The 6 biggest mistakes I made as a new leader

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Recruitment is a challenging job.

Leading a team of recruiters is a hugely challenging job.

Leading a team of recruiters successfully over the long term takes perseverance, skill, and a very thick skin.

As a leader of other recruiters, I had many more failures than successes in my early days.

These are the six most significant mistakes I made in the first twelve months as a leader.

Mistake #1: Spent too much time recruiting

“Nobody can look after my clients like I can” was one of the most unproductive delusions I had as a new leader. I had some very capable recruiters on my team who could have taken over the servicing of my clients much earlier, but it didn’t happen soon enough. Being overly protective of my clients didn’t help me focus on my primary role – leading my team.

Mistake #2: Tried to be like my boss

I was fortunate to report to Greg Savage when I first became a leader. I learned an enormous amount from Greg. However, when I became (either consciously or unconsciously) a mini-me of Greg with my team, I came across as inauthentic and a try-hard. I learned the hard way that being the best version of myself was the most effective way to gain respect and produce results as a leader.

Mistake #3: Hoped problems would fix themselves

When issues arose within the team, my natural response was to jump into my comfort zone – recruiting. Resolving split fee disputes, time-keeping issues, under-performance or behavioral problems was both annoying (‘Why do adults behave like this?’) and confronting (‘What if I don’t handle it well?’), so I stuck my head in the sand and hoped things would sort themselves out. They never did. The problem kept getting worse because of my inaction.

Mistake #4: Assumed

I assumed that because one of my recruiters had been with me for a year and his KPIs were okay, that he was ‘on track’. When his billings didn’t match his KPIs for 3 consecutive months, I observed a couple of his interviews and client visits. I did not like what I saw. My assumption of his skill level was completely misplaced. It was not his fault – it was 100% mine. Subsequently, I adopted the mantra ‘Don’t assume, find out’.

Mistake #5: Acted like my emotional state and actions weren’t important

I worked in an open-plan office with no partitions. Everyone could see everyone else at a glance. As Greg let me know (in no uncertain terms) that the team took their lead from me. If I was up, the team was up. If I was down, the team was down. My call volume seemed to be the leading indicator of the team’s call volume. I needed to lead from the front because my actions spoke much louder than my words.

Mistake #6: Acted without finding out both sides of the story

I quickly found out that being a leader involved being a referee – between consultants, between clients and consultants and between candidates and consultants. Early on, in dealing with a client complaint, I fatally killed trust with one of my consultants when I made a decision and took action based on the client’s version of events, without giving the consultant a chance to fully explain herself. My relationship with that consultant was never the same.

What leadership mistakes are you making?

More importantly… are you learning from those mistakes?