Being a leader is a very vulnerable position to be in. After all, as a leader, all eyes are generally on you. When you make a mistake as a leader, it can be even more painful simply because of how public your mistakes tend to be. There is no way to avoid all mistakes, but there are ways to minimize mistakes and even recover well from them. Here are three ways to avoid mistakes as a leader.
- Don’t make decisions until you really have to
No one likes to live with uncertainty. When we have a difficult decision to make, it can be tempting to just hurry up and make a decision in order to be done with it and put it in our rear-view mirror. In addition, leaders are often under pressure to make decisions from parties who are anxious for an answer. If you wait too long to make a decision, it will sometimes get made for you, but if you decide too quickly, you may make a decision you will regret. When it comes to decision making, there is a sweet spot that will help you make the best decisions every time. Decisions that lead to the fewest mistakes.
- Ask for advice
As a leader, it is wise to seek out advice from others, but not all advice is good advice. Sometimes people are actually advising you out of their own self-interest, rather than out of a desire to help you or for the good of the company or those you lead. Just because you ask for advice doesn’t mean you should just blindly follow it, but you won’t make the best decisions by simply not seeking anyone’s advice. Sometimes, people will give you good advice in spite of their own self-interest and even bad advice can help you see a different perspective.
- Support your team and they will support you
Good decisions depend on good information. When your team feels supported by you, they will become your eyes and ears and make it their job to relay any critical information you need to make good decisions. If they feel you are just out for yourself, however, they will not only withhold critical information you don’t directly ask for but will sometimes even revel when you fall.