No one is born an experienced manager. Error is both the strength and the weakness of the human species.
It is a force because it allows us to develop answers, strategies, behaviors to remedy them, to circumvent them or even to avoid them. It is a weakness since we are not able to learn quickly to correct us. This is all the more true for the manager to whom the company entrusts responsibilities which can sometimes lead to the amplification of personal errors.
Here is a list of errors commonly encountered among inexperienced managers. No problem, we offer them a durable solution at the end of this article.
1. They seek more to be loved than respected.
Imagine that – for some reason and 3 days from the date of departure – you had to tell your spouse that the vacations are canceled. Easy ? Imagine now that you share this decision with your friend. It is a safe bet that you will do the second exercise much more easily than the first. This example demonstrates that the more a manager needs to be loved, the more difficult it will be to announce unpopular decisions, resolve conflicts, deliver unpleasant messages, and so on. Of course every human being needs to be loved but it is important to know that there is a wide variety of nuances in this need. The one that seems most appropriate to the professional relationship is respect. The manager receives the esteem of his collaborators through the respect he arouses. This respect,
2. They practice micro management.
Unsure of them, they try to control everything. They confuse precision and performance. Their omnipresence in every detail leads them to constrain the field of action of the collaborators beyond reasonable. They flood them with memos, emails, procedures … They stifle and demotivate their teams. By their perfectionism, these micomanagers, if they do not take care of them, gradually become obstacles to initiative and therefore to innovation.
3. They do not delegate.
The inexperienced managers gained their stripes thanks to their technical expertise. For them, therefore, they remain a sure value, guaranteeing the recognition of their hierarchy. But if this competence does not give way to those that any team piloting requires, then the expertise becomes a fatal trap for the expert who can not “change cap”. The delegation is at the top of the list of managerial skills essential to the management exercise.
The delegation is mutually beneficial to both the delegate and the delegate. The delegator can thus devote himself to his mission, better manage his time and his added value by focusing on the important tasks of his mission as manager. In doing so, it offers new opportunities for increasing the skills and motivation of team members. It is a virtuous circle that will allow the manager to delegate more over time and to mobilize more on the essence of his function: to devote himself to what the team can give the best of itself in all circumstances . (Anticipation, planning, innovation, coaching, decision making, etc.)
4. They do not invest in employee development.
Often too focused on themselves, they only take care of this aspect of employee development when the company obliges them to do so, that is to say about 1 hour or two each year, for each employee, at the time of the ritual Annual interviews. However, there is no progression of service if everyone stagnates. The development of employees is, therefore, also a win-win game. It is therefore essential that the manager can free up the necessary time in his or her schedule to accompany the career development of his / her best performing employees or to ensure the improvement of the skills of those who are lagging behind. The congestion of their agendas (when they have one) does not allow them to have a precise global vision on the skills necessary for the success of the team.
5. They do not use their emotional intelligence.
This is the main Achilles heel of the young expert promoted manager. His lack of relational experience penalizes his ability to detect or anticipate crises. It leaves the dissatisfaction and therefore the demotivation settled. The costs of catching up are often cumbersome.
6. They do not adjust their management style.
Each employee is not treated in the same way. Some must be given more autonomy and they must be supported and given the confidence that their behavior deserves. Others need a tighter framework that will allow them to develop their skills with greater security. Inexperienced managers tend, as they do successfully in their profession, to apply the same formula to the same kind of situation. But it is not the same for men as for machines. Again, the imperative necessity of personal development work, which, alas, often irrationally, discourages a certain number of experts and their hierarchies.
7. They do not value.
Through our education, it is more “natural” for human nature to criticize, blame, emphasize what does not work than to find reasons to encourage what is right, what needs to be done more often . To practice appreciative management, one must learn to listen, to retain one’s criticisms, to retain one’s judgments and other negative formulations. All this serves only to reassure the one who formulates them and negatively influences the motivation of the collaborators. This ability to encourage and maintain a constructive spirit is rarely innate. It is acquired with self-confidence, the experience of the relationship with others, and the will to raise the level of technical and relational skills of all those who work with you. But it is true that the fear of making mistakes,
How to improve?
From the measurement of your managerial impact and the comparison of your results with those of more than 1000 managers in the world, our program “Developing an effective management” proposes to improve your managerial skills by focusing first on Those that penalize the most your impact on others.
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