10 Leadership Mistakes that we’ve all made….

Church Solutions has a great article on the “10 Stupid Leadership Mistakes I’ve Made” by Tony Morgan, these 10 leadership mistakes really resonated with me as I have made some of them myself. Leadership mistakes can be time of the greatest learning for leaders, provided we recognize we’ve made a mistake, take some time to reflect on the situation and your behavior and learning how you would do things differently next time. Tony has shared these mistakes in the hope that we don’t go a repeat them in our leadership, they are as follows:

• Mistake #1: Hiring too fast and firing too slow. “When a position is open that you know needs to be filled and the right person isn’t available, it’s hard to wait. The tendency is to fill the role with the best available person, but sometimes that’s not the right person…. On the flip side, I’ve made the mistake of waiting too long to let someone go. I can remember one particular situation when I let a problem go for months….”
• Mistake #2: Trying to fix the problem rather than the process. “Not to be crass, but I’ve found that it’s a lot better to potty-train my kids than to continue changing messy diapers. Regrettably, though, there have been too many times in leadership roles when I’ve found myself reacting to a problem, rather than addressing the process to prevent the situation from occurring in the first place.”
• Mistake #3: Putting the projects before the people. “Others may have the opposite challenge of letting their love of people get in the way of actually accomplishing the purpose of the organization. But, because I’m not naturally a people-person, I tend to get too task-driven. Good leaders find that perfect balance between getting the job done and embracing the relational component of doing life as a team.”
• Mistake #4: Delegating tasks instead of responsibility. “When pushed into a corner, I naturally revert back to my perfectionist tendencies. I know in my mind the way it should be done. And, if I let myself, I’ll fall into the trap of thinking I’m the only one who can get it done. First of all, I’m not that good. Usually, someone else can do it better. Secondly, the failure to empower others with real responsibilities is a guaranteed recipe for limiting the potential….”
• Mistake #5: Assuming it’s always black and white. “…..maybe it’s just because following prescribed rules is easier than dealing with the mess of following God’s lead and making wise decisions. The reality, of course, is that much of life isn’t black and white.”
• Mistake #6: Not following my gut (…or is that the Holy Spirit?). “… people’s strengths can also lead to their biggest challenges. For me, discernment can lead to paralysis through analysis. When that happens, I tend to get in the way of what God’s trying to accomplish. In an effort to make the best decision, I sometimes get stuck trying to acquire information, rather than seeking God’s direction and taking action.”
• Mistake #7: Dwelling on the worst-case scenario. “Again, this is what happens when I let my focus wander from God to the circumstances around me…… I’ve wasted way too much time worrying about ministry challenges that never happened.”
• Mistake #8: Waiting until there’s a problem to provide feedback. “….I’ve always had this strong sense of what the end product needs to look like. One of my biggest mistakes as a leader has been withholding encouragement when the team delivers, and only speaking up when expectations aren’t met. I’m trying to improve, but I’m not there yet.”
• Mistake #9: Staying busy. “I’ve fallen into this trap too many times. In my mind, I tell myself if I’m busy, I’m adding value. The reality, of course, is that our busyness can get in the way of effectiveness. We can be busy about the wrong things. And, if we don’t discipline our lives, we’ll find ourselves investing a lot of time with little impact.”
• Mistake #10: Spending too much time on the details rather than the dreams. “This is a natural corollary to the mistake of staying busy. When life gets busy and I get invested in all the dirty details flowing my way, I lose site of the dreams that God has for me. Here’s the reality; those dreams usually come when the pace of my life slows enough to do stuff like read, pray, rest, experience new places and meet new people. Dealing with the dailiness of life doesn’t allow for that. It needs to be planned and prioritized. We need to create space to experience God and all that he has for us.”

This is a great list of mistakes, many of which I have made. How about you? Have you made any of these mistakes? Any mistakes you’ve made that are missing from this list?