Don't Mention It

You probably already know what you shouldn't talk about at work. If you had an adventure in the barroom and/or bedroom last night, save the anecdote for your tell-all memoirs. Likewise, the break room isn't a good place to recruit new members for your religious movement, political party, or multi-level marketing scheme.

But there are a few additional topics that, as a new manager, you should be especially on your guard against. They might seem like no big deal at first, but they have the potential to mess up your relationship with your employees.

Taboo 1: The Way You Did Things at Your Last Job

You left your job at Widgets Corp for a management position at Acme, but you can't help noticing how different everything is here. Well, keep those observations to yourself. Your new employees enjoy hearing about your previous employer about as much as your significant other enjoys hearing about your ex.

There's going to be a time and place to make improvements--including best practices from previous employers--but chatting about how you did things back at Widget Corp is annoying and communicates to your employees that your heart is still back at your old job.

Taboo 2: Criticism of Your Predecessor

Your predecessor, Mr. Oldboss, sure left you some messes to clean up, didn't he? And some of your employees really laid into him during your one-on-ones. No matter how incompetent, irrational, or foolish Mr. Oldboss may appear to you, however, you should not comment on it--especially in front of your employees.

First, you could be wrong about Mr. Oldboss. That super formal meeting agenda he used may make more sense after you realize that one of your team members tends to dominate the conversation and hold court unless he's held in check. That stack of unapproved expense reports on your desk may have arrived after he already left the position.

But even if you're right about him--even if he was a crappy boss--complaining about him in front of your employees will not help you. Even if they hated Mr. Oldboss's guts, your complaints about him will mark you out as a complainer and an excuse-maker. In the short-term, commiserating with your employees about your predecessor's shortcomings may get some you some temporary goodwill, but it will come at the cost of long-term respect.

This is part of a series of articles for new managers. If you enjoyed this post, check out the other articles in the series: Promotion Shock, The Boring Truth About Wardrobe, The Near Mentor, Listen to Everything, Promise Nothing, Your First Day, Don't Mention It, Ask And You Shall Receive, What Got You Here Blah, Blah Blah, You are Not the Yardstick, The Most Important Meeting, You're on the Air, Your People Come First, and Your First One-On-Ones.