7 Fears You Need to Overcome to Be An Effective Leader

Everybody has fears—and that means every leader has fears. But not letting those fears

get the best of you is an important part of successful leadership. If you don’t learn to

manage your fears, you’ll be tempted to take the kind of shortcuts that undermine your authority and influence.

Here are seven of the most common fears that leaders, in particular, need to look out for:

The fear of being seen as an imposter. If you secretly feel you’re not really good enough

or smart enough for leadership, you’re not alone. But left unchecked, those feelings can do harm to your effectiveness. Fear can make you forget everything and want to run. Instead, leverage your fear by experiencing it and being great anyway. As Mark Twain once said, courage is the resistance to fear, not the absence of fear. You can feel the fear and still

be who you want to be as a leader.

The fear of being criticized. Facing criticism is part of the territory of leadership.

You don’t have to let it bother you—in fact, you should be concerned if you never hear

criticism, because that means you’re probably playing too safe. Think of it this way: If

you have no critics you’ll likely have no success. So don’t fear criticism but take it in

stride and strive to be your own best and meet your own standard of excellence.

On the other side of your fear is everything you need to be.

The fear of being a failure. When you fail as a leader, you get everyone’s attention.

Failure is something we all fear, but it doesn’t have to mean it’s fatal to your leadership—

think of failure as simply part of succeeding. When you become afraid to fail forward,

you end up missing out on new learning experiences and new opportunities. In the

end we regret only the chances we didn’t take.

The fear of not being a good communicator. Not everyone is born to be a great communicator, but good communication skills are essential to leadership. if you

are fearful that you’re not good at communicating in a compelling way—in a way

that inspires and motivates others—practice your speaking or writing skills. The

more you practice and rehearse and revise, the more confident you will be and the

less fearful you will become.

The fear of making hard decisions. As a leader, you need to be able to make hard

decisions without getting stuck in “paralysis of analysis”—taking too long to choose

because of indecision. A lack of decisiveness can cripple any business or organization.

Hard choices are sometimes necessary without much time to reflect. Make the best

decision you can based on where you want to go, not where you are, and then move on.

The fear of not taking responsibility. As the saying goes, with much power comes much responsibility. To take responsibility you have to first realize that your leadership is the

cause of and the solution to the things that matter, and you can’t escape that responsibly

by postponing or evading it. The moment you move past your fear and take responsibility

is the moment you can change anything.

The fear of not getting it done. In today’s global economy, effective leadership is

defined by results—but, as we all know well, there are hundreds of distractions and

millions of diversions that can get in the way. If you’re fearful you won’t get the job done,

stop focusing on the results you want and concentrate on the actions you can take

right now that will lead to those results.

Lead from within: These are just a few of the possibilities. The leaders I coach have

all kinds of fears. Whatever form your fears take, once you learn you can tackle them

head-on you’ll quickly realize you can handle anything.

Learn how to be an effective leader in my National Bestseller book:

The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your Greatness

After decades of coaching powerful executives around the world, Lolly Daskal has observed that leaders rise to their positions relying on a specific set of values and traits. But in time, every executive reaches a point when their performance suffers and failure persists. Very few understand why or how to prevent it.

buy now

 

Additional Reading you might enjoy:

The Remarkable Power of the Truth Teller
The Test Every Great Leader Must Pass
12 of The Most Common Lies Leaders Tell Themselves
4 Proven Reasons Why Intuitive Leaders Make Great Leaders
The One Quality Every Leader Needs To Succeed
The Deception Trap of Leadership

 

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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