5 Mistakes Most Inexperienced Managers Make

Great managers are great with people.

The surprising part is, they likely struggled at first. I know I did. And sometimes still do. To be a great manager, you must put your ego aside and focus on the team that you’re managing.

Focus on fixing these five common management mistakes.

Mistake 1: Overcontrolling

Being a control freak is created by fear, the anxiety of feeling “out of control,” or the desire to feel needed.

Realize, you don’t need to control everything, especially in low-risk environments.

Mistake 2: Abdication

Abdication is when you delegate something important passively or abruptly.

You abdicate for four reasons:

1. You respond emotionally to the feeling of being out of control.
2. You don’t like doing a particular “thing.”
3. You’re overwhelmed.
4. You make a mistake in assuming somebody’s competency level.

Work on how you hand off tasks, projects, and responsibilities.?

Mistake 3: Poor Self Management

Leaders are role models for the behavior they want and expect from their teams.

Rate yourself on a scale from 1 (terrible) to 5 (superb) on the following:

• I’m always on time.
• I’m always reliable and meet all my commitments.
• I manage my time well.
• I consistently block out time to focus on my highest value activities.
• I behave by following our company values.
• If my team closely modeled my behaviors, the company would thrive.

Improve yourself to become fives in each statement.

Mistake 4: Passivity

Passivity is when managers accept the status quo and believe their current leadership ability is unchangeable.

They use excuses like “I’m too busy” and never dedicate time to become a better leader.

Passive leaders don’t believe the biggest leverage is working with and through people.

Hold yourself and your team accountable for the results you must produce and the values you must embody.

Mistake 5: Ignorance

Ignorant leaders are unaware of how their behaviors, performance, or habits affect other people.

This is what ignorance looks like:

• You don’t know what matters to your individual team members.
• You’re unclear about their abilities.
• You don’t realize each person is unique and how to manage them as an individual.

Start to learn more about your team, and stop believing “what works for me, works for them.”

Over time, if you improve on each mistake, you’ll morph into an incredible leader.

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