4 Clear signs that show you are failing as a manager

I once worked for this company where my boss was always praised by the upper management for all the work that he never did. I am not saying that he was unethical but he had a way of making people do work for him. And in this respect he was a great leader.

Years down the line, working under him, I learnt that the recipe to success is more about what you learn about life after school and less about what you learnt from the books that you read in the school.

‘Don’t let poor project management become a barrier in your success. Start using a project management software.’

Even though you may know all the traits about being a good manager like: Leadership, empathy, accountability, competence and patience. But all these terms are of little help when you have to make someone else do the work for you.

Only the word “improvisation” comes to the rescue i.e. Your ability to come out with great solutions under time pressure.

This is because in the real world time is the only unit to measure success.

A small amount of work done under little time will be valued much more than anything great that you can do otherwise.

So, if you as a manager cannot rely on the above said traits, than what are those things that will actually be of any help in making you aware of your failures?? With this in mind let's look at the following 4 signs that will help you know that you may be failing as a manager: 

Not Being Able to Handle People Issues

I have never come across any organization that does not have people issues. When two co-workers fight or when some employee seems to be frustrated with the manager, productivity starts to suffer. And how you as a manager deal with these issues tells much about your ability.

Solution to these problems are generally simple and can be found if you know your employees well. But it is something that may take time. In that case you can talk to a skilled professional who is great at handling people. You can then learn from him and develop your own game.

Failing to Ignite Innovative Culture

When you fail to ignite creativity within your team, you eventually lose your ability to come out of difficult solutions under time pressure; the one thing that will hurt more than anything else to your growth. You will see your projects fail and deadlines extended in frustration all because your team is not coming out with an innovative plan.

A part of the problem can be your team’s reliance on you to lead them or spoon feed them. Or you not trusting your team and in that attempt overlooking what they have to say.

Whenever this happens you need to know that the only way to an innovative culture is to encourage your employees even when they fail. Appreciate them for the efforts that they invest in a plan and by looking at the purpose for which they are willing to take risks. And remember innovation never happens in an instant it always take time. 

Not Open for Suggestions

I have seen a lot of managers that are good speakers but not good listeners. This may be because of their reluctance not to let anyone else come against the direction they want the team to go in. This one thing helps them to clear project deadlines as fast as possible.

But this works against them. With time employees learn that it is little to no help to give their input to the boss, as it will only work against them. They will always wait for the panic button to strike to give their suggestion. But by that time it will be too late to switch directions. And the project will have to be completed with a lot compromises instead. Result: lack of customer satisfaction and poor project delivery.

Failing To Motivate

You may have the best team under your command but if your team members are not motivated enough to fight for you, you will fail as a manager. They will be of little use to you if they are not working under their full capacity. A major reason for this is not appreciating your employees enough for what they do.

This is also the reason why good and hard working employees will leave the company. Who will want to keep working hard if their is no form of appreciation for what they do? To do this you need to have a strong evaluation system within your organization. This will help you know who your most talented and hardworking employees are and who are not. You should also invest some time in understanding different personality types within your team.

Conclusion

Lastly, you can approach your way to become a good manager in two ways. Either you can focus on developing yourself as a leader and hope that things will fall in place for your team, or you can try to develop a strong team and then see what to make of yourself. In all my years I have seen that only a good mixture of both works in being a good manager. So it's time you learn from both the sides of the same coin.  

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About Author:

Sandeep Kashyap is the Founder of ProofHub - a leading project management and collaboration software. A passionate leader, Sandeep is always on the lookout for innovative ideas about filling the communication gap between groups, teams and companies. He is also a featured writer on LinkedIn and contributing author at YourStory. You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

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