Important Management Principles

Lately, I've come to the realization that the communication and management principles that I studied so extensively during my undergraduate and MBA programs (which make so much sense!) are rarely applied in the real world. I'm not sure if it's that these approaches are "easier said than done," or if some other issues are at play. In any case, as I aspire to become the kind of leader I studied in school, I wanted to refresh myself on the most common management missteps. I'm sharing them here in case you're interested, too. My guess is that if you've been working in the professional world for any length of time, you've been on the receiving end of some of these management mistakes. Those of us who manage others need to remember how that felt and do what we can to avoid treating our own staff the same way.

1. Sending Mixed Messages - Don Blohowiak of Lead Well Institute wrote a fantastic article about how what managers do often contradicts what we say. For example, we tell employees that we have an "open door" policy and will always make time for them, but when they come into our office, we answer the ringing telephone or scan through emails while they're trying to talk to us. Another example: Telling an employee that she needs to take more intiative but then berating her for implementing a new idea without getting your "stamp of approval."

2. Focusing on the Negative - Let's face it: Screw-ups tend to grab our attention more easily than positive achievements do. However, if we're constantly pointing out our employees' mistakes without recognizing and thanking them for what they're doing well, they're going to become discouraged and unmotivated, and they'll probably look for other work.

3. Resisting Change - We all know the old saying that the only certainty in life is change. Yet many managers get stuck in a rut of doing something a certain way just because that's the way they've always done it. They feel threatened by anyone who challenges the process, and they become defensive. To stay competitive in the rapidly changing, increasingly competitive global marketplace, however, managers need to be flexible, open to fresh new ideas, and willing to embrace change, no matter how uncomfortable it might be.

4. Failing to Leverage Our Employees' Unique Strengths - I'll illustrate this management mistake with an example: Susie and John are two colleagues in the same department who have the same job title. Susie loves and excels at business development, but she isn't as strong in operations. John, on the other hand, really enjoys operations but dreads making sales calls. Many managers would make the mistake of making both Susie and John participate equally in sales and operations, but a strong manager would leverage their strengths and allow each to do what he/she does best. In other words, Susie would shoulder more of the sales responsibilities, while John would handle a greater share of the operational side. The two employees would complement each other. See how that works?

5. Squelching Employee Ambition - Often, we force employees to remain in a position for a certain length of time, regardless of their performance, before they can advance. We say that it's because they need to master the responsibilities of the position before we promote them, but if they're already blowing their goals out of the water, how is this argument even relevant? By prioritizing tenure above performance, we encourage laziness and mediocrity, and really, who wants that?

6. Thinking Our Employees Should Feel Lucky Just to Have a Job - In this tough economy, we might think that our employees' gratefulness for job stability is enough to keep them present and productive. The truth, however, is that most still need to receive recognition and career support to be motivated. Top performers, in particular, require special attention because of the significance of their contributions and their attractiveness to competitors.

A few other management mistakes come to mind, but I'll save those for another post. What kinds of problematic behaviors have you observed or experienced, and what was their impact?

- CLW