Legitimacy is an individual’s power that comes from being recognized by his team as a leader. A legitimate leader is not in charge because of his rank, he is in charge because his people trust his ability to lead. When a leader is illegitimate, people follow him not because they want to, but because they fear the consequences of being insubordinate (like people obeying a dictator). The moment an illegitimate leader loses his leverage or power over his people, they immediately revolt. If you want to effectively lead your team, company, or squad to victory, you must ensure that you maintain your legitimacy.

In our past OA guides like 14 Traits That Make You a Leader, The 4 Key Tasks of a Leader, Life and Leadership Skills from The Art of War, and How to Plan a Mission, we demonstrated the strategies and tactics of effective leadership. In this guide, we’ll be pointing out five critical leadership mistakes you might be making that kill your legitimacy.

When a team succeeds, it is the group that led it to victory, but individuals make up the group. One of the worst leadership mistakes that decreases legitimacy is forgetting about the individuals that form the team. When people feel ignored by their leaders, they start thinking that their contribution to the team is insignificant. Eventually, this can lead to decreased motivation, effort, and performance.

If you want to become recognized as a leader by those around you, you must show them that you care about them. Take time at the beginning of every week to have a brief 1-on-1 chat with your teammates. Use this time to talk about the things that matter to them – not about the group’s task or their job performance. Ask them about their weekend, family, vacation, or hobbies. Your people will immediately feel a stronger bond with you as a leader. You can take this strategy a step further by writing down small notes about your teammate’s interests and referring to them in later conversations. If your team sees that you care about and remember their personal lives, they will develop a fierce loyalty to you as a leader.

Although militaries worldwide emphasize “leading from the front” as a leadership strategy, it can sometimes be detrimental to your team’s progress. Taking a step back and allowing your subordinates to take charge of a situation can often make the team more efficient and improve results. 

The next time you are in a leadership scenario where you have to plan and carry out a mission, let your team take the lead. When you let your subordinates come up with a plan, they will not only be willing to follow it (because it was their idea), but they will also appreciate you trusting them enough to let them take control of the operation.

In movies and TV shows, the leader (who is usually also the main character) is almost always talking, making decisions, and barking orders. While this approach to leadership works great on the big screen, real-life leadership is much different. If you are incessantly talking as a leader, your team will quickly begin to feel undervalued. After all, you don’t seem to need their input, so what’s the point of participating in the team?

In many cases, the best leaders are the least-noticed ones. The more you can decentralize the command of your team, the more efficient it will become at problem-solving and achieving its goals – thus making your teammates more motivated to follow your command.

If you make this mistake, you are almost guaranteed to lose legitimacy as a leader. If your team fails to achieve a goal or accomplish an objective, the worst thing you can do is throw your people under the bus. By deflecting blame from yourself to your teammates, you abuse your authority and betray their trust in you.

Here’s the truth: a team’s failure is always the leader’s fault. Your team didn’t understand the task? That’s because you didn’t explain it well enough. Certain individuals didn’t show up on time? You should have inspired them more. If your team fails, it’s your fault. The next time something goes seriously wrong with your team, use this three-step strategy to take ownership of the situation while retaining your leadership status:

1. Admit your fault and what you did wrong.
   “That’s on me. I should have explained the situation better and ensured that everyone understood the plan.”
   
   
2. Explain what went wrong.
   “We didn’t understand the game plan well enough and that caused us to be disorganized in our execution.”
   
   
3. Explain how you will avoid this problem next time.
   “The next time we plan an operation, I’m going to have a 1-on-1 talk with every person on the team to make sure that we’re on the same page.”

This Admit-Explain-Fix process ensures that your team knows that you are responsible for the failure and have a plan to prevent it from occurring again. Many leaders think that accepting blame will make them look bad, when in fact, your subordinates will respect your ability to take ownership.

Repetition is the key to developing your leadership, but you might not be in a position where you can train it regularly. If that’s the case, how can you ensure that you are building your leadership skills on a daily basis? The answer: by becoming an Aspiring Operator and joining the Operators Association accountability group. You will unlock instant access to an exclusive group of motivated individuals and professional special forces cadre. If you want to get on the path to becoming an operator, Operators Association is the place to be! Click here to visit our packages page and get started today.