Bad Leaders Kill Profitability!

I completely understand how many issues demand the attention of a business owner, an executive, a manager, and even front line supervisors every single day! But if we’re going to be the leader that truly does provide our team members with what they’re looking for - and deserve - from us, we will have to make it a priority! Even for the folks in these roles with the purest and most unpersuaded intentions, keeping it a priority can be tough so let’s dig into just how much a bad manager can affect employees and how much profitability can be killed by a bad leader…

An article from Entrepreneur.com called 5 Ways Bad Leadership Can Destroy Your Business shared this before the author went on to explain their list of five in detail:

Contrary to what you believe, you don't have a marketing or sales problem. Most businesses think they do. In reality, they have a leadership problem… As an entrepreneur, you can't hide in the background. By default, you're the person who will make the big decisions for your company. But, while leadership is something most entrepreneurs think they have, the truth is that few actually possess the skills they need to lead. And when you simply "play" the role of leader, rather than actually step up and lead others, your business can crumble as a result.

For what it’s worth, that list of five had some very direct correlations to several of the profitability killers we’ve already addressed… And while the author specifically referenced “entrepreneurs,” I can make a strong case showing how I’ve seen far too many folks in any of those roles I mentioned about assuming that they were leading simply because of their position or title. Here’s where I’ll remind you of what John Maxwell has said about that for as long as I’ve studied his work, “Leadership is influence. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Just in case that’s still not enough perspective, let’s add what I found on an article from Forbes.com called Good Leaders Are Invaluable to a Company. Bad Leaders Will Destroy It. The author opened by saying that “When good leadership is in place in a company, it can be felt throughout the entire organization.” Can I get an amen?

Shortly after that though, the author said this about the impact of a bad leader:

Bad leadership can also be felt throughout the entire organization – only not in a good way. Corporate culture becomes a meaningless term where leaders claim it exists while employees shake their heads in frustration. There is a lack of clear, consistent communication from leadership to the employees. As a result, the office is run by rumor mill, politics and gamesmanship. Employees are uncertain of the company’s goals and objectives for success and they have no idea how they fit into that picture, or what their level of importance is toward making it happen. Decisions for promotions are not based on integrity or talent, but rather they are based on who can talk the biggest talk or who is deemed to be the least threatening to the current leadership team. Employees are taught play dirty against coworkers to get ahead by watching as it is continuously rewarded by leadership leading to the Lobster Syndrome of tearing one another down throughout the organization. The result of bad leadership is low morale, high turnover, and a decreased ability to have any sustainable success.

Although that particular article was written way back in 2013, it also addresses many of the profitability killers I want to help you avoid!

Here’s the challenge we’ll all face as leaders sometime or another… As we’re juggling all the things that demand our time and attention, we’ll have to keep the needs of our team members from being pushed down the priority list. It won’t matter how well we understand those needs if we can’t fulfill them. This can lead to our teams feeling unheard so we’ll address that next…