Have you ever found yourself happy at a job with the exception of your boss? Unfortunately, this is so many people’s realities. Bosses are imperfect people and have their own shortcomings and insecurities that fuel their personality. A boss’s personality can impact a company greatly and often result in high turnover rates. Below are four different personality traits that commonly cause employees dissatisfaction, hostile work environments, and negatively impact the company.
Unrealistic Leader
This leader places unrealistic expectations over their employees. An unrealistic leader is overly confident and often puts unnecessary burdens on employees attempting to achieve these expectations. This type of leader lives in the clouds and often does not realize they are in a compromised position until it is too late.
If this sounds like you, there are some things you can try to help rein in reality:
- Create an environment of different opinions and viewpoints. Select employees with diverse backgrounds and skills to take a good idea and make it realistic and achievable.
- A good leader is constantly learning and growing. Finding employees who are confident in their skills and abilities and help them feel comfortable coming to you, and speaking up when they disagree will allow you to grow and see things from different angles. You may also consider hiring an advisor who can challenge and grow your technique.
Firework Leader
If you are this type of leader, you are always onto the next big ideal. You overcommit and overpromise your way out of one project and onto the next before following through on the initial idea. This firework-like mentality burns bright and beautiful initially but soon burns out.
Here is how to tame your impulsivity:
- Debating your ideas allows you to account for pros and cons. Bring others into your ideas and allow them to test these theories before announcing the new brilliant plan.
- Delegate strategy building to employees. This not only builds trust, but your employees create ideas that you may have not come up with.
- Address your adrenaline or dopamine addiction.
Controlling Leader
If you are a control freak it likely comes across in your leadership style as well. You have a hard time trusting others to carry out tasks better than you would. If you do allow someone else to do something it must be done a certain way, in a specific order, and structured accordingly. This kills the creativity in the workplace by making employees fearful of challenging your orders. Change rarely occurs.
By learning to limit your control, you can:
- Create trust and transparency by opening up about the business and progress of certain projects.
- Take a risk and trust employees more. Investing in employees helps them invest in the company and take more ownership in the tasks at hand.
- Start to embrace change and find freedom in relinquishing some control.
The Insecure Leader
This type of leader is often misunderstood as they use various strategies to camouflage their insecurity. Insecurity comes in many shapes, sizes, and colors. At the core, an insecure leader worries about what others think, has a great deal of self-doubt and anxiety.
Address the core of your insecurities by:
- Talking to a therapist. A therapist can educate you on how to work through this dysfunctional thinking and provides tools that can help.
- Think more positively to gain confidence. Focus on all the things that do go right rather than on the possibility of all that can go wrong.
Our imperfections are what make us human and everyone can relate to that. Being open to always learning and growing to become a better leader makes you a boss anyone wants to get behind.