Managers or supervisors come in all shapes and sizes; inspiring, strict, personal or distant. But whatever manager you are or have, the following habits are disastrous for leadership effectiveness. Know the following 6 bad habits and take your team to the next level in no time.
1.Publicly criticize employees
This kind of “management” demoralizes the employee in question. Also, this kind of behavior immediately gives you the nickname “that terrible manager,” with which you create distance between you and your team. This works much more effectively than publicly sabotaging a team member. A good manager never gets angry with someone, no matter how tempting or angry you may be. Getting angry shows that you can’t control yourself. So learn to count to 1000 and arrange a personal meeting in which you calmly discuss your employee’s activities and how you would like to see them differently. Then draw up a plan together to achieve this.
2. Micromanagement
Are you constantly looking over the shoulder of your employees? Do you spend a lot of time instructing your employees? Do you often feel that you can do it better yourself? Then there is a chance that you are a micromanager. If your first reaction is, “Nothing will happen if I am not on top of it,” you can be pretty sure that it is your skills as a manager. The costs that this type of behavior and its consequences entail for your organization can be enormous. Solving this type of management behavior often requires coaching. Of course, there are also poorly functioning teams; your manager’s task is to determine the cause and take action.
3. Withholding information
Withholding information about how the team or company is performing may sound like a good idea to protect your team. Often there is the argument that the team “does not understand the ultimate goal” or “better focus on the work.” Another reason could be to withhold disappointing results in order not to demoralize the team.
In reality, a team works best when there is a clear goal, even if disappointing results. Suppose a team knows why they are doing something and how it fits into the bigger picture. In that case, it is motivating, regardless of whether they understand all aspects of it in detail.
4. Take credit for yourself
Running off with the credits belonging to someone else is undermining your team members. It ensures that the trust in you as a manager is gone, leading to a high “why-should-I-do-my-best-level.” Effective managers know how to shine a spotlight on a team member and not on themselves. Give credits, don’t take them. Your success lies in a team that works together like a well-oiled machine.
5. Giving negative feedback
Feedback is a powerful management tool with which you can achieve a lot as a manager. Unless you use it the wrong way. Feedback can then be toxic and cause morale to collapse completely. The feedback that is not specific is worthless. The same applies to feedback that is not based on self-made observations. Since most managers do not get feedback on how they give feedback, it is extremely important to be aware of this. How do you provide feedback?
6. Point the finger
Blaming others when things go wrong is equivalent to taking credit when things go well (see point 4). This behavior is unacceptable. Effective leaders understand when they are responsible for something. Pointing fingers when a mistake can create a “culture of fear.” And you never build a good team with fear. Team members will drop out or look for other work if they come to work every day with trembling knees. When something goes well, you compliment everyone; when something goes bad, as a manager, you take responsibility for it yourself. That’s just part of your job.
7. Develop further into an effective manager?
Stepmile offers various tailor-made management training courses to precisely match your objectives.
Call us for more information +44 22 351 446 56.
