Written by: Anna Filatova, Senior Level Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Effective leadership provides direction, purpose, and guidance to create high employee engagement and achieve business and organizational goals. Good leaders inspire teams to be more productive and efficient, perform at their best and stay motivated during challenging times. They also ensure that morale is kept high and the top talent is retained within the business or organization.
Unfortunately, bad leadership behaviors are quite common in the workplace. They can set bad examples and create toxic environments that can cost a business or organization a lot of money. Therefore, it’s important to address these bad leadership habits and behaviors as quickly as possible and fix the problems that they create.
Interrupting conversations Interrupting and jumping into conversations and discussions shows that a leader isn’t listening effectively. Instead, the leader should let everyone express their thoughts first, listen with an intention to understand other people’s views and respond last after gathering the information from everyone involved.
Problem-solving It’s great to be able to solve a problem but as a leader, you can’t always solve your employees’ problems as they will become dependent on you. Instead, the leader should empower their employees to find solutions to problems and challenges and then seek the leader’s support if required.
Being unapproachable No one wants to have a boss or manager who is unapproachable. Or even worse, someone employees would be afraid of talking to. The best leaders are the ones who have an open-door policy, welcome the ideas of others, and support their employees even if they’ve made a mistake.
Not recognizing the efforts Employees need to feel valued by the company and their managers and be recognized for their hard work. A leader shouldn’t present someone else’s ideas as their own. Instead, the leader should recognize the efforts of their employees and celebrate their successes and accomplishments. Reward programs are very low cost but high return investments as they help motivate employees and boost team morale and employee engagement. Happy employees that feel valued and appreciated stay at companies for a longer period of time.
Micromanaging Leaders who micromanage their staff show a lack of trust and create more stress for their employees through constant questions and updates. Good leaders coach and mentor their employees to take responsibility, are not afraid to delegate, and provide support and feedback regularly to promote learning and professional development.
Not paying attention to employees’ wellbeing Work and life balance is a very hot topic these days. Leaders who load their employees with an unmanageable amount of work and don’t pay attention to their wellbeing, risk spending a lot of money on health-related issues such as burnout, mental problems, and even death and lawsuit in some cases. Everyone needs to have a healthy balance between their work and personal life to perform at their best. A good leader ensures that their employees aren’t overworked and encourages them to take regular breaks and time off to recharge.
Expecting employees to be available 24/7 Sending and responding to emails late evening or over the weekend is a very bad leadership habit. It sets expectations that everyone in the organization should do the same and promotes an unhealthy work environment. Nothing will ever crumble overnight and can wait until the morning when everyone is recharged, fresh, and ready to hit the ground running.
Anna Filatova, Senior Level Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Anna is the founder and CEO of Dreams and Beyond Coaching Ltd, a coaching and mentoring firm that was founded in March 2020. The company offers a variety of services including 1:1 coaching and mentoring, one-day intensives, group programs, training, courses, workshops, and DISC personality profiling. The services are available internationally as most of the work can be done online.
Anna believes that people are the most valuable asset of any business or organization and true success comes from finding the right balance and owning your inner power. Therefore, her work is heavily focused on people’s performance, development, and wellbeing.
As a qualified Business and Executive Coach, Anna supports individuals to unlock their potential and make progress within their leadership roles in business and organizations without compromising their personal wellbeing. She also helps develop high-performing teams to support business and organizational growth.
Anna earned an Honours BA Degree in Business Studies in International Hotel Management from the National University of Ireland Galway in 2011 and an MBA for Executives with Global Perspective from the London School of Commerce in 2015.
Anna spent 9 years in Hotel Management and 7 years in Investment Banking. When she was 25, she had burnout that made her realize that health, well-being, and work-life balance are more important than killing herself for a fast career progression.
Anna has written for Thrive Global and she is a Senior Executive Contributor to Brainz Magazine. She has been featured in Yahoo Finance, Intrado, Latestly, Entrepreneur Mogul, and Zee5 News and invited as a guest speaker in Ireland and the UK. She has been nominated for the Women’s Business Awards 2021 (Category: Best New Business of the Year) and awarded the Brainz CREA Global Award 2021 in recognition of her creative and innovative ideas, and adaptability in business.
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