Sioux Falls Business Journal

INSIGHT: Avoid the seven deadly sins of leadership

By Erik Hoekstra for the Sioux Falls Business Journal

Tuesday, 24 July 2007

Leadership, particularly in a small, closely held business, is a challenge. Below are the often-referenced seven deadly sins of leadership that work as a guide for what to avoid. Erick Hoekstra, CEO of Harbor Consulting Group • Assume your employees know the company’s strategic plan – its purpose and objectives. Even the best plan is worthless unless it is understood and embraced at all levels of the company. One of the key functions of a leader is to translate the strategy to each person’s context and everyday work. Don’t assume, and plan on overcommunicating. • Select and hire staff without a process. While no one would purchase a major piece of equipment without detailed analysis, many managers are not versed in good hiring practices that improve overall performance and avoid employment problems. Rigorous interviews and background checks can help employers form an accurate picture of past behavior, but truly assessing the fit of the person into the team and probing for integrity and work ethic will improve hiring success. • Skimp on staff development. Failing to develop your people’s talents through appropriate training is a massive waste of resources. If people are your greatest asset, spend time, energy and dollars making that asset productive. Companies that don’t invest in staff development will be forced to invest in headhunter fees, temporary workers and other costs of high turnover. • Fail to set targets and measure. It is easy to fall into the habit of business as usual or no news is good news because most managers are busy people. We need to find ways to step back and continually assess our business’ activities. Are they necessary and relevant? If so, then these activities should be tracked to gauge effectiveness as well as efficiency. • Fail to provide appropriate feedback. Whether through performance reviews or conversations during the course of the day, meaningful, constructive feedback is necessary to produce good performance and help employees’ development. Feedback must be a blend of positive and corrective interaction, always delivered for the purpose of employee development. • Assume your customers are happy. Have you asked? Assuming customers are satisfied because you have not received complaints is not an accurate barometer. Your business should have mechanisms in place to encourage customer feedback. You should listen to and act on that feedback. • Don’t build a brand. Using public relations, research and advertising is critical to identify new markets, communicate to prospects and clients, and establish client loyalty and repeat sales. Failure to actively pursue these strategies handicaps your business’ ability to compete. And, as if seven deadly leadership sins were not enough, I’ll add a bonus. • Ignore work/life balance for you or your employees. Small-business owners, in particular, find it difficult to delegate appropriately. Too often, this leads to either golden handcuffs or professional burnout. Remember, life – and business – is a marathon and not a sprint. Pace yourself, refresh yourself and find balance. Hoekstra is CEO of  Harbor Consulting Group This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it