Close the door on what you think you know about leadership.

• Author: Wakeman, Cy

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Many long-held ideas about leadership have not evolved with the changing world and are no longer effective. From open-door policies to problem employees, this article challenges conventional wisdom and provides new ways to think about how to be a great leader.

Leaders are still subscribing to many things they have been told over the years--even though the world around them has changed and those adages have stopped producing good results. Now is the time to question the concepts and ideas that are hindering results, particularly the ones below.

Everyone Has Problem Employees?

Whether you believe something is possible or impossible, you are absolutely correct. We have resistant employees because we hold the mindsets that it is impossible not to. But, in fact, there are organizations that aren't entrenched in drama and saddled by problem employees. If you have problem employees, it is because you:

* Hired them

* Rewarded their behavior

* Failed to coach and provide feedback when you observed their problematic behavior or

* Refused to terminate them when the coaching failed

Period.

Think about what you believe about leadership. Break through your own beliefs as a leader and find your personal level of accountability so you can get the results you want in your work environment. Challenge what you believe to be true. It is the beginning of the journey to having a peaceful life at work.

Open-Door Policies Are Necessary?

As a leader, you may have learned that you should be approachable and have an open-door policy. Unfortunately, leaders incorrectly deduce that people should be able to approach them with anything they have on their minds.

Let's be very clear; it is a great quality to be approachable. However, being approachable without coaching and teaching employees during these open-door visits is not helpful.

Too many times, open doors are simply portals for drama. Take a moment to think about the people who have come to your office with the infamous question, "Do you have a minute?" Were those visits about the individual standing in your open door at that moment? Probably not. Most of the time, these visits are for employees to:

* Create a triangle where the two of you talk about a third person that is not there

* Safely vent, insist on some sort of anonymity for the situation they vented about, and remove themselves from the responsibility of taking any action

* Feel justified or self-righteous for judging the actions of others (who, again, are not present)

You must help employees understand what things are worth bringing up: information that is valuable to you as a leader or valuable to the workplace in some way. See the sidebar "Coaching Employees to Independence" for a helpful way to handle these one-on-one coaching sessions.

Leaders Should Focus on Recognition?

The carrot philosophy of using rewards to induce a desired behavior is a very effective one when it is used in conjunction with accountability. Recognition is good, but only when you tell employees when they do a good job and when they do something that's not so great.

If you provide feedback only when they do a good job and reward them simply because it's been a while since they were last rewarded, it is likely you will create an environment where they come to expect rewards without doing anything to actually deserve them.

Worse yet, you may create an environment where employees don't believe you when you praise or...