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How can we identify and minimise the impact of our leadership flaws?

We know that highly effective and respected leaders do not succeed just because they are lucky or in the right place at the right time. They succeed largely because they play to their strengths and they focus on and maximise these. They are usually well aware and conscious of these strengths and how to deploy them for the advantage of themselves and their Organisations.
For example Richard Branson’s challenge to the status quo of traditional businesses, Greg Dyke’s belief in the creativity and integrity of the BBC’s people, Jose Mourinho’s belief in himself and his players etc.
They all have their flaws and weaknesses which can if they are not careful bring them down - such as Greg Dyke’s lack of political awareness and Jose Mourinho’s ego and belief that he didn’t have to respect and strengthen the relationship with his backer – Roman Abramovitch at Chelsea. Some of these factors stem from their strengths which if overplayed can become a weakness.

These are some of the sorts of factors that can derail a manager and can interfere with their ability and that of their people to work effectively:-
• A lack of self-awareness and or awareness of others
• Not appreciating the impact of their actions on others
• Poor delegation skills and the belief that they can always do the job better than their people
• Seeing the big picture but not having an appreciation of what is happening elsewhere in the Organisation
• Not having enough time for their people
• Not communicating well enough or listening well enough
• Not providing enough support to their people at difficult times
• Not encouraging or challenging their people enough to deliver in their job role and to improve their performance
• Not monitoring performance well enough to provide the appropriate feedback or training and development
• Breaking confidentiality or not acting with sensitivity or discretion
• Being rude, aggressive or over critical with their people
• Pushing people unreasonably

It is helpful if leaders recognise and work to minimise these weaknesses or to have a person working beside them who is better skilled in these weaker areas e g a charismatic Chief Executive who has an Operations Director who keeps control of the detailed operational activities, or who has a strong Finance Director who keeps a close watch on the finances in the business.
Ultimately it is up to the leader to recognise and manage these weaker areas effectively – if we don’t then they will grow into the flaws that eventually derail us.