Four types of flawed leader

Tuesday, 11 February 2014 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

This article has been shared with the courtesy of CMI UK Sri Lanka branch from the Professional Manager magazine. CMI UK is the only Chartered professional body for the function of management. For membership please write to [email protected]/[email protected] and the website http://www.managers.org.uk/cmi-sri-lanka for more details. By Lily Howes Whether you are a board member, a middle manager or a grassroots employee, it is highly likely that you have encountered – or even currently work with – someone who thinks they know how to lead, but actually does not. That individual would not necessarily be a workplace liability. Indeed, they may have qualities that are worth learning from. But as management structures in the workplace become ever flatter, their flaws are likely to be thrown into sharp relief. Time to meet them… Hands-on Harry Got a problem to solve or a project that needs finishing quickly? Harry’s your man. He sits at the same desk as everyone else, not in a separate office. Harry’s tactics make work feel easy, but, if this sounds like you, be careful to make the lines between friend and boss clear. Otherwise discipline can be hard to employ and you might find yourself being taken advantage of. Strategist Stella Stella was a hippy in another life. With her endless talk of the “big picture” and her poorly defined ambitions it can be hard for team members to decipher her instructions. Stella must get to grips with specifics, and a schedule, to get more out of her team. Theories are a good foundation, but a bullet-point plan is the only way to turn a Stella idea into a workable project Figurehead Fred It took Fred many years to get to the top and now he’s there the rest is a distant memory. Multiple management levels separate him from his workforce, so it’s easy for messages to be lost and miscommunications to occur. The company could do with a rejig – and that should mean Fred taking a leaf out of Harry’s book and regrouping with the team. Interfering Ingrid “If you want something done right, do it yourself.” This is the mantra by which Ingrid lives her life. Although this can be true, Ingrid doesn’t give anyone else a chance, even if she has good intentions. If you have Ingrid’s controlling tendencies then lock yourself away, sit on your hands, do whatever it takes to give someone else a go and yourself a break!