We hear a lot about what a manager should do and what they should be, but what about the things they shouldn’t do?
We know that managers should be kind, approachable and that they should motivate and inspire their employees. That type of manager is someone who will oversee an office with high morale and therefore have a greater level of productivity. However, what about an office that has a pretty poor manager at the helm?
In that type of situation, employees become fed up. They’re tired of not being listened to, they don’t feel valued, they feel like they’re being treated like children a lot of the time, and as a result, they look for other jobs because they just don’t want to have to face that situation every day whilst sitting at their office desks. Can you blame them?
To help you avoid this type of situation, let’s look at 6 things that will get you absolutely nowhere as a manager.
- Selfishness – A selfish manager only thinks of themselves and as a result, they alienate the entire office. Focusing on number one creates a dog-eat-dog feel to the space and completely destroys any notion of team spirit.
- Keeping your office door closed – This doesn’t mean literally, but if you sit at your executive office desk and never allow employees to come and talk to you when they need to, you’re going to create a sense of not being valued. Workplace stress could easily creep into this type of situation.
- Giving orders rather than being open to suggestions – Of course, sometimes you need to give instructions as a manager and delegate tasks, but there is a way to do that. If you constantly give orders and do not discuss or even allow suggestions to be made, you’re going to annoy your employees and make them feel like you don’t respect their ability.
- Taking sides in conflicts – A manager should remain impartial when dealing with conflicts and should never be swayed on either side. Taking sides leads to discord within the office and makes conflicts far worse. Morale also takes a huge nosedive.
- Assuming that you’re always right and you’re the best you can be – No manager is the finished article, in fact, what does the finished article even look like? You can always improve and do better and you can always learn. Assuming you know everything is damaging not only for your reputation but for the morale level within the office.
- Treating people with a lack of respect – Whether manager or not, there is no excuse for treating people with a lack of respect however some managers do allow the so-called power to go to their head. When this happens, they treat people with disrespect. At that point, everything becomes negative.
Focus on being a positive role model and avoid these very damaging habits.