Everyone wants to have a leader who inspires employees and cares about them and their careers. However, there are leaders who negatively affect their team members, hindering their success. It is important to identify such leaders—sometimes referred to as “Extinguishers”—before it is too late.
Fast Company shares the following early warning signs to help spot a leader who is an Extinguisher.
- They hide their flaws and struggles. These leaders hide who they are—including mistakes and flaws—with an aim to be viewed as the “perfect” leader. This creates distance between leaders and their employees, with employees feeling they cannot be open with or seek support from their leader. Even well-meaning leaders may want to be viewed as competent and keep up a certain image. But employees can sense when a leader is not authentic, and this behavior can damage trust and communication.
- They do not care about your personal life. These leaders view aspects of an employee’s personal life as irrelevant and do not want to share anything personal about themselves with their employees. However, leaders need to know about employees’ work lives and personal lives to truly understand and support them.
- They never disconnect from work. These leaders do not believe in work-life balance and often brag about working late at night or early in the morning. They send emails to employees at all hours of the day, creating pressure to respond when employees are supposed to be disconnecting. When leaders never disconnect, neither will their employees, which creates unsustainable expectations for employees regarding what it takes to be a leader.
- They believe there is only one right way. These leaders believe their way is the only way rather than acknowledging there are many ways to be successful. They shoot down employees’ ideas and discourage uniqueness. When companies do what has always been done, it leaves no room for improvement or innovation.
