In this article, we will be looking at 5 mistakes you should avoid as a manager.
Taking ownership is never easy, particularly for managers who, as leaders and mentors, must often bear the burden of mistakes not of their own making. And fixing problems is not easy either, as fixes often mean hard work and extra hours. The real trick is to avoid mistakes as much as possible.
If you want great results, you need to work on being a great manager.
You start a business, and your business becomes successful, and your business grows. Then, you have to hire employees, and then suddenly you go from being a business owner to being a leader and manager. This creates some challenges.
Here are the 5 mistakes you should avoid as a manager.
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Only Telling People When They Do Something Wrong.
Pointing out only the wrong things and not appreciating the good ones can make employees lose confidence and trust in their manager. Thereby, putting them into a negative ‘flee or fight’ mindset. Hence, managers must learn how to communicate failure effectively.
Performance reviews with a sandwich-structure may work well. Where the performance discussion starts with the positives, moves to the improvement areas, and closes on a constructive yet hopeful note. Managers must learn to balance praise and reprimands and communicate with objectivity and empathy with a growth mindset.
It is critically important to give people feedback on what they’re doing well (maybe more important) just as much as what they’re doing that needs to be improved.
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Failing to Delegate
Providing leadership means delegating tasks to others, rather than trying to do everything yourself. However, some managers don’t delegate, because they feel that no-one apart from themselves can do key jobs properly. This can cause huge problems as work bottlenecks around them, and as they become stressed and burned out.
Delegation does take a lot of effort up-front, and it can be hard to trust your team to do the work correctly. But unless you delegate tasks, you’re never going to have time to focus on the “broader-view” that most leaders and managers are responsible for. What’s more, you’ll fail to develop your people so that they can take the pressure off you. Leaders help their team members grow by giving them responsibilities
If you find yourself faced with a new assignment or project, ask yourself if one of your team members can do it. If so, delegate!
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Not Finding out What Employee’s Goals and Objectives Are and not Setting Clear Expectation
I believe every employee in the company should sit down and have a discussion with their manager once a year. To find out what their goals are short-term, mid-term, and long-term.
Your teams need to know what is expected of them. The direction provided by clear goals and expectations is absolutely essential to achieving organizational objectives. Without it, morale suffers and employees become dissatisfied. Some may feel they have nothing to work toward, other than collecting a paycheck.
Everyone in the organization should have an individual development plan, designed by them and their manager. In order to help them get where they want to go in terms of their career. It is a great way to build morale.
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Not Treating Employees with Respect and Not Focusing on Your Employees.
Everyone in the organization, from the lowest level employee and up, deserves to be treated with respect and dignity. The old ways of yelling, screaming bosses are over. And we need to treat people as valued team members and not just as front-line employees.
When you give respect, you get it back tenfold, and you build a team of people that are loyal to you.
“It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, and how you’re led.” – Steve Jobs
Revenue is important for any organization. However, to generate revenue, you need great employees who are happy and invested in the success of your company. If you’re constantly making decisions to increase your bottom line to the detriment of your people, you’re going to lose employee engagement. As a result, your bottom line will suffer. Instead, take care of your people, and they’ll take care of you.
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Lack of Communication
In most organizations, employees get to find out what is happening in the company on the Internet before they hear about it themselves.
Knowledge is power, but the most knowledgeable manager in an organization will fail if he or she cannot communicate effectively. Effective managers promote an open exchange of information and ideas. And are as good at listening as they are at speaking.
It is your job and your management team’s job to communicate with employees on a regular and consistent basis. To let them know what is going on in the company, where you are headed, and what the goals and objectives are. One way of doing this is to have regularly scheduled employee meetings to keep everybody informed.
Becoming a manager is challenging; becoming a great manager is even more so. The good news is that everyone can improve by learning from mistakes. And also seeking training that will help them avoid mistakes in the future. I believe after reading this (5 mistakes you should avoid as a manager), you should be on your way to being a great leader
We hope you enjoyed reading this article.
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