7 Habits of a Highly Ineffective Manager

7 HABITS OF A HIGHLY Ineffective MANAGER The following are seven habits of Want to be an which every ineffective manager effective manager? has cultivated at least one. Kick these habits. NEXT TIME. FOR SURE. Result: KICK THE HABIT: Employees lose their trust in their manager. CONTINUALLY BREAK YOUR WORD If you continually put yourself in this TRUST LEVEL: LOW situation, it's time to realize that it's better to err on the side of promising to do less for employees than more. The fact is, if you promise to extend yourself beyond. what you are capable of doing, at some A manager who breaks his word to employees destroys trust and breeds resentment. Ineffective managers do little to build employee trust; in fact, they tend to do the opposite. As trust diminishes, so does the quality of work point you will let your employees down. produced by the employees. Result: KICK Employees are alienated THE HABIT: CHASTISE YOUR EMPLOYEES PUBLICLY and full of resentment It's time to start solving problems in toward their manager. private. Addressing an employee in private shows you care about their feelings and are interested in their long-term success instead of fixing an The ineffective manager regularly chastises and even ridicules his or her employees in front of other staff. Often immediate, and perhaps trivial need. times this happens because they want to solve a problem quickly and on the spot. But sometimes managers do this because they want to feel and look like they are in control, particularly when they feel they aren't. Result: Employees will be uncomfortable and generally unresponsive to the manager who acts this way. They may consider the KICK GET ALL UP IN THEIR BUSINESS manager to be... "CREEPY" THE HABIT: Your healthy desire to know your There is nothing wrong with a manager employees doesn't have to result in wanting to know his or her employees invasion of privacy. Let your employees offer up any information they feel comfortable sharing about their private well, but a thoughtless manager can quickly cross personal boundaries and invade privacy. This gets even worse when the manager begins to talk about these things with other employees. lives, but don't press them for details. THANKS. SEE YOU MONDAY. GREAT JOB ON THIS ONE! Result: A lack of positive feedback will make any employee disenchanted with their job and feel as if they aren't WITHHOLD POSITIVE FEEDBACK KICK THE HABIT: noticed and appreciated. Even a few simple sentences of The ineffective manager lives under the positive affirmation will bolster employee assumption that their best employees confidence and build your rapport with know they are doing a good a job and the team. Don't underestimate the power don't need any positive reinforcement. They feel that for employees, no news is good news-they are only there to fix the problems. of this-it could be the greatest way to increase productivity. Result: This makes employees feel as if they don't have any ownership over their job, thereby decreasing productivity. It also makes the manager stressed and on edge as BE ALL-KNOWING ALL THE TIME KICK THE HABIT: everything rests upon his performance. NOT MY PROJECT, NOT MY PROBLEM No manager can do everything on their own. If they could, why would they need employees? The ineffective manager is guilty of: micromanagement; never It's time relinquish control and allow your employees to do the jobs they were hired to do. If you are unsure if this is a problem, simply ask your employees if they feel micromanaged, and ask them to be honest. Do this and everyone will be more comfortable, including yourself. forwarding a question to an employee who knows more about the subject than they do; giving their employees access to sensitive company information, but not allowing them to do a small task without approval. Result: HEY PEOPLE, LISTEN UP! These kinds of managers don't see much growth within their team because they never hear about the problems their KICK THE HABIT: employees are experiencing. Productivity will remain stagnant, and employees This one takes concerted effort, start SPEAK BEFORE LISTENING will be frustrated. by setting up a time to meet with each employee and give them the space to speak their mind, assuring them that you won't be mad. Now comes the hard part: PRODUCTIVITY Ineffective managers don't take the time to listen to their employees-they have Sit there and let them do the talking. deadlines to meet and believe that their Write down all of their feedback and employees are there to do their work, not talk about it. Instead, they do all the talking. respond with thought out answers the following week, if necessary. "Ummm" Result: Failure to discipline will give an employee license to continue their poor behavior for as long as it goes "Nevermind.." KICK THE HABIT: neglected. If the employee BE AFRAID isn't carrying his or her Whether it's for fear of conflict or just weight, a manager's inaction OF DISCIPLINE plain laziness, disciplinary action must be taken. It's time to think big picture. will anger the whole team. Perhaps the most difficult job of a manager is disciplining employees. This comes with the territory and just can't be avoided. The ineffective manager Set a time to meet with the employee MON. TUE. in question and do what needs to Sorry, Leaving be done. Don't be afraid to consult Have to run. early, BYE! higher-ups for specific strategies on addressing the individual. will allow an unruly and/or unproductive employee to continue their behavior. mindflash.com SOURCES: ASSOCIATEDCONTENT.COM || TECHREPUBLIC.COM WORK911.COM || STRONGBAD.NEWSVINE.COM HABIT #7 HABIT #6 HABIT #5 HABIT #4 HABIT #3 HABIT #2 HABIT #1