“Weak leadership can wreck the soundest strategy. “– Sun Tzu
Based on my more than 30 years of work experience, I would consider as one of the key success factors for any team or organization is strong leadership. It plays a vital role in creating a productive and healthy work environment. Effective leaders provide clear direction, inspire and steer their team members towards attainment of their shared goals. They also promote both personal and team growth and serve as role models for their team members.
On the other hand, weak leadership poses a grave threat and is detrimental to any team’s or organization’s growth and success. Weak leaders are disengaged, lack clarity and accountability, and are poor in communication and collaboration. As weak leaders employ negative strategies to achieve their goals, they usually create a culture of fear and intimidation and their result and success are short-lived.
Just how can weak leadership impact a team?
Breeds low morale. People look up to their leaders for inspiration and motivation. This is especially true among today’s generations who regard mentorship and coaching as integral roles of leaders. For them, leaders just don’t point or show you the direction. They expect their leaders to guide, engage and empower them through their journey. That’s why they get frustrated and disillusioned when their leaders are unclear with the vision, indecisive and disengaged. A decreased morale leads to a member’s lack of enthusiasm, disengagement, and low productivity.
Reduces productivity. When members are demotivated to give their best effort, it results to poor performance. Having weak leaders results to ineffective management and undefined expectations. When members are unclear of the team’s goals and their contribution to the achievement of that goal, their productivity suffers. The absence of clarity, communication and accountability hinders teamwork and coordination among members, as it creates silos and turfs within the team. Instead of collaborating, members tend to protect their turf, point fingers and put the blame on others. This creates a number of operational inefficiencies and negatively impacts not only the personal productivity of each member but that of the whole team.
Increases absenteeism and turnover. When members are already dissatisfied and unhappy with their work environment, they manifest this thru frequent tardiness and absenteeism. Or they start looking for other job opportunities. The excitement and eagerness to come to work are just no longer there. Needless to say, this impacts job performance and business results. As they say, members often leave not because of their job but because of their leader.
Hinders creativity. Weak leadership can also stifle creativity and innovation among employees as they do not feel safe and fear being criticized or rejected by their leaders. Weak leaders do not encouraged their members to give new ideas and challenge their ways of doing things. Rather, they just expect members to follow and maintain status quo. They operate on “what have been done or being done” instead of “what else can be done”. Under this kind of leadership, growth business opportunities are often missed.
Impacts the bottom line. Weak leadership can damage the brand of a team or an organization. When leaders are perceived incapable of achieving goals and delivering results, people will avoid dealing with their brand. They lose the trust and confidence of their members, partners and clients. This, plus the reduced productivity and fast turnover, leads to financial losses which subsequently harms the organization’s stability and capacity to grow.
Leaders can either be the strongest or the weakest link in the team. A strong leader thrives on clarity, teamwork and collaboration and foster the culture of trust, excellence and empowerment. On the other hand, a weak leader may cause confusion, frustration and disengagement. They sow fear, distrust and mediocrity.
We have seen and experienced the damage and danger of weak leadership in teams and organizations. Can you just imagine the magnitude of its effect on a nation? No wonder a country full of potential remains just that… full of potential. Never realizing…
-30-
