Five Signs of Critically Weak Leadership

Signs of weak leadership include conflict avoidance and poor communication skills.

Weak leadership can lead to high turnover, reduced productivity and wasted time and money. However, few are ready to admit that they or their management team lack critical leadership skills. One first indicator of weak or deficient leadership is a manager's inability to describe, define or articulate her leadership style, according to Archos Advisors. Additional leadership training can help if a manager recognizes one or more of these traits in herself or her team.

Avoids Conflict

Conflict management is a crucial and inseparable part of leadership. Effective leaders recognize that while conflict is not pleasant, it is inevitable and can be productive if addressed and handled properly. On the other hand, weak leaders placate the troublemakers on the team, avoid giving constructive criticism or simply go along with group consensus without taking the time or effort to scrutinize the decision.

Points Fingers

Weak leaders publicly humiliate employees who make mistakes regardless of whether the work behind the error was well intentioned. In addition, a weak leader creates a culture where mistakes are unacceptable, which increases fear, lowers morale and paralyzes creativity, according to Chris Ortiz, author of "Ten Signs of An Incompetent Leader." Strong leaders stand behind their employees, commend the effort and provide additional training or instruction so that the employee can avoid future missteps, according to Ortiz.

Plays Politics or Favorites

If a manager consistently gives plum assignments to his most popular employee, acts differently in front of his boss than in front of his employees, gossips about his employees with other members of his team, or makes decisions based on whether the results will benefit his future with the company, it is a strong sign that his leadership is deficient. Weak leaders also evaluate their employees by the amount of hours worked or overtime logged instead of by performance, according to Ortiz.

Offers No Vision

A weak leader is typically unable to articulate the company's vision and how her department or team contributes to that mission. By contrast, a strong leader can easily answer these questions as well as tell each employee how their work contributes to overall company goals.

Has Poor Communication Skills

Leaders with poor communication skills risk the failure of their company, according to Linda Finkle, CEO of Incedo Group, an organizational coaching firm. Weak leaders send confusing or mixed messages to their teams, communicate infrequently and hide bad news. On the other hand, strong leaders create a communication atmosphere of trust and openness, communicate frequently, clearly and consistently and use multiple channels depending on the goal and nature of their message, according to The Clemmer Group, a leadership training organization.

References

• Archos Leadership Blog: 5 Warning Signs of Critically Weak Leadership
• Leadership Expert: Leadership in Dealing With Conflict
• Badbossology.com: Ten Signs of an Incompentent Leader; Chris Ortiz
• Incedo: Poor Communication Skills -- The Death of an Organization; Linda Finkle
• The Clemmer Group: Communication Strategies, Systems, and Skills; Jim Clemmer
• The Wellington Group, Inc.: The Weak Leader

Resources

• Michael Hyatt: Five Characteristics of Weak Leadership