Which of the following is the biggest mistake you see new leaders make?

Our reader poll today asks: Which of the following is the biggest mistake you see new leaders make?

• They become too assertive too quickly without pausing to learn first 45.07%
• They take an authoritarian approach to decision-making 8.89%
• They act like everything must be done how they would do it 10.85%
• They micromanage instead of setting direction and getting out of the way 27.96%
• They act too passively and don’t inspire their teams 7.23%

Be quiet and step back. 84% of you report the biggest mistakes new leaders tend to make is being too involved in their team’s work. Whether that’s being assertive without understanding, micromanaging, or dictating the way things need to be done, these behaviors demotivate the team and frustrate their ability to be empowered. A new leader should pause, be quiet, listen and learn when they take on a new role. Unless something is glaringly wrong, resist the urge to change things. Be quiet and learn – your team does things the way they do for a reason. Understand their circumstances and those reasons. When you do see improvement opportunities, ask your team how they’d like to solve the problem then get out of their way and let them do it. Instead of “looking down” at the work the team does, “look up” to bigger issues and longer-term challenges. That’s your job. You no longer drive the bus – you read the map and set the course.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 240,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.