Be A Better Manager And Avoid These 5 Mistakes

It’s not an easy job to become a good manager. It takes a lot more than just delegating and telling employees what to do and what not to do. In this article, we are going to focus on manager mistakes and take a look at how they impact employee engagement and employee performance.

Managerial mistakes may not be as impactful as leadership mistakes. However, over a period of time, they add up and can cause a lot of damage.

As a manager, here are some mistakes you need to avoid, in order to lead your team better.

Being indecisive:

Managers are people leaders, in the making. So, as a manager, one of your most important tasks is to take decisions. If you showcase yourself as someone who cannot make a decision or refuses to make a decision, or even worse is ambivalent about everything, you will come across as an indecisive person to your team. This will lead your team members to lose faith in you as a manager and in different ways it impacts the entire team.

Also read: Employee Engagement Software Can Enhance Work Culture

Spoon-feeding:

If you have gone through the phase of being a newbie manager or seen some of them, you will know that this is a mistake commonly made by many. When you give an employee a task and they do it in a manner that you don’t like, do not offer to do it for them, saying it will be easier for you. It’s understandable given your expertise and experience that you might complete the task easily. And once or twice, it is okay as well, especially when for whatever reason, the employee is out of their depth and unable to perform. However, as a manger you are also a teacher, and you will not be doing your job right if you keep completing tasks for your team members. Also, it begins eating into your own work.

Also, it sets a bad precedent. Employees will feel discouraged because they feel that no matter how hard they try, they will never get an opportunity to improve on their work. Or conversely, they will get the idea that they don’t have to do anything, since the manager is going to do it anyway.

Not sharing credit:

We all like getting recognition but it should not be at the cost of others’ light. It’s a very common mistake that alienates team members instantly, as if you have the plague or something contagious. When your employees do something for you, make sure you acknowledge their contribution or their work. Similarly, when mistakes happen, step up and accept the blame instead of pointing fingers at specific people. As a manager, you are a leader in training. If you do not allow yourself to develop wholly, you will never be able to reach the higher ranks.

Also Read: Everything Depends on the Right Kind of Goal Setting. Here’s Why

Shrugging away difficult talks:

We all know that difficult conversations put us in an uneasy spot. But avoiding them only makes a problem worse. As a manager, you need to understand that sometimes, certain conversations must be had, no matter how averse you are to being confrontational. And here’s the thing. A difficult conversation need not be confrontational. All you need is some tact and empathy and of course, the willingness to listen.

Avoiding giving feedback:

Employees feel highly disengaged and unappreciated when they are not given frequent feedback. It can develop to such a point that employees will leave your team to move on to another or even worse, simply leave the organization.

Your employees deserve to know how they are doing. Are they working well or they are lacking somewhere? Giving frequent feedback will help your team become a well-oiled machine. By giving frequent feedback, you can help your team develop and grow. Also receiving feedback will make you more attuned to your team and strengthen your bond with them. This process is one of the best ways to improve as a manager!

Also Read: Want To Measure Your Employee Engagement? Here’s How

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Author

Srikant Chellappa

CEO & Co-Founder of Engagedly

Srikant Chellappa is the Co-Founder and CEO at Engagedly and is a passionate entrepreneur and people leader. He is an author, producer/director of 6 feature films, a music album with his band Manchester Underground, and is the host of The People Strategy Leaders Podcast. He is currently working on his next book, Ikigai at the Workplace, which is slated for release in the fall of 2024.

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