The Sunday Mail
Women & Leadership
Maggie Mzumara
HOW secure are you as a boss? Do you feel adequate and sufficiently up to the task of leading? Do the tasks overwhelm you? Do you feel unnerved by confident and competent subordinates and view them as threats?
In the leadership journey, insecurity is bound to rear its ugly head. When one acts out of insecurity, there is a tendency to behave inappropriately and sometimes this can affect relationships and dent one’s reputation as a leader.
Insecurity affects not only the leader, but also those around you.
How can you tell that you have security issues as a boss?
Here are 10 of the top signals that insecurity may be damaging your leadership as well as ways to address them (adapted from a list by Lolly Daskal, author of “The Leadership Gap”).
Being defensive when challenged
When an insecure leader feels they are being challenged or confronted, their first response is to feel criticised or blamed and to avoid that discord they quickly become defensive.
Learn to welcome direct, honest communication even if it is not what you want to hear; make peace with the fact that you will sometimes get it wrong, and being wrong can and does attract blame and criticism.
Micromanagement
Insecure leaders like to control everything, even how other people do their work.
They feel the more control they have, the less likely they will be faced with a better way from anyone else. They think their way and no one else’s is the way to do things.
News flash — you cannot be everywhere or in everything. Instead, give autonomy to your team and allow them to show off their talents and strengths.
Not interested in feedback
Insecure leaders get annoyed when their team members or colleagues want to give them feedback.
They see it as a confrontation and respond with fear and dismissal.
Become familiar enough with your own strengths and weaknesses to take criticism in stride.
Reluctance to explain
your decisions
Insecure leaders fear that the rationale for their decision may not hold up well, so they communicate decisions with no underlying explanation.
Explain your decisions and the reasons behind your thinking so others can understand and trust your choices.
Not brooking advice
or help from others
Insecure leaders see asking questions, seeking advice and listening to the opinions of others as a sign of weakness.
They do not want to be perceived as needing help.
Emulate confident leaders by being willing to listen and learn from the opinions of others. In time you will realise that it is actually a sign of strength.
Must always have
the final word
Insecure leaders need to be seen as always winning, even in an honest difference between two sound opinions.
Learn to value the thoughts of others, especially in areas you need to know more about.
Getting angry when a team member resigns
Insecure leaders see any departure as a reflection on their leadership, so they respond in anger and focus on the faults of the person who is leaving.
When you lose a valued team member, take stock and ask yourself whether there is anything you should do differently to keep your best people happy and productive.
Blaming others and not taking responsibility
When things go wrong, an insecure leader will never take responsibility but will always blame others first so they can avoid thinking about the possibility that they did something wrong or made a bad decision.
Work to be secure enough and mature enough in your leadership to admit that “I messed up, how do I make it better?”
Taking credit for other people’s achievements
Insecure leaders like to take credit for other people’s work not because it makes them feel better, but because it makes them seem indispensable and helps ease their fears of being unnecessary or unworthy.
Emulate the great leaders who know success takes a team and be quick to praise and recognise the achievements of others.
Not promoting or developing your best people
Insecure leaders want to protect themselves at all costs, and they see the smartest and highest-achieving people around them as threats.
They hand out titles only to those they believe will never question their authority or outshine them.
As a leader, the best success you can achieve is the success of your people.
A good leader grooms and coaches those underneath her or him to also become leaders.
◆ Maggie Mzumara is a leadership, communication and media strategist as well as corporate trainer. She advocates women leadership and is founder of Success in Stilettos (SiS) Seminar Series, a leadership development platform for women. Contact her on [email protected] or follow on Twitter @magsmzumara.
