10 Common Mistakes Managers Make

10 Common Mistakes Managers Make

In this article, we’re going to look at 10 of the most common management errors and highlighting what you can do to avoid them. If  you can save yourself the trouble now by reading through these, you won’t have to deal with them in the long run.

1. Being too friendly

Most of us want to be seen as friendly and approachable to people in our team. After all, who doesn’t want to work with a manager that they can get along with? However, sometimes you have to draw a line between being friendly and being a manager. Some people are tempted to take advantage of your relationship if you are too friendly with them but that doesn’t mean that you can’t socialize. But, you do need to get a balance between being a friend and being a boss.

2. Not Delegating

Some managers feel that they shouldn’t delegate because no-one apart from themselves can do the jobs properly. This can cause a huge problem as work starts to pile up and they become stressed out and burnt out. Delegation takes a lot of effort and it can sometimes be hard to trust your team to do the work correctly. But unless you delegate some tasks, you’re never going to have time to focus on other important things that managers are responsible for. Ask yourself this..what’s more important you failing to delegate and eventually getting burnt out or just trusting your people so that they can take the pressure off you?

3. Multi-tasking too much

If you are working on a handful of projects than you end up not accomplishing much at all and you end up losing focus as to what your true priorities are. Many employers are looking for managers who can prioritize tasks and meet deadlines. Even if you are in a meeting, with all the other employees, you should not be on your cell phone or answering any emails. You should be paying attention to what is going on around you, taking notes, and responding with your own advice.

4. Not learning from your mistakes

Everyone makes mistakes which can be extremely valuable, but only if you learn from them. If you just brush them off without acknowledging them, then you may keep making the same mistakes over and over again. The more you acknowledge your mistakes and learn from them the better you can improve yourself and show your leadership potential.

5. Inconsistent Discipline

Resentment in an office can slowly build if you choose to overlook disciplinary infractions by favored employees. The same can be said for managers who come down harder on some employees than others over various issues. In spite of the fact that it is tempting to look the other way when a productive employee comes in late or breaks protocol, it can damage office morale. Employees expect to be treated the same as anyone else in the office when it comes to discipline. While the best employees should be rewarded, it doesn’t mean they should be allowed to break the rules. If an employee feels like he is on the receiving end of more discipline than others receive, that person is probably not going to last long in the company.

6. Getting out of balance with your life

Calling all workaholics: there’s more to life than work. Keep in mind that you have your health, family, financial and social pursuits and other aspects in your life. If you spend a sufficient quality and quantity of time in each area, you should feel happy and productive at work. When you neglect one or more areas in your life, other areas, especially work life starts to show signs of suffering.

7. Focus on money rather than people

Anyone who runs a business knows that businesses need to make money. If they don’t, then they will die. However, those that run a business understands that to have a successful business you have to focus on the people. What people some ask? Customers and employees are perhaps the most important. Most studies show that when you have happy employees it makes happy customers, and happy customers make successful businesses.

8. Working with a messy desk or work area

Studies show that a person with a messy desk spends, on average, one and a half hours per day trying to find things which causes lost productivity. It causes distraction and it looks very unprofessional.

9. Not treating all employees equally

While working in an office environment, each employee should be treated equally. The perception that you have a pet employee of that you play favorites with someone will undermine your efforts to manage people. Employees who are not in your inner circle will always think that you favor the other employees who are- whether you do or not. This foes hand-in-hand with why befriending employees is a bad idea. This destroys teamwork and undermines productivity and success.

10. Misunderstanding your role

Once you become a manager, your responsibilities are very different from the once you had before. However, it’s easy to forget that your job has changed, and that you now have to use a different set of skills to be effective. This leads to you not doing what you’ve been hired to do – leading and managing.