Top 5 People Manager Mistakes

People managers are cornerstone of every organization. They make or break people’s careers. They carry the responsibility of not just creating success for their organization but also for the people they support (or manage in old lingo). Here I am listing top people manager mistakes that I have seen managers make in their day to day dealings with their direct reports.

Biggest Leadership Mistakes

1. Lack of Empathy

This is number one mistake according to me as this mistake is made by many seasoned managers. A common mistake that they run into is they state their own story as to how they were in a similar situation and it was not a big deal for them or why this topic should not be important to the employee etc. Understand every employee is different and they have different expectations and goals. What might not be an issue for you might be a big issue for them. Maybe you didn’t care about promotions in your past but for your employee it might be the biggest motivating factor. Yes, you can still relate your story but in a way that doesn’t feel like you are dismissing their concern. You can say something like, I can definitely empathise with your situation, I was in a similar situation once but luckily for me it didn’t turn out to be as bad because of xyz. And then follow up with concrete steps that you will take to address this situation. 

2. Talking More, Listening Less

This is something that many seasoned managers are also guilty of. They talk more, listen less, cut off their employees. This is detrimental to your relationship. Your 1 on 1 time is mostly for employees to raise their concerns and a great opportunity for you to understand the their mental state. Resist the urge to interrupt and show your full attention, that means no looking at your phone or your emails. Also listening to them attentively instead of formulating your response in your head while they are talking. Managers who ignore employees loose employee trust very fast and this is one of the biggest management mistake examples I have seen throughout my career.

3. Micro-Managing

This is the term managers dread hearing. It can mean many things to many people but in a nut shell it basically means you are constantly nudging them, asking for status updates, telling them how to do the work instead of coaching them, being too controlling etc. This might work in some industries but in a tech industry it can be a recipe for disaster. But some might say then how should I be aware of what they are working on. Technique here is to set up some processes where you can get constant updates for example recurring status update meetings, review meetings etc which is run by your employees and you just attend them, empower your employees to create processes that can help everyone (including yourself) stay informed. Avoid the urge to ping them outside of these channels unless it is time critical.

4. Being Too Hands On

Lot of new managers make this mistake. They try to do most of the work themselves instead of supporting their employees. This works for the first few months when you are transitioning from being an individual contributor to people manager but once you are full time manager managing a team of 6+ people your focus should be on building strategies for your org and how to scale and make your team more efficient. Your direct reports might feel that you don’t trust them in their skills or are trying to compete with them in way or another. None of this is good for healthy team dynamics.

5. Delegating Too Much

This is almost opposite of being too hands on. Some mid-experience managers make this mistake where they start delegating too much to their employees without taking into account their skill and experience. A new college grad will not be able to handle the same amount of delegation as a seasoned experienced employee. Key here is right balance and delegating at the right time and to the right person. A rule of thumb could be to do the work yourself if it is a one time thing and delegate if it is a repetitive task that impacts the whole team.