Managing your ego
Ego-driven decisions are never the clear, thoughtful and strategic decisions we hope they'll be. The need to be superior, to have the attitude of, “It's the best idea because it's mine,” can trip managers up more than they might realize. Here are three things to keep in mind to ensure you're taking a deep breath, getting a solution that comes out of a 360-degree view (no matter who thought of it) and allowing yourself to be a true leader:
Don't ever lose sight of the fact that ego is a barrier.
“Instead of seeing reality, you see The Me Show … you fail to realize the best leaders bring out the best in other people, not just themselves,” writes Bruce Kasanoff at Forbes.com. He calls ego a giant trap, one managers can fall into if they aren't careful. He suggests being more in the background, behind the scenes in your office, letting your key people know you have faith in them, and to “help without revealing that you are helping.”
Know the symptoms of being an ego-driven manager.
These involve, according to Ray Silverstein at Entrepreneur.com, finding it difficult to delegate tasks to others; having a knee-jerk reaction in shooting down your employees' suggestions, and micromanaging. “Pick a project languishing on your to-do list and hand it off to an employee,” he suggests, as an exercise in letting go and trusting others.
Give up old habits.
These will likely include asserting yourself, defending your image and putting energy into being right, writes William Frank Diedrich at SelfGrowth.com, and it may take time to stop doing these things. “The image of being a good leader is unnecessary when you focus, instead, on leading well. Just lead,” he writes. Giving up the old habits will involve adopting new ones, too, such as acknowledging others' feelings and ideas, and apologizing when you're wrong.
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