Managers and leaders play a key role in the function and success of an organization. Bad management can be incredibly detrimental to the organization, both operationally and culturally, and unfortunately, every professional will face working with a bad manager at some point in their career. What makes for a bad manager? Here are a few common management mistakes to avoid if you’re looking to creating a dynamic, productive team in your workplace.
Micromanaging
While from a boss’s perspective micromanaging may feel like it’s steering employees in the right direction, it doesn’t have very many benefits in the long run. It causes undue stress in the workplace in addition to thwarting creativity and enthusiasm in the team. There are many approaches to the same task, and just because your employee does it differently doesn’t mean that they’re inherently doing it wrong. Plus, given the freedom to exercise their creativity, they might even find a more efficient way to solve a problem. At worst, micromanaging can affect organizational development because employees are averse to micromanaging bosses and will leave at their first opportunity.
Lack of Communication
When in doubt, more communication is usually better than not communicating enough. A lack of communication causes confusion and frustration among your employees. This can come across as anything ranging from unclear instructions or failing to give feedback after a project is complete. By failing to provide all the necessary information before a project, an ineffective manager will find that the team will spend more time asking questions than working, thus taking a toll on overall productivity. Furthermore, communication in the workplace helps to provide purpose, build a positive company culture, and create accountability.
Being Unapproachable
An unapproachable boss creates an invisible barrier between them and the employee that they may not even recognize at first. Ultimately, it creates problems. Being unapproachable makes it difficult for managers to mentor and resolve problems. From the employee side, it’s hard for them to accept feedback and ask for help.
It’s common that there are underlying reasons for these traits, and many of these common management mistakes are interconnected. For example, a manager may seem unapproachable because of their lack of communication. Combatting one trait might mean addressing another one as well. Addressing micromanaging starts first with trusting your employees but also requires you to communicate clear instructions and expectations so that your team can carry out the task at hand. By improving your management skills, you’ll be able to retain more high caliber talent and build up a stronger organization in the process.