Interrupting Negative Leadership Behaviors

Many leaders practice workplace behaviors based on what they learned from their parents, friends or previous dysfunctional workplaces. They lead based on what they know and find it difficult to adjust their approach even when they experience consistently negative or unproductive results. You might hear them say stuff like, "Why isn't this working," or "Why don't people get it," or "Why is everyone so stupid?"

Many leaders stay stuck repeating non-productive behaviors rather than working on finding new and more rewarding ways of doing things not because they're evil but rather because they've never sought an alternative. They're comfortable with what they know, fear the unknown or don't want to look like they don't know what they're doing. People stay with what they know because they think it's more comfortable than changing when, in actuality, making some minor behavior adjustments could help them be happier and lead more effectively.

You can experience great joy and success by having the courage to try something you haven't before. Learning new behaviors that lead you in positive directions can help you resolve chronic problems, get more done, be more creative, build deeper work relationships and treat yourself and others better.

Try this exercise to get the process going: Examine your existing leadership behavior and decide on one thing you could do differently. Take action and do that one thing. Keep doing it over time until you're good at it. Seek outside help if you need an objective point of view to help you identify where to start, practice your new approach or get feedback on how you're doing. By practicing a new behavior you'll be establishing a new pattern and you'll begin moving in a different direction. Once you master your new behavior, try another. Keep it simple and do one at a time.

Leaders often tell me they never knew they were so stuck until they started practicing new behaviors and noticed they were getting better results. It's remarkable how good things can get when you let go of stuff that doesn't work. I enjoy hearing people tell me how happy they are that they consciously worked on interrupting the patterns they had established and trying new ones. What will you do to practice positive leadership behaviors?

Take care,

Guy

Learn more about my leadership training and visit my lovely training blog.