Summary: How many times have you said “why can’t people just do their job?”. Avoid these 5 Leadership Missteps to be more successful.

How many times have you said this “why can’t people just do their job?”. If you are like most people – lots and lots. It doesn’t matter if you were a shopper at a store, managing one person or leading an entire company. We have all said at one time or another – many multiple times in one day.

So, why does this happen? Why can’t people just do their job?

The easy answer would be – the wrong people were hired. Like most things in life, the easy answer is not always the correct answer. Sometimes the wrong person is hired and sometimes it’s the leader.

Here are some common leadership missteps to correct:

Lack of Expectations. Not telling a person what is expected of them. If they don’t know they will just assume they are getting it right, sometimes they may get lucky and be right. More often than not, you wanted something else.

Assume they Know the Job. They have so many years of experience – so they know the job. Well, yes they know about their area of expertise however you may do things differently. Maybe you have a more manual or automatic system. You use a different software package. They need to know how you do it.

They Know as much as We Do. Someone has been working with you for a while, we are comfortable with them and we assume they know all the same stuff we do. Except you have access to more “insider” information which you may not have passed along. Or you worked there longer and know the history of a client/product/service and they don’t.

Have ALL the skills needed. Rarely does one person possess all the skills a position or company may need. They may posses the major skills needed, give them the minor skills needed.

Lack of Follow Up. How many times have you said “I will check back with you later” and didn’t. Or give someone a new project/skills and didn’t follow up to see how they were proceeding or if they had any questions. People need to know you are available and will keep your word.

Being a leader may not always be easy, avoid these missteps and you will be on a better path to success.

Share your lessons learned below in comments.