Five things every manager should avoid

"The chief executive who knows his strengths and weaknesses as a leader is likely to be far more effective than the one who remains blind to them. He also is on the road to humility -- that priceless attitude of openness to life that can help a manager absorb mistakes, failures, or personal shortcomings."
~ John Adair

Management is an ever-evolving discipline, and every manager must work constantly to improve his or her skills. One thing that all effective managers have in common is that they steer clear of the five sins of management. These are five things you will never see a good manager doing.

1. Firstly, there is micromanaging. A micromanager does not give their staff the freedom to do their job without constant monitoring. They do not trust their staff enough to delegate the workload and end up doing everything themselves. Not only is this extremely inefficient for the manager, but it also destroys morale and the staff’s ability to be effective. When staff is micromanaged, they end up feeling overly controlled.
2. A second thing good managers avoid at all costs is using punishment as motivation. Staff will always react negatively to punishment, and there are so many more effective ways of changing behavior. That said, there are extreme cases when punishment is necessary, but these are rare.
   
   One manufacturing firm I was working with wanted to cut back the amount of bonuses the staff received every time there were errors in the work. Obviously, the manager was hoping this would encourage them to work more accurately, but the staff almost revolted.
   
   The trouble with this manager’s tactic is that punishment is always a terrible motivational tool. A much better approach would be to offer the staff a reward when they make fewer errors.
3. A third thing good managers never do is show emotions, especially negative ones. Negative emotions -- anger, for example -- are scary to most people. Even if the negative emotion is directed at another employee, it makes other staff fearful that it could easily be directed at them. They will usually react by shutting down in an effort to protect themselves.
   
   I was giving a seminar on this topic, and one manager came up to me and asked if it was okay that he goes into his office, closes the door and lets out frustration by screaming. I asked him if other staff can hear him when he does this. He said yes, so I told him he should avoid this because staff will be afraid he could focus this anger on them one day.
4. A fourth management sin is being too serious. Being serious and business-like all the time is a morale killer, especially for younger workers. Having fun in the workplace is so important as it creates an environment most staff members really want to be part of.
   
   One of the easiest ways to create a fun and relaxed environment is to make fun of yourself on a frequent basis. People are much more relaxed if their boss can poke fun at his or her own mistakes.
5. The final thing good managers never do is leave staff out of important decisions. Every staff member wants to feel as if they have a voice in the organization. By failing to engage staff, you fail to empower them and enable them to be effective in their job.

When I had employees, I used to solicit my team’s input on any major decision I had to make. Though I did not always follow their recommendations, they knew their input was very important to me.

Now go out and ensure you are being an effective manager. Avoid micromanaging, using punishment as a motivational tool, displaying extreme emotions, being too serious and failing to give your staff a voice in critical decisions.

You can do this!

Dr. Osteryoung has directly has assisted over 3,000 firms. He is the Jim Moran Professor of Entrepreneurship (Emeritus) and Professor of Finance (Emeritus) at Florida State University. He was the founding Executive Director of The Jim Moran Institute and served in that position from 1995 through 2008. His newest book co-authored with Tim O'Brien, "If You Have Employees, You Really Need This Book," is a bestseller on Amazon.com. He can be reached by e-mail at jerry.osteryoung@gmail.com.