By: Ana Margarita Olar| Executivechronicles.com
Managers lead the way for a team’s success. What a manager does or fails to do have a large impact employee’s productivity.
Here are some management mistakes that can hinder your team’s success:
Management Mistake #1: Micromanagement
A manager who wants to pull every string is not a leader but more of a tyrant. If you want to control everything that your employees do, then you can kill their motivation and engagement. Mingling with every minute detail of what your employees do makes them feel that you don’t trust them. Let your employees perform the task in their own way. Remember that an employee assigned for the job was hired because a leader believes in their skills. So do your job as a manager and let your employees focus on the tasks assigned to them.
Management Mistake # 2: Instilling fear instead of respect
Fear is a great weapon for company’s destruction. A team that operates in fear is not a team, it’s a prison, and the employees would want to go out if they have a choice. Employees who work out of fear tends to pretend to be busy only when the boss is around, and engage in unproductive habits such as gossiping, and procrastinating. So choose try to earn your employees respect instead of instilling fear to greatly improve their productivity.
Management Mistake # 3: Empty promises
Breaking a promise is like telling a lie and is a sure way of disengaging your employees. Having the hopes of your employee up and then letting them down will crush your employee’s motivation. So be honest with your subordinates, and share with them your realistic vision and ambition regarding the company. And also, make sure you don’t make any commitments that you cannot fulfill.
Management Mistake # 4: Setting unrealistic deadlines and erratic expectations.
Another perfect way of throwing employee motivation into garbage is by rushing them through the deadline and suddenly changing the task a few moments before a specific schedule. An efficient worker does his job diligently and almost perfectly while trying to come up with the manager’s expectations. And it is very hard if your expectations change every now and then. It’s like dealing with different kinds of boss every time, which is a great way of driving your employees crazy.
Management Mistake #5: Failure to recognize efforts and accomplishments.
Every employee must go into hardships and the certain amount of stress to complete a task. When these painstaking efforts are not recognized, this will ultimately lead to employee’s frustration and depression. And one cannot expect productivity from a frustrated and depressed employee.
As a manager, you should accept that you’re not a perfect person so don’t expect your employees to be perfect too. Learn to reflect on yourself and if you recognize some of these mistakes as your own, then it’s time to change. Changing your attitude and reactions to circumstances doesn’t only benefit you personally but your team as well.
