W-1628

Are you a manager or supervisor, or perhaps a business owner? If so, I want to share with you some of the common mistakes that managers make in dealing with their employees. The smart manager tries to avoid these mistakes, rather than learn from making them!

1. Not Providing Feedback

According to 1,400 executives polled by The Ken Blanchard Companies, failing to provide feedback is the most common mistake that leaders make. When you don’t provide prompt feedback to your people, you’re depriving them of the opportunity to improve their performance.

To avoid this mistake, learn how to provide regular feedback to your team.

If you’re like me, you hate confrontation, but a good manager has to be able to confront situations that need improvement. For example, if you have an employee who is making very bad impressions by their manner with customers, on the phone or in person, the longer you avoid giving feedback and helping that employee change, the more harm will be done to your organization.

2. Not Making Time for Your Team

When you’re a manager or leader, it’s easy to get so wrapped up in your own workload that you don’t make yourself available to your team. Yes, your plate is full and it’s easy to rationalize why you don’t have time for your people. But without you being available when they need you, your employees will often flounder and waste time or make unnecessary mistakes.

It really comes down to being willing to listen, as Proverbs 18:13 reminds us: “To answer before listening—that is folly and shame.”

I think it’s a good idea to establish times in your day or week for regular meetings with key employees where they know you will listen and truly give them time to express their thoughts and ideas. You might consider having an established time when “your door is open” and anyone can talk with you. It will be time well spent.

3. Being Too “Hands-Off”

Have you ever had this happen: One of your employees completes an important project, but you discover too late that this person misunderstood exactly what to do, and since you didn’t stay in touch throughout the process, the time and money invested in that project is wasted?

Nobody wants to be micro-managed, but going to the opposite extreme where you simply take a hands-off approach isn’t a good idea either. So, find that right balance between micromanaging and staying in touch.

Proverbs 15:23 says: “A person finds joy in giving an apt reply—and how good is a timely word!” A timely word given by you as a manager could avoid a lot of heartache later.

4. Being Too Friendly

There is a fine line between being friendly and approachable to the people who work for you—truly caring about them—and trying to be buddy-buddy friends with them. There will be times when as a manager you will have to make tough decisions regarding people in your team, and some people will be tempted to take advantage of your relationship if you’re too friendly with them. So, you’ll need to set boundaries that, while not exactly spelled out, are clear to your employees. It doesn’t mean you can’t socialize with them and have fun. But again—finding the right balance between being a friend and being the boss—that’s your challenge.

5. Failing to Define Goals

When your people don’t have clear goals, they muddle through their day. They can’t be productive if they have no idea what they’re working for, or what their work means. They also can’t prioritize their workload effectively, meaning that projects and tasks get completed in the wrong order.

Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) says: “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” Not everyone is able to see the vision that may be very clear to you, so cast the vision, define the goals, and you’ll have happier and much more productive people.

6. Hurrying Recruitment

When it’s time to hire someone, and you need that person on board sooner rather than later, if you’re not careful, you can rush into a recruitment that you later greatly regret. I know, because I’ve done it. I can recall times when I saw in a prospective employee what I wanted to see in that person, instead of realistically assessing their skills. Then very soon that person had to be let go, with a lot of grief for that person and a lot of wasted time and money for me and my company.

If you’re not particularly good at the hiring process, get help from someone who is. That’s a lesson I have finally learned, and what a difference it has made. Proverbs 11:14 tells us: “For lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers.” A smart manager recognizes his or her own areas of weakness or incompetence or lack of experience, and looks for help.

7. Not “Walking the Walk”

If you make long personal telephone calls during work time, or speak negatively about your CEO, can you expect people on your team not to do this too? Probably not!

Years ago I was hired to do some customer service training for a large company. The manager wanted his people to have consistently good telephone skills, to make good impressions on the phone, etc. Most of their contact with their customers was by phone, so the company’s image was in large part created by the telephone skills of these customer service agents. But I noticed that when this manager answered the phone, he broke all the rules! He was gruff, brief, unfriendly, etc. When I suggested to him that it would make a big difference to his employees if they saw that he was changing the way he talked to people on the phone, he just laughed and said that he had been that way for years and he wasn’t about to change now. Well, I knew that my training would have limited success if the employees didn’t see him walk the talk.

As Christ-followers, it is even more important that we walk the talk. People—especially those who work for us—will watch us closely, and if our lives and lifestyles don’t match our words, we’ve lost the authority to lead that we so need. I often think of this verse from 2 Corinthians 8:21: “For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man.”

Whether you recognize it or not, you are a role model, and you may have to take pains to do what is right. You can’t expect your employees to do better than you do. This goes for your work habits, like being on time, working hard all day, meeting deadlines, and of course, it goes for your attitude as well. I always say that managers don’t have the luxury to be in a bad mood, because your attitude—more than anyone else’s—is contagious, and your negative attitude will spread like wildfire through the whole team.

So remember, your team is watching you all the time. If you want to shape their behavior, start with your own. They’ll follow suit.

8. Not Recognizing Employee Achievements

In these days of constant change, downsizing, and increased worker uncertainty, finding ways to recognize your employees for the good that they do is more important than ever. The old One Minute Manger mantra—catch people doing something right and tell them—is still one of the smartest habits you can cultivate as a manager. Sometimes a word of commendation from a manager means more to an employee than a raise.

I think most of us managers want and intend to recognize good employees, but we just often let it fall between the cracks.  I know that’s too true for me at times. It’s not that hard to do and it reaps wonderful benefits. Something like a written note, or thanking an employee for a job well done, is very meaningful. Maybe a small reward, like a gift card for coffee or lunch, would be truly appreciated. Thanking people in group settings is also very meaningful to employees. Too often I take it for granted that the people who work for me know how I feel about them, how much I appreciate them. And that may be true, but they still need to hear it from me pretty often.

I often think about the old joke of the couple who are celebrating their 25th anniversary, and she says to him, “Honey, you never tell me you love me.” His response is, “I told you 25 years ago, and if anything changes, I’ll let you know.” Well, once every 25 years is not enough, is it? So go out of your way to recognize, reward and say thanks. You will be so glad you did.

These are eight mistakes to avoid as you manage people. No doubt, like me, you’ve already made some of those mistakes, but it’s never too late to change and improve. I hope you’ve found these helpful.