Being a manager is no easy job. You are juggling your own duties while being responsible for a team of employees. Not to mention the countless workplace conflicts that you are forced to handle. That said employees want to work for a consistently good leader. They want a manger that they can trust and that they feel truly has their best interest at heart. Nonetheless, even the best managers slip up at times and are guilty of some bad habits that drive their employees crazy. While you might not be guilty of all of these behaviors, you should probably take note and try to avoid these annoying habits that contribute to ineffective leadership and irritated employees.
Micromanaging
No manager likes to admit that they are guilty of this habit but if you have an incessant need to be a part of every project and know every detail you might just be a micromanager. Even if it’s not your intention, micromanaging communicates to your employees that you do not trust them to do their jobs on their own. Nothing kills team morale like a manager who is constantly checking in on every little thing. Employees want to know you believe in them and they want the opportunity to do a good job without having their manager jumping in to save the day. You are at risk of driving competent and talented employees crazy by constantly trying to tell them how to do their jobs.
Not Listening
Active listening involves more than just hearing your employee’s words. It means understanding the message they are trying to convey and respecting that it is important to them. When you cut off employees before they can finish talking or respond to phone calls and emails during your conversation, you are conveying to your employees that their opinions do not matter.
Being Indecisive
Your employees are looking to you as their guide so it is incredibly confusing and frustrating when managers are unable to make a decision. Likewise, if you change your mind often or do different things for different people, your team will suffer. The lack of consistency and leadership will make your employees grit their teeth.
Ignoring Problems
As a manager, it is your job to hold all employees equally accountable. When one employee is giving 100% and they are being forced to pick up the slack for their colleague who is only giving 50%, they are likely to become extremely frustrated with their manager. Everyone should be held to the same high performance standards and this means addressing the issue of non-performers. Nothing demotivates employees faster than a manager who ignores problems in the workplace.
Inability to Balance Work and Personal Time
In a generation where we are constantly inundated with emails, phone calls, and texts it can become difficult to know when to cut the ties between work and home. As a manager, your job is constantly on your mind but just because you might be hyper-connected to your job it doesn’t mean the same is true for your employees. Expecting employees to answer emails during dinner or at their child’s baseball game will put a damper on their morale. Employees do not appreciate feeling pressured to deal with work issues during after work hours.
Over time even the best managers have a tendency to create some bad habits. Whether intentional or not, these habits can cause you to lose the respect of your employees and ultimately impact their performance. However, employees do understand that you will make some mistakes so if you find yourself guilty of one of these habits be honest with your employees and commit to changing it. They will appreciate your sincerity and more importantly they will work harder for you.