It’s very common for anyone doing something new to make mistakes. That’s a part of learning and mastering a skill. Making mistakes, however, it not easy to live through. They can be deflating, embarrassing, and some times crippling. Leadership is no different. Good news is, mistakes can be minimized by learning from others. In this article, I share some of my experiences from early in my leadership career and expose 4 common mistakes new leaders make. Likewise, I’ll give advice on how you can learn from my mistakes and prevent them from happening to you.
Just a Kid with a Job
When I was in high school, I had a job at a popular national restaurant chain. I started off as a busser cleaning tables. Them moved to frontline server because I was too young to legally wait tables. Ultimately, I got a position in the kitchen as a cook. I was really excited when that happened. Within just a short time, I learned and mastered every station in the kitchen. So much so, I started volunteering to do additional tasks like training new cooks, completing supply orders, and doing inventory.
Official, Unofficial Kitchen Manager
I eventually talked my way into management and became the “unofficial” assistant kitchen manager- come on- who could turn down an ambitious and hardworking teenager? After the general manager got permission from corporate, I received a small unexpected raise (like 15 cents or so), no real title, and the staff was basically told I was the 2nd man in the kitchen.
I was super ecstatic – at first.
Zero Leadership Experience
Keep in mind that I not only had ZERO management or leadership experience, I also was the youngest person on the entire restaurant staff. I was everyone’s “little brother.” Needless to say, I made a lot of mistakes to start, and learned a lot of lessons.
What I went through is not uncommon for many new leaders. In fact, I see the same situations today with new leaders on our team. Many of you may be going through those leadership growing pains as well. Let’s take a look at 4 mistakes I made and see in many other new leaders.
4 common mistakes I made that you should avoid
1) Bullying - Using position or authority rather than influence to lead
This first example is one of the more prominent common mistakes new leaders make. My first shift as the unofficial assistant kitchen manager was the worst shift I’ve ever had. Countless orders were made incorrectly. We were double our average serving time and the wait staff had declared war against the kitchen crew. Although everyone liked me, no one respected me yet as a leader. Why should they? In an effort to prove that I was “the man” and could handle it, I was being a boss and barking commands instead of leading the team.
Drop more fries - NOW!
I Remember telling one of the cooks “hey, drop more fries -NOW!” and him shouting back “You’re standing right there- you drop them!” He was my outside of work friend too. My bossiness got nothing but compliance at times; the crew did just enough because they needed their paycheck and gave nothing more. I missed trusting their experience and knowledge to help us have a successful shift. I failed to rally them together in unison.
Most importantly, I failed to initially earn their trust and respect.
These next two novice leader common mistakes go hand in hand.
2) Arrogance – Being a “know it all” leader
This one rounds out the 4 common mistakes a new leaders make. I worked hard to get my first unofficial leader role at the restaurant. I volunteered and asked to do things that were not in my scope of work. All for the purpose of becoming the best and moving up. I studied and learned every role – front of the house and in the kitchen…I was a walking book of knowledge for all things there. I could even tell you about roles I couldn’t do like bartending. Unfortunately, I took the know-it-all approach to leadership at first too.
Everyone's Little Brother...
Remember earlier how I said I was like everyone’s little brother? Well, for my first couple months as assistant kitchen manager I was everyone’s annoying little brother. I was coaching and correcting everyone—even the general manager. Good thing he was patient and had a sense of humor. Nonetheless, I had teammates that started walking the other way when I was coming. Others just blatantly ignored me. I knew my stuff but I didn’t know leadership. I made the mistake of believing that my position and knowledge qualified me to be an effective leader.
3) Egotistical – I’m right-, you’re wrong…even if I AM wrong.
One major responsibility I had was calling out the food orders and coordinating each food item from each of the 5 stations. It was very overwhelming. All through the shift, my team was correcting me on wrong things I was instructing them to do but I had too much pride to admit I was wrong.
I was also too embarrassed to admit I needed help. To me asking for help was a sign of weakness. The consequences of this mindset were felt too when the general manager had to go speak with upset customers due to the kitchen team’s mess ups. Many novice leaders follow the same bad path I did of letting pride or ego come before team and success.
4) Mistrust– The micro-manager
This one took me years to get. And to be honest, I’ve had quite a few relapses over the years. I had a perfectionist mentally as an immature leader. If I felt someone on the team couldn’t get it done right, I was right there hovering over them. I still remember the struggles I had because I was trying to touch all 5 cooking stations and wanting to check every plate. So much so that I slowed my crew down as they waited for my approval. Funny thing is I knew better having been a trainer but I felt compelled by that instinctive perfectionist mindset.
My need to micromanage created poor morale, caused a lot of returned orders, a lot of refunds, and a good deal of bad impressions with our customers.
Action Items and Next Steps
I was very fortunate that the leaders at the restaurant were patient and took the time to teach me the skills I was lacking. They understood were I was and what I needed to grow. Here are some things I learned to minimize and even prevent these mistakes.
AVOID THE COMMON MISTAKES NEW LEADERS MAKE
(Well Duh!) Just kidding, but seriously, don’t be an arrogant, egotistical bully boss that doesn’t trust anyone on the team! Be aware of these poor traits, consciously self-evaluate as well as seek feedback from superiors, peers, and subordinates. There are ways you can get anonymous feedback to allow folks to be honest without fear of retaliation like 360 degrees feedback reviews. Be open and receptive to receiving the feedback and use it to help build your leadership skills.
REMIND YOURSELF YOU ARE ONLY HUMAN
Your team already knows that fact so accepting it and admitting it is the start to building trust with your followers. Without trust, your influence as a leader is minimal at best. In fact, admitting that you don’t have the answer and working with your team to find the answer will connect you deeper and earn you 100 times the respect than not doing so. The same truth is real about owning up to your mistakes and sharing what you learned openly. Pride and ego have no place in leadership.
DON’T BE AFRAID TO ALLOW YOUR TEAM TO MAKE MISTAKES
Effective delegation was probably one of the most empowering skills I allowed myself to accept. Delegation does two things:
- 1) it allows you to leverage your ability to get more things done which in turn frees you from the burden of always having to be right there for work to happen. Vacation anyone?
- 2) It helps your team have opportunities to grow and develop. This will improve morale, increase job satisfaction, and strengthens loyalty to the company, team and to you. It also enables you to have the time to do the same under your manager. See the domino effect?
NEVER STOP LEARNING
I will continue to say this as it is it worth repeating, continue to do things like
- read leadership books
- participate in communities like Novice Leader
- take leadership courses
- subscribe to leadership newsletters
- find a leadership mentor (better yet, find several leadership mentors)
- anything else that can help you to continually elevate your leadership skills.
Novice Leader Articles that Can Help
We continue working hard to grow the content and resources you can use to level up your leadership skills and abilities. If your have not already, visit these articles that are great compliments to this one:
- What Are the Top Manager Skills New Leaders Should Develop? Review 5 essential leadership skills needed to lead a team with passion and develop greater influence in the leadership role.
- What People Skills Should New Leaders Develop? People Skills for Leaders are essential. Learn a few of the core people skills leaders should develop to be successful in leadership.
- 10 Development Objectives to Elevate Your Leadership. Regardless of where you are in your career as a leader, developing skills is crucial for success. Here are 10 leadership development goals.
Share Your Thoughts
Leadership is a life skill and the better you are at it the better you can impact the quality of your career, your personal life, and the lives of those around you! I shared 4 common mistakes new leaders make but there are others beyond these 4.
What mistakes have you made early in your leadership career? Respond in the comments below.
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