3 Mistakes Every Leader Should Avoid In 2024

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Making a mistake as a leader or manager can be costly. It can wreck damage to your reputation, hinder your chances of career progression, and unintentionally derail your teams and your organization.

But at the same time, it's practically inevitable. You can't possibly eliminate all chances of ever making a misstep, because you're human and it's all a part of your professional development—that is, depending on your growth mindset and perspective of course.

But as much as possible, you can avoid deliberately walking blindly into some mistakes through prioritizing the undertaking of your own professional development as a leader.

Let's take a look at some things you should do everything within your power to avoid as a leader or manager. From communication breakdowns to decision-making errors, here are three mistakes you should aim to avoid committing in 2024:

1. Micromanaging

Unfortunately, if you've been promoted internally, like most managers and senior managers you would have been promoted to management on merit of your promising high performance in your previous role as an individual contributor. Often, when this is done in a hurry, many employers ill-advisedly place managers in positions without them receiving adequate management skills training. This means that you would most likely copy the management and leadership style(s) of the bosses you've already worked with, which more often than not, is not positive but fosters a toxic work culture.

One of these common toxic management behaviors that you may have observed from managers throughout your own work experience is that of micromanagement. Micromanagement—in which you are involved in every minute detail of your team members' work and projects— is counterproductive because it stifles creativity, demotivates your team members, makes them feel as though they are not trusted (so they won't trust you either).

Instead, focus on empowering your team members to take ownership of their work, and remember to delegate and trust in their capabilities.

2. Poor Communication

Ineffective communication practices is one of the worst things you can do to stall your team's moral and productivity. Although approximately 75% of employees view communication skills as the number one essential leadership attribute, alarmingly only one in three employees agreed that their boss communicated effectively, according to research from Haiilo.

So this presents a challenge to you as a leader or manager: How can you communicate effectively, in a way that empowers, inspires, inspires confidence, and is clear and transparent enough to avoid misunderstandings, apprehension, or confusion? How can you establish a healthy feedback loop so that team members are comfortable to express their ideas and suggestions without feeling that their job would be at threat for doing so?

3. Decision Paralysis

Particularly if you're relatively new to your role as a leader or manager, the uncertainty and constant worry of mistakes or making the wrong decision—given your level of visibility within the organizational hierarchy—can be terrifying and intimidating. But succumbing to what is known as "decision paralysis" (where you overthink a situation or process) because you fear failure, rejection, or uncertainty, can result in missed business and career opportunities, and stagnation.

Get into the habit of taking informed risks, trusting your gut, gathering relevant data and critically analyzing them, soliciting diverse perspectives, and finally, stop second-guessing yourself.

Of course, your journey as a leader or manager will not be easy. But through avoiding common mistakes such as micromanagement, poor communication, and decision paralysis, you can still position yourself for success in your role and drive meaningful change in your organization and team.