9 Ways Leaders Hurt Productivity – and How To Avoid the Mistakes

Leaders inside and outside finance sometimes unknowingly hurt productivity.

The key word here is unknowingly.

You’d likely never do anything to sabotage your employees’ or colleagues’ progress.

Unknowingly Stall Productivity

But sometimes the wrong words or actions affect how or if those around us remain productive.

In fact, many well-meaning leaders fall back on bad habits that, while they might not make employees jump overboard, slowly kill the productive vibes that keep people sailing onward.

Here are nine things leaders do that interfere with productivity (and often morale).

1. Asking for Input and Not Taking It

Some leaders gather their finance team to brainstorm options to address a problem or create something new. Then they listen and note the ideas … and shoot them down. They might say one is too expensive, the other won’t go over with the CEO, or the next one has been tried before.

Then they do the worst thing: They give their own great idea and use it!

Fix it: Listen to and use employees’ ideas so they keep contributing.

2. Deserting the Team

Some leaders help on projects outside their regular area. Or they jump at every opportunity the boss throws at them. Then their team has to put out an All Points Bulletin to find them.

Of course it’s a great idea to stretch and take on new tasks. But leaving good employees to figure out everything for themselves can lead to chaos.

Fix it: Avoid biting off more than you can chew. Yes, take the big projects if you want to get ahead, but make sure you delegate leadership so employees have somewhere to turn.

3. Mishandling Meetings

Even an upbeat and enthusiastic leader can kill a productive vice when they call for unnecessary meetings. Or if they hold necessary meetings that go off the rails and waste time.

Fix it: With meetings, less is more. Trim the agenda, act or make decisions, and go. Once you hit goals, send employees back to work to get their jobs done.

4. Stifling Dissent

Some leaders enforce a “go along to get along” policy that seems benign enough, but over time, that becomes the law of the land. Employees become afraid of making waves because their complaints historically get squashed.

Fix it: Finance leaders have to listen. Employees who aren’t heard will quietly quit.

5. Letting the Kids Run the Classroom

A hands-off style pays off in some situations, but many leaders take it too far. When employees come with constant questions and routinely miss deadlines, they’ve been given too much autonomy.

Fix it: Good leaders don’t need to hand-hold, but you want to give consistent direction so employees know what to aim for and are never unsure of what you expect from them.

6) Apathy for Employees’ Careers

In some cases, leaders don’t show or act like they care about their employees’ careers. Instead, they treat work only as what employees need to get done — not about what they’d like to do.

Leaders might not be purposefully holding them back, but employees always know if their managers want to help them grow. Or not.

Fix it: Take an interest in employees’ careers — especially what they’d like to learn, how they’d like to develop and where they want to go next. Then help them get there.

7. Following the Rules (Too Much)

Sure, it’s important that a department follows all the tried-and-true methods and meets its projected outcomes. But managers who are too rigid often leave employees wondering if that’s all there is.

A leader who doesn’t encourage outside-the-box thinking isn’t going to have employees who do either. They’ll start to keep their fresh ideas to themselves and might even take them elsewhere.

Fix it: Invite employees to come up with ideas to work smarter or more effectively … and use their ideas.

8. Expecting More with Less

Leaders with great teams sometimes get spoiled. When employees regularly turn out good work, it’s natural to expect them to be even better next time.

But leaders can’t expect employees to climb higher summits all the time if they don’t get enough rope.

Fix it: If you ask employees to shoot for bigger goals, you want to ensure they have the resources they need to succeed.

9. Not Keeping Promises

Many leaders talk a good game — for instance, “I’ll see to it that we get the changes you want!” — but when it comes to making the change happen, they don’t work toward it.

Empty assurances to make something happen hurt credibility, too.

Fix it: Be honest about what you can and can’t promise.