said it once to to a a manager, and he It was he in this case.

He was, like, shocked a little bit. Like, okay. Yeah. But I'm not doing it about you because of Doesn't matter. I truly believe if if if it's your habit that you talk bad about people, it's something you do with everyone.

So if you are a manager, a leader, don't do this. You can have your own opinion about someone, but don't do this with other people. You have the responsibility and the leadership authority to destroy someone, uh, to not destroy someone. Sorry. So you you need to be aware of what you're saying and how you're saying it.

And it's very, very important for you as a leader to be cautious about how you say it and to whom you say it. And don't talk bad about people. You can, of course, criticize people. That's all fine, but not in a bad way. Last topics.

And that's that's an that's an obvious, but not so obvious one. I will not wait too long to take decisions. I've had a couple of leaders, that's why I want to take it as last topic, who have waited very, very, very long time to take decisions, good ones and bad ones. Let's say bad ones of This person doesn't fit into our organization, into our team anymore, and that's why we need to let this person go from our company. Sometimes you have manager, and I've seen it quite a long a lot of times that have haven't taken decisions because it's a difficult decision, myself included.

I have once waited way too long, which was not a good thing for myself. It was not good for me because I was thinking way too much about it. It was consuming a lot of time, but it was even worse, not good for the person. If you are truly convinced that a person doesn't fit to your team, doesn't fit into your company context, let the person know. And I know they're depending where you are in this world, there are a couple of legal consequences on how you and and ways of doing it.

But important is being truly and honest and being on point and in time with this. It's super, super important to take decisions quickly as a as a manager and or if we if we take positive decision in the same way. Take decisions so that people can can do their own job, can follow-up from what you gave them as input. Or you say to them, depending on what it is, I don't want to take this decision because I believe you can take it. That's then more the empowerment because I see this quite often as well that managers are taking decisions because they're just getting asked.

Sometimes it's more about not taking a decision in this case, but then telling them I'm not taking a decision because I believe you are better suited to take that decision. And that's also leadership, not taking decisions. But when it is your job to take decisions, specifically when you need to let go of people, when you need to, um, change a couple of things. You you do directional decisions for the total organization or for the department depending on what leadership role you are. Take decisions, and don't wait too too long.

It's always good to take quick decisions. I mean, especially when you work in innovation. Um, it's always better to take a quick decisions and then navigate and change over time rather than waiting too long. So that was a slightly different episode today where I shared a couple of points from my huge list of how not to lead. If you have questions, please send them my way my way.

You can find the email address on my website, which s jens heitland dot com. And, of course, there's always a link to all of it inside of the show notes. Thank you very much for this episode. Thank you very much for listening until the end. See you next time.

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