Why and how not to be insecure leader

Jayesh Khatri

Everybody has their insecurities either personal or professional front. If we talk about professional front, I am sure you are aware that when your boss is insecure, his insecurities can rule your career prospects. You'll never know what to expect of him. His actions are chosen to make him feel better, even at your expense. Dealing with an insecure boss is like playing catch with a knife — you never know when you might get cut.

Insecure managers do anything to make themselves feel and look better, even if it means cutting you down or cutting you out, isn’t it? They believe they will sustain or grow being what they are, but the fact is limit for their growth is not wide or high….Imagine if you are an insecure boss, just think about your team members…

Insecure leaders by their actions, will eventually create an insecure organization, riddled with anxiety, distrust and indecision. People will spend more time looking over their shoulders than looking ahead. Good defenses become more important than effective offenses. Such insecure leaders will deep dive in micro managing, blaming, defensing, overcompensating, Failing fear rather deep diving on issues and resolution, developing people, nurturing people, taking bold decisions keeping organization interest first…Now tell me, will they hire smart people? Of course no? then how the organization will develop and grow?

Before mentioning how not to be insecure, first we should know that we are insecure? In one of the articles written by Lolly Daskal, she has uncovered an insecure leader by identifying following signs which sounds of being insecure leader;

1. Shying away from challenge

• You don't like to take risks because you lack confidence in your ability to succeed.

1. Positioning yourself to look good

• Your focus is about how you are presented rather than how well the mission is being met

1. Aversion to helping others to grow

• Insecure leaders see people as workingfor them, not with them. They feel jealous when someone on their team receives public affirmation, and they are not mentioned. When you invest in the growth of those around you, you are equipping them to be better, smarter, and quicker--a threatening idea to the insecure

1. Disrespect for others

• When you're insecure, you work hard to gain respect for yourself--sometimes even by belittling others to put yourself ahead.

1. Being Know - it- all

• Insecure leaders are petrified of coming across as insignificant or incompetent, so they overcompensate by pretending they know it all. They rarely ask questions--and when they do, they almost never wait for the answer.

1. Staying behind the closed door
2. Refuse to handle conflicts
3. Follow the boss blindly and have no direction(Added by me)

I have always followed one mantra in my professional career so far and that is-

“Come every day in office thinking today is the last day” I like tag line of one of the brands “Aaj kuch toofani karte he”. Why to go office with tension, take new tension and come back with tension rather go office to do your job, drive the things, and do something which makes you feel that you did something for your company and come back with sense of pride.  At the end of day the pleasure what we get by driving, resolving issues is much higher than getting appreciation from boss, isn’t it? Why to work to show others, when things are being driven by your efforts it is obviously known….Moreover, we all know that we are being noticed in the job everyday by many of our colleagues, seniors, Friends and our behaviors are also visible. Why to be insecure and show the expressions and live life with no pleasure and no joy and no real respect…

Insecurity comes when someone does not have adequate knowledge and skills. Because if you have knowledge according to what position you are holding and if you have right skills, then your confidence will be high. Confidence gives comfort which links with security

Knowledge can be gained and skills can be developed, so work on and upgrade yourself rather being what you are. 

The biggest reason for managers of being insecure is failing to manage smart people. If smart/clever people have one defining characteristic, it is that they do not want to be led. This clearly creates a problem for you as a leader. Clever people want a high degree of organizational protection and recognition that their ideas are important. They also demand the freedom to explore and fail. They expect their leaders to be intellectually on their plane—but they do not want a leader’s talent and skills to outshine their own. That’s not to say that all clever people are alike, or that they follow a single path. They do, however, share a number of defining characteristics. The right thing for you is not to micromanage cleave people but discuss openly about projects and just agree and manage the macro milestones. That does not mean you do not keep an eye on them.  You must identify if smart people’s work style are deviating from company’s core values and you must alert them. Respect them and their ideas and openly accept if you believe their ideas are better than yours. As a leader, you must open the various opportunities and paths for smart people to grow, learn from their techniques if it is better than what you have and define new techniques which is more suitable for dealing with problems based on your experience.  You should believe that your junior can teach you something.  In short, you must develop learning attitude and manage your ego.

Another thing to be secure, one has to improve the memory. Critical projects/assignments must be in mind and update should be in mouth anytime not just in system or mail box. You must have your own mechanism to remember the key points of critical assignments. You should always on the top of numbers because if you fail constantly to update, you will lose your credibility. Science/mathematics is important to take logical decisions and understand the numbers game.

Please share your thoughts on the subject. Let me mention here that being secure is not political step in the job and it is not a onetime effort, it’s all about changing attitude of being insecure at work. May be I have highlighted just portion of subject. It’s all about being true leader rather just boss.