As the intermediary between the executives and staff, managers play a pivotal role in any organization. They are tasked with representing the company’s ethics and beliefs to their staff, leading and motivating their employees, and overseeing a wide range of administrative responsibilities. These tasks include interviewing and hiring staff, knowing wage and hour laws, conducting terminations, and resolving problems and conflicts. If we are going to be successful in supporting, developing and increasing the skill level of our managerial leaders, there are certain bad habits that need to be eliminated where ever possible

1. Don’t promote people to leadership simply because they are technically competent

Joe is a brilliant programmer who got promoted.  His new position requires that he manage a team of 12 people.  He is not interested in leading people, is generally a “work alone” type of personality, and only desired to do his job well.  He wonders why he is being punished and now finds himself in a job that is slowly killing him.

Solution:  Only promote people who have the technical knowledge AND the potential to lead.

2. Don’t promote people and then assume they know how to lead

You promote Susie to a leadership role and she is very excited, and also scared to death.  Why?  She has never led a team before and doesn’t know how.  It really isn’t that easy.  A leader needs to understand the styles and personalities of the team, tie all these diverse characteristics together into a viable team that understands and fulfills the department/team goals as well as company goals.  That’s a lot of responsibility.  Don’t be surprised if untrained individuals like Susie revert to modeling the negative behavior of her past managers—she has nothing else to go by.  It is not uncommon for newly appointed supervisors and leaders to gravitate to micromanagement.  Their necks are on the line, and they will take all necessary steps to ensure success.  They may be well meaning, but their lack of skills will drive employees away.

Solution:  Have a comprehensive leadership development training program in place to get new managers up to speed.

3. Don’t assume existing managers don’t need development

You may have hired a manager because they have the managerial skills in place (at least according to the resume and how they answered interview questions), but this does not mean that they are a great manager. If they aren’t a great manager, provide them developmental tools.  If they are a great manager, they are going to be interested in continually developing a increasing their knowledge base and skills.  A desire for ongoing learning is a characteristic of great leaders.

Solution:  All leaders should have an individual developmental plan and should receive training annually.

4. Don’t allow mean leaders to lead teams

Mean, surly, demanding, rude, offensive leaders…have we met these people before?  They lead through fear, not respect.  Why is this behavior tolerated?  Because they are great at their job? Because they get results?  Because they have been with the company a long time? These aren’t good reasons and these types of managers will cost you in the long run.  OSHA considers forms of bullying in the workplace as potential violence and there are 16 states considering legislation aimed at managers exhibiting exactly these types of behavior.

In such an environment, you can be certain that the staff they supervise are not performing at their full potential, and that there is underlying resentment and anger. There is a saying: “If you lead through fear, you will have no respect.  If you lead with respect you will have nothing to fear.”

If companies allow their managers to bully their staff, what message is that sending to the employees?  “We allow our managers to treat you like dirt but we still value you,”—yeah right!

Solution:  Provide tools that teach alternate methods of management and put them on notice.

5. Don’t allow executives to think that they don’t need development

How often do you hear, “We can go ahead with the training, but our VP won’t be attending”.  Why is this?  Why isn’t senior leadership interested in the new information and knowledge their direct reports are receiving?  Because attending the training might, a) intimidate the other middle management staff or, b) be considered an admission of incompetence.  Arrogance and ego may often rob senior level leadership of development they might need.

Solution: You can always separate levels of management for trainings, but encourage senior level to actively increase their knowledge base.

6. Don’t wait until you have a vacant leadership role to identify talent

When there is a vacancy at a leadership level the ensuing “plan” is often to fly by the seat of your pants.  There is a brief scramble to slam someone from the department into a temporary role and then hunt for qualified candidates.  Sometimes other managers are asked to take over positions—positions they don’t know anything about, over a team they are unfamiliar with, in addition to their own huge workload.

Solution: Create a contingency plan BEFORE a vacancy develops to prepare new potential managers for the role.

7. Don’t assume once is enough

Once may be enough in certain areas of training.  But understand that many of the areas in which we expect our leaders to be competent are often areas they may not routinely do.  As is true with all of us, one training will become stale and forgotten if not used frequently.  The knowledge we receive stays with us because of our use of that knowledge.

Solution: Plan for regular trainings at periodic intervals to ensure the skills remain sharp and fresh.

Hopefully, by developing strong managerial leaders, we will help develop a strong and vibrant organization.