ASSESSPRO
In my work with leaders across pharma, retail, BFSI, and tech, I’ve seen one truth play out time and again, teams rarely lose steam because of one big blow-up. More often, it’s the small, repeated habits of leaders that slowly erode trust, focus, and drive.
The good news? Most of these are fixable with awareness and a conscious shift in approach. In this article, let’s break down the 10 most common energy-draining habits, and how to turn them into energy-builders.
- Turning Every Task into a Crisis
- When everything is urgent, nothing truly is. I once worked with a sales leader whose favorite phrase was “We need this yesterday!” Over time, the team stopped reacting, they couldn’t tell a real crisis from routine work.
- Flip It: Reserve urgency for true emergencies. That way, when you sound the alarm, people know it’s worth dropping everything for.
- Keeping Priorities Fuzzy
- If your team can’t name the top 3 priorities, they’re probably working on 10 things that don’t matter equally. A marketing head I worked with sent daily “priority” emails, none of which matched the previous day’s. The result? Exhaustion without impact.
- Flip It: Be ruthless in ranking what matters. Help your team win at the right battles.
- Managing the Minute Instead of the Mission
- Micromanagement isn’t control, it’s a tax on productivity. A product manager I advised wanted to approve every tiny design tweak. The delay didn’t just slow the project; it killed team creativity.
- Flip It: Set clear direction and trust your people to execute. Ownership breeds innovation.
- Forgetting to Celebrate Wins
- Recognition is not optional fuel, it’s essential. I’ve seen top pharma sales reps smash records, only to get a bland “good job” in return. The disengagement that followed was inevitable.
- Flip It: Make recognition specific, timely, and visible. The right praise can power months of discretionary effort.
- Letting One Toxic Player Set the Tone
- A single “energy vampire” can undo months of team-building. In one team I observed, a high performer with a bad attitude drove two great colleagues to resign. The leader’s inaction cost far more than they realized.
- Flip It: Act fast on toxic behavior, no matter the talent attached. Culture is your highest-performing asset.
- Keeping the Purpose Locked Away
- Tasks without context feel like chores. In a BFSI back-office project, I saw productivity spike when leaders explained how the team’s work directly prevented fraud. Suddenly, the work had meaning.
- Flip It: Connect every role to the bigger mission. Purpose is a renewable source of energy.
- Saying “Yes” Like It’s Free
- Overcommitment at the top cascades into chaos below. I once worked with an HR head who said yes to every request. Her team was perpetually firefighting, with no time for strategic projects.
- Flip It: Model the power of a strategic “No.” Teach your team it’s okay to protect their bandwidth.
- Treating 1-on-1s as Optional
- You don’t need to hover, but you do need to connect. In retail leadership programs, the most trusted managers weren’t those with fancy dashboards, they were the ones who made space for short but regular human check-ins.
- Flip It: Schedule and honor your 1-on-1s. People don’t just need direction, they need to feel seen.
- Dodging the Difficult Conversations
- Tough feedback delayed is damage multiplied. I once saw a sales manager wait months before telling a rep their client approach was backfiring. By then, key relationships were already lost.
- Flip It: Deliver feedback early, candidly, and constructively. It’s less painful, and more effective.
- Modelling the “Always-On” Lifestyle
- If you never unplug, your team will think they can’t either. A leader I worked with sent midnight emails and expected morning replies. The burnout was predictable.
- Flip It: Rest, and be seen resting. Your example gives your team permission to recharge without guilt.
Final Thought: Leadership isn’t just about what gets done, it’s about the energy climate you create. These habits don’t just cost productivity; they chip away at trust, resilience, and morale.
If you recognize yourself in one or two (or more) of these points, don’t beat yourself up, awareness is the first step. What matters is choosing to flip the switch from energy-draining to energy-giving.
After all, as I often remind the leaders: your energy sets the ceiling for your team’s performance.
Which of these habits have you noticed in your workplace?
For organizations ready to move from energy drain to energy gain, let’s connect: vivek@assesspro.in
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