Do you have designs on becoming a workplace leader? It's a natural thing to consider at some point in your career and something that causes you to look introspectively at your personal development. It's not an easy job, but someone's got to do it, right? The question is, do you have the abilities, and if not, is it possible to use online learning to develop areas of weakness? Spoiler alert: Yes, you can!
Can You Learn How To Be A Good Leader In The Workplace?
Occasionally, you might meet someone who seems like they were born to be a leader, but they will likely tell you (if you asked them) that they had to work very hard to develop their skills. Believe it or not, in 2020 alone, $357bn was spent worldwide on leadership training. It would appear that many business owners agree that ongoing learning is essential.
What Are Some Of The Most Common Leadership Mistakes?
While there are many things you can get wrong as a leader, some errors are made much more common than others. So join us now as we examine some of the most frequently made leadership mistakes.
- Not Putting Your Trust In Your Team
The style of your leadership will go a long way to determining the efficacy of your team, and it's a process that requires you to put your trust in those in your team. If that trust is not there, your staff aren't going to feel valued - something that can lead to resentment over time.
For instance, if you're constantly micro-managing people or refusing to work from home flexibility because you don't trust your team to get their tasks done unsupervised, it's going to be pretty obvious. It can cause a toxic atmosphere to develop.
- Thinking You Know It All
If you've taken a bunch of short courses online to supplement your work knowledge, you might think that you know everything there is to know about a subject. However, as any good, experienced boss will tell you - leaders should never stop trying to learn new things. If you go around thinking you know it all, you're going to become a cropper sooner or later.
It's much better to be humble and honest and admit that you don't know something rather than fudge the answer. Not only might it cause operational problems, but it's also usually pretty obvious, and you'll quickly lose your team's respect if you're regularly fibbing about what you know.
- Not Dealing With Team Problems Quickly
There's no doubt that as a team leader, you're going to be pretty busy with your own jobs, but you don't want to focus too much on what you’re doing and not deal with team issues that arise. Whether talking about poor performance, team friction or general standards that are slipping, it's vital to nip these things in the bud.
It's a common problem, as shown in a Harris Poll that demonstrated ⅔ of bosses are uncomfortable communicating with their team. That said, there's no getting around it, though, because if you leave issues to fester, you're just making problems worse than they need to be.
- Not Conducting Regular Performance Reviews
An essential part of your remit as a leader is working on the personal development of your team - something that requires you to conduct regular performance reviews to provide constructive feedback. Without this feedback, your staff will not know what they're doing well and what they need to work on.
What's more, performance feedback is expected by modern employees, so by not providing it, you serve to make them feel undervalued and undersupported.
Fortunately, all of the mistakes shown here are easily avoidable if you know what you're doing. As such, it's essential that you regularly work on yourself, too, to provide the best leader you can be. No one said leadership was easy, but it is at least logical. You just have to put the effort in to learn.
Develop Your Skillset With OCA Short Courses Online
The great news is that leadership is something that can be worked on, and the most effective way to do so is through mentally stimulating, CPD-Endorsed, video-based online learning courses like those found in our top-value Leadership Skills Bundle. Offering an immersive learning experience in a format that gives you complete control of when and where you learn, it's the most convenient method around!
We're often told by our students that we offer the best online courses Australia has right now, and that's not just because of the great content inside. It's also because of the fact that every course in our library (one that covers 20+ industries) comes with 1-to-1 mentoring and tutorial support. Watch our Student Study Demo to see what we mean.
If you'd like to know more about us and what makes us different, visit us today at www.onlinecoursesaustralia.edu.au or call us on 1300 611 404 for advice or guidance before enrolment. Failing that, send us an email to [email protected], and we'll get back to you ASAP!
