The 15 Characteristics of the Anti-Leader

Today it is relatively easy to identify leaders, whether in a job or in a movement, political, social or religious group. We understand that a leader is in charge of directing or leading a human group.

Nevertheless, an anti-leader would do the opposite, because he does not manage to establish a group connection between individuals in a job or organization; turns out to be a person who instead of promoting good work in the group ends up harming it. In this article we will see what an anti-leader is and what its main characteristics are.

• Related article: "The 6 pillars of Human Resources"

What is an anti-leader?

An anti-leader would be that person who fails to make a connection with his work team and fails to generate group cohesion. Therefore, it fails to meet the most important objectives that are expected to be achieved. A) Yes, An anti-leader is a leader whose main objective is to achieve their own goals and not those of the group. and those of the organization to which they belong.

One characteristic that this person may have is that he may represent enough power to possess subordinates whom he mistreats. That is why an anti-leader tends to intimidate, threaten, yell and the work environment is subject to his mood. Added to this, these people manage to generate a substantial loss to the organization to which they belong.

Finally, it is known that Deep down, many of these people have high levels of insecurity and fear of being replaced. by someone who can achieve a supposedly higher level of performance or knowledge than he or she.

• You may be interested: "Types of Leadership: The 5 most common types of leader"

Characteristics of an anti-leader when managing teams

Generally, an anti-leader usually has several of the characteristics that we present below.

1. It hurts the work environment

It is known that the anti-leader does not have the capacity and ability to inspire and motivate others, on the contrary, these people tend to use threats and the generation of fear in employees in order to get them to comply with their wishes, orders or mandates. Thus, the anti-leader forms an environment of fear or fear in the place where he works, negatively harming the work environment and consequently damaging the work environment.

• Related article: "8 strategies to improve the working environment of your company"

2. Search for personal benefit

The final objective that the vast majority of anti-leaders have turns out to be neither the company nor that of their collaborators, since every decision they make is made by them. based on their individual enrichment and maintenance of power. For this reason, it is very common to see behaviors or attitudes in them that vary according to their needs, consequently they tend to present dishonest, inconsistent behaviors, broken promises, etc.

3. Believe you have the truth

It is very common to be able to notice that the anti-leaders consider themselves to be possessors of the absolute truth. For them their opinion turns out to be correct, so they do not promote or accept proposals different from theirs. Thus, they only tend to accept praise for their certainties or when others corroborate or praise the ideas that they have mentioned or pointed out.

4. Never take responsibility for mistakes

If there is something that we will hardly be able to appreciate, it is to see an anti-leader assuming responsibility for some mistake or mistake that he may have made. This happens because these people they consider that all their actions are always correct or suitable, or at least behave as if they believed it. It is for this reason that the anti-leaders will always look for a collaborator to be able to blame or charge the failure, not taking responsibility for the mistake they themselves have made. But what they will assume as theirs will be the successes that the collaborators obtain as theirs.

• You may be interested: "How to learn from mistakes: 9 effective tips"

5. Avoid excellence in your environment

the anti-leaders they tend to surround themselves with professionals who they consider to be less trained or prepared or less experienced; in this way no one will be able to doubt his supposed wisdom and leadership. This is how they prevent a talented person from overshadowing them and exposing their lack of leadership.

6. He is arrogant and insecure

The anti-leaders have a very arrogant and negative character, as they renounce the new acquisition of learning and skills. This occurs because they present fear and insecurity because they think that others could stand out from them, which ends leading them not to stimulate the group training of the work team, since they prioritize their main objective, which is that no one take away supposed.

7. Lack of business vision

The anti-leaders hold power by tradition or by imposition, they almost never do it on their own merits. As mentioned above, these people have a deep insecurity which leads them to be very comfortable and always want to stay in their comfort zone, because it is in that scenario where they can hide the gaps or faults they have in relation to their skills or set unrealistic and excessive goals for a display of pride.

8. defaulter par excellence

The anti-leaders are also characterized by promising things and not fulfilling them, their work team or collaborators make excessive efforts to achieve the promised reward and this in the end does not it is produced. This ends up making these people lose all their credibility. This is how the work team ends up losing confidence in them and they will not be willing to continue making additional efforts in the next opportunity.

9. is fearful

Anti-leaders are also characterized as fearful and insecure people. Consequently, they tend to be jealous of their plot of power, because they have an irrational fear that some collaborator may show their defects or overshadow them, and this ends them leading them to only associate with people who they consider to be below you in terms of intelligence, skills, etc. Thus, these people also show self-consciousness and, afraid of showing ignorance or weakness, therefore they tend to reject suggestions or advice and do not listen to others. This is how they seek that other workers do not stand out or shine more than them. It turns out to be very common that many of them end up being despised by their own work team.

10. it's demotivating

These people are also characterized by not encouraging optimism in workers and not being able to create incentive systems that generate correct motivation. On the contrary, more than motivating, they manage to discourage and reduce the involvement of your collaborators and subordinates.

11. avoid the risk

Anti-leaders also tend not to fight for the goals of the group, on the contrary, they only watch over their personal goals without caring about the rest. Likewise, these people tend to avoid risk at all costs, since they are characterized by being conformists and they feel satisfied with the position and income they have already achieved, leading to stagnation by not seeking to achieve new goals. Therefore, it is very unlikely that they can lead to any significant or important development in the organization.

12. is dishonest

These people are also characterized by not having ethical or moral principles and it is not strange in their actions that they tend to commit injustices. It is so the team stops following the anti-leader and, on the contrary, there will be a feeling of contempt for these people.

13. lack of vision

Most leaders tend to seek the support of the company or organization in exchange for providing them with a very ambitious, innovative and stimulating project. On the contrary, the anti-leaders, once they are inside an organization, will not offer or propose any change or improvement in the organization.

14. It is selfish

Anti-leaders are characterized by having a concern about their own personal interests. Thus, it is difficult for them to receive the support of their collaborators. Workers are very likely to realize the risk they present by entrusting their fate to these people, so they will do everything they can to keep you away from them.

15. it's unrealistic

While a leader tends to be one who anticipates the future, anti-leaders are just the opposite. That is why many of the anti-leaders it seems that they do not have their feet on the ground and live far from reality. An anti-leader has the idea that he is an enlightened person, in other words, he considers that he possesses a supernatural power or above of all to be able to undertake, take action or know the absolute truth, which ends up putting the future of the organization.