5 Ways Leaders Unintentionally Diminish Others and How to Reverse It
In the dynamic world of leadership, understanding the difference between effective and ineffective management practices is crucial. Liz Wiseman and Greg McKeown’s book, “Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter,” offers a revealing exploration of leadership styles, categorizing leaders into multipliers and diminishers. While multipliers enable team growth and performance, diminishers often unconsciously stifle their team’s potential through behaviors focused on self-promotion. Here are five key ways leaders can inadvertently diminish their teams:
- Empire Builders:
- These leaders tend to hoard resources and underutilize their team’s talents. By not effectively leveraging their team’s strengths, they restrict team growth and productivity.
- Tyrants:
- Creating a tense atmosphere, tyrants inadvertently suppress creativity and initiative. This environment stifles innovation and limits the team’s problem-solving abilities.
- Know-It-Alls:
- By issuing directives that highlight their own expertise, know-it-alls discourage team input and learning opportunities. This behavior can leave team members feeling undervalued and reluctant to contribute.
- Decision Makers:
- Centralized decision-making, characterized by abrupt choices, often leads to confusion and diminishes clarity within the organization, preventing teams from taking ownership.
- Micro-Managers:
- By overly controlling outcomes through personal involvement, micro-managers reduce team autonomy and can demotivate high-potential team members.
Embracing the Multiplier Mindset: 5 Disciplines of Genius-Makers
In contrast, multipliers employ five critical principles that empower their teams to excel, taking leadership effectiveness to new heights. Here’s how to convert diminishing tendencies into inspiring, multiplier-driven leadership practices:
- Attract and Optimize Talent: Be a Talent Manager
- Focus on maximizing individual strengths to attract top talent. Talented people will recognize your appreciation of their abilities and speak highly of your team, creating a virtuous cycle of growth and innovation.
- Create Intensity That Requires Best Thinking: Be a Liberator
- Foster a supportive yet demanding environment that challenges your team to think and perform at their best. Use empathetic but high standards to promote a flourishing workplace culture.
- Extend Challenges: Be a Challenger
- Present opportunities that challenge team members to innovate and grow. By allowing freedom and learning from mistakes, you foster a climate where creativity and ideation thrive.
- Debate Decisions: Be a Debate Maker
- Encourage rigorous debate to drive sound decision-making. Promote a culture where questioning and challenging the status quo are safe and encouraged, as this strengthens solutions and ownership.
- Instill Ownership and Accountability: Be an Investor
- Empower your team by granting them ownership of outcomes. Set high, clear expectations and ensure access to the resources needed for success, fostering accountability across the organization.
Reflecting on Leadership Practices
Do you recognize yourself in any of the disciplines or diminishing behaviors? Reflect on your own leadership practices: Where do you excel, and where can you improve? Engaging with a leadership coach can help you develop actionable strategies to enhance your management capabilities and stretch you towards achieving excellence.
If you have questions about developing effective leadership skills or need tailored coaching, feel free to reach out through the comments or directly contact me. Let’s explore pathways to unlock your potential as a multiplier, elevating both your leadership and your team’s performance.
Creator of the KASHBOX: Knowledge, Attitude, Skills, Habits
Helping You Realize Your Potential
I help people discover their potential, expand and develop the skills and attitudes necessary to achieve a higher degree of personal and professional success and create a plan that enables them to balance the profit motives of their business with the personal motives of their lives.
