5 Bad Leadership Mistakes That Are Killing Employee Engagement (and How to Avoid Them)

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by Marcel Schwantes

 

Vision, planning, and strategy matter. But so does taking care of your people.

Great leadership isn’t just about strategy, vision, or achieving KPIs. It’s also about understanding and meeting the diverse needs of your team. The best leaders I’ve seen excel in navigating these complexities—and they’re also keenly aware of what not to do.

Previously, I covered seven common leadership mistakes that disengage employees and drain their enthusiasm. Now, let’s explore five more leadership blunders to avoid—culled from 360-degree surveys, interviews with hundreds of employees and leaders, and leadership research.

1. Squashing Your Employees’ Talents

Not recognizing and leveraging your team’s unique strengths is a surefire way to crush morale. People want to use their talents, not just fulfill job descriptions. The best leaders get close enough to their employees to discover their strengths and then free them to use those talents.

Actionable Tip: Have regular one-on-one check-ins with your employees to understand what energizes them and how they can best contribute. This builds engagement and trust.

2. Withholding Information

One of the quickest ways to lose trust as a leader is to hoard information. Why do leaders do it? It’s about control. However, control through secrecy erodes trust and stifles collaboration.

Actionable Tip: Practice transparency. Share as much information as possible with your team to foster a culture of trust and open communication.

3. Being a Controlling Micromanager

Micromanagement also stems from the desire for control, but here’s the truth: it backfires. People who feel micromanaged report low creativity, minimal collaboration, and little emotional safety. Though often well-meaning, micromanagers miss the bigger picture of leadership—empowering others to excel.

Actionable Tip: Shift from managing tasks to managing outcomes. Set clear goals and then give your team the autonomy to meet them.

4. Always Needing the Last Word

Leaders who must always have the last word or be “right” exhibit low emotional intelligence. When this happens, team members become passive and disengaged because their input isn’t valued, especially in times of crisis or change when collaboration is crucial.

Actionable Tip: Build a culture of listening. Seek input from your team and let them know their voices matter, especially during tough decisions.

5. Not Being Available

While high-level strategy meetings with other managers and executives can be necessary for planning and delivering business outcomes, filling your calendar with them at the expense of face-to-face time with employees sends the wrong message. When you go MIA, employees may feel undervalued or like their concerns aren’t important.

Actionable Tip: Create blocks of time for one-on-one meetings or open office hours where team members can ask questions, seek guidance, or just check in. It signals that you’re approachable and invested in their success.

Final Thought

Avoiding these leadership pitfalls won’t just make you a better boss—it’ll create a workplace where employees feel empowered, engaged, and eager to contribute. And that’s when your team will start hitting new levels of performance.

Source: Inc

Developing middle managers: How HR can support these overworked leaders

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Image result for leadership pictures    By: Jill Barth

 

 

Middle managers have become the unsung heroes of the workplace after steering the ship through the disruption of the pandemic and the culture changes brought on by shifts in remote work. However, HR leaders must be aware that they are increasingly becoming the most vulnerable workforce population. Far from the glamorous leadership roles portrayed in corporate narratives, today’s managers are navigating an unprecedented scene of challenges that threaten their professional effectiveness—and their very wellbeing.

Middle managers and workplace dynamics

Mike Dolen, CEO of manager support platform Humancore and former HR executive at Home Depot and IBM, warns of a looming crisis in middle management burnout. He points to companies flattening hierarchies during layoffs, which leaves middle managers with fewer peers, increased workloads and greater pressure to perform.

Recent research in LinkedIn’s Work Change Report: AI is Coming to Work provides insights into what business leaders want from their workforce. The report reveals that 80% of C-suite executives believe AI will kickstart a culture shift where teams are more innovative. However, the blend of AI and human skills is a key marker of adaptability and growth, yet remains hard to find, according to LinkedIn.

Global HR leaders struggle to source management-level talent with the right mix of technical and soft skills. This technological revolution is expected to reshape how managers operate, adding layers of complexity to their already challenging roles.

The ‘manager’s dilemma’

The AI-driven transformation of work has been swift, says Dolen. Technological disruption has converged with pandemic-induced restructuring and rapidly changing workforce expectations to create a perfect storm for middle management. Dolen describes this phenomenon as a “manager’s dilemma.”

The numbers tell a stark story of increasing complexity. In a July 2024 Gartner survey of 805 HR leaders, 75% said managers are overwhelmed by expanding responsibilities, and 69% noted that managers are not equipped to lead change. This compression creates a strain on managers who are expected to do more with less.

Meanwhile, Dolen says, the role of a manager has expanded beyond traditional oversight responsibilities. Today’s middle managers are expected to be mental health supporters, career coaches, cultural architects and change management experts, he says.

In many organizations, Dolen adds, managers also must simultaneously navigate hybrid work environments, bridge generational workplace differences and maintain team productivity. Continue reading →

Employee engagement bottomed out last year. How HR can turn things around

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By: Karina Young

 

Employee disengagement is a costly business problem that deserves the attention of every leadership team. The total global economic cost of disengaged employees exceeds $8.8 trillion annually, according to Gallup. The same group cited employee engagement hitting an 11-year low in 2024.

Organizations with highly engaged employees outperform their competitors by every key measure, including customer loyalty, market share and profitability. But too often, disengagement in an organization begins to feel like an intractable problem that’s nearly impossible even to understand, let alone do anything about.

I’ve been there. It’s frustrating. And it doesn’t need to be this way.

Fixing employee engagement starts with a better diagnosis

While businesses collectively spend billions to address disengagement, they often struggle to identify the most actionable causes and pinpoint ways to improve it. It’s an expensive guessing game that yields little progress.

Anyone can generate a measure of engagement. But diagnosing specific problem areas with pinpoint accuracy finally creates a shared understanding of what’s working, what’s not and where to focus. In the diagnosis phase, leaders should identify the one or two most impactful, actionable drivers of disengagement among the most critical employee segments so they can take the right action in the right places. It’s also critical to draw the through-line from disengaged employees to business risk.

That might sound something like this:

As a company, we’re committed to increasing customer retention by 15% next year. But disengagement among high performers on our Customer Experience team has doubled over the last two quarters, driven largely by a lack of role clarity. We’re counting on this team to help us improve customer loyalty.

We believe we need to achieve at least a 25% improvement in engagement among this critical employee cohort by Q2 to help this team perform and retain our best people.

With a precise diagnosis directly connected to a key business priority, HR teams can confidently transition into the next phase of increasing engagement with confidence: planning. Continue reading →

11 Tips for Creating Sales Growth in Times of Economic Uncertainty

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By John R. Graham

 

True sales professionals don’t wait for sales to happen – they pursue prospects and opportunities relentlessly. When business is slow, however, many salespeople resign themselves to waiting instead of intensifying selling and marketing efforts. Low sales often disguise opportunities, so take advantage of the chance to restore your selling momentum. The assertive salesperson gets the worm (and the sale), so create your own business boom with these suggestions.

1. Step up prospecting efforts.

Ideally, companies should employ designated lead generators and qualifiers, leaving salespeople free to do what they do best – sell. Separating these functions allows salespeople to close profit-making sales instead of devoting hours to chasing often unproductive leads.

Make each call count by qualifying prospects carefully. Set a daily cold-call minimum for yourself and observe it strictly. Every cold call represents one more potential order – don’t let your next big one get away.

2. Reduce sales costs.

When expenses rise, sales should too. To reduce sales costs, make a list of unnecessary frills (expensive hotel rooms, pricey meals with customers, overgenerous discounts) and eliminate them until business picks up. Save on materials and postage by limiting literature mailings to legitimate prospects. Carefully budget expenses and sell with your budget in mind without compromising product and service quality or sales.

3. Take the lead.

Make every aspect of your company image reflect its leadership ability. Don’t imitate – innovate. Company ads, employees, literature, selling style and, of course, products and services should send a message that your company is number one. Everything that represents your business should attract prospects to you. Use a mission statement to tell customers that your company will settle for nothing less than their complete satisfaction. Make your company easily recognizable and irresistible.

Continue reading →

Time Management 101: 6 Tips Highly Successful Leaders Use Daily

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by Peter Economy

 

Research shows that only 18 percent of people actually use a time management system.

Time management is a tremendously important skill in today’s fast-changing world, especially for leaders who find themselves juggling so many balls in the air all at once. Consider: We all have the same 24 hours in a day to work with, but some of us are better at managing those 24 hours than others. Surprising research shows that only 18 percent of people actually use a time management system.

1. Determine your priorities and stick to them.

To manage time, you must first know what you are focused on and keep it at the forefront of your mind. Effective leaders recognize that all work is not created equal. What matters is staying focused on the activities that move their business forward. Consider the two-list strategy that Warren Buffett uses to focus on his top five goals. Only after his top five goals are complete does he turn his focus to other, less-important goals.

2. Protect your valuable time.

Highly successful leaders guard their time like the valuable gold mine that it is. They set firm boundaries to stop timewasters in their tracks. Manage your calendar and set blocks of time for deep focus. Saying no to off-track requests and distractions ensures your time is available for the things that really need your expertise.

3. Master the art of delegation.

Delegation is a gamechanger for leaders. It frees them to concentrate on what makes a big impact while their team handles the rest. Trust your team with tasks not needing your direct input. It not only maximizes your time but also helps your team grow independently. Set clear expectations and provide resources—this way, everyone wins.

4. Optimize your meeting strategy.

Meetings can eat up time if you’re not careful, so only schedule meetings when they are absolutely necessary and ensure you’ve got a clear goal in mind for them. For essential meetings, distribute concise agendas in advance to ensure they’re efficient and productive, letting everyone make the most of their time.

In the digital era, technology is a key tool for time management. Calendar apps and project management tools like Asana or Trello keep commitments and deadlines in check, reducing mental load. Use apps that block distractions or track online time. These give insights for improvement and help you stay focused on priority tasks.

6. Schedule regular downtime.

With all the hustle going on around them, leaders often forget about taking some time for themselves. However, breaks are crucial for effective time management and leadership sustainability. Schedule breaks to prevent burnout, and engage in practices such as meditation, exercise, or screen-free time. These can recharge your energy, enabling you to return to your tasks with fresh focus.

These strategies won’t just boost your own individual productivity but also inspire your team to follow your example, becoming more effective in the process. It’s truly the gift to your team that keeps on giving.

This post originally appeared at inc.com.