Do you want to become a better manager? Do you ever wonder what you’re doing in your daily practice that might be interfering with your effectiveness as a manager? Most of us lead busy lives, but managers often have the craziest workload that they forget to take time to review their habits to see what’s sabotaging their success. Take a quick read and learn how to stop three bad habits so they don’t take away from your team’s ability to get the job done.
Changing Directives Too Late
Nothing is more frustrating for your staff than being assigned a project, working diligently on it, then getting a last minute memo that the approach has changed. To avoid this dilemma, keep dialogue open with assigned team members on any project from start to finish. It’s wise to have regular conversations with staff to share ideas that may be developing about a project. Make sure to share any new ideas with the assigned staff as soon as they come up. By setting clear goals at the beginning of a project, and communicating along the way, you can ensure that staff time is used effectively. Moreover, you’ll keep morale high by avoiding this bad habit of making last minute direction changes.
Badmouthing Other People
Do you ever get frustrated with a competitor or client? How do you handle that pocket of negative feelings? Be aware that anytime you badmouth other people it sets a tone with your team of staff. If your company values respect, but you speak poorly of a client, that will tell your team that it’s okay to work in ways that are not in alignment with the company vision, values and goals. Your behavior sets the tone for your entire team. So even if you’re in a frustrating situation – count to ten and find a constructive way to share concerns and next steps about a scenario.
Micromanaging Top Players
Do you ever assign your staff a project, then step in and do some of it yourself? This is a bad habit that can irritate members of your team; especially those that value independence and initiative. Often your top players come to work with those qualities. They are prized for their ability to figure out the HOW of getting a job done. When you as the manager step into their project mid-stream, you can easily frustrate them and interfere with the dynamics at play. So take time every day to ask yourself if you micro-managed someone on your team; then consider how stopping this bad habit might have led to better outcomes.
It can take some time to become aware of your own bad habits, and even more time to learn to stop repeating these three behaviors. But by breaking your unhelpful patterns of changing the directive, badmouthing other people, or micromanaging top players, you will ensure that your team members work with effectiveness. You’ll also be helping the team morale improve by showing your staff that you believe in their abilities to complete assigned tasks without interference.