7 More Management Malpractices

1. You plan minute to minute. If there is something that happens that is out of the ordinary, you are ill equipped to handle the situation, relying instead on the Break Glass in Case of Fire option. Your shop is littered with broken glass.

2. You are either Fear driven or Scorn driven. You make decisions based on the Fear of failure or the Thoughts of others. You have stopped being Assertive.

3. You dont take the time or effort to save your Boss from themselves. When passing out information from the Boss, you preface everything with the disclaimer This is not my idea and I dont agree with it, but this is the way the Boss wants it.

4. You dont take a minute before making snap decisions. Youd rather go with it and hope for the best. Your employees know this and count on it.

5. You are liked focused and not respect focused. Youd rather pal around instead of making the tough decision.

6. You dont confront when its time to confront. You have become the Avoider. When an employee does something wrong its never the right time to correct the behavior.

7. You cant describe the future. Any future. The companys or yours. Youd rather spin your wheels trying to correct past mistakes.

The Fix.

1. Become a planner. Try to imagine every scenario possible. Envision the most outrageous, the most impossible and improbable and then plan for it. Like one day you come into work and the computers are down, the phone system is crashed and half of the department is out sick with the flu. You know, the scenarios that never happen. After formulating the plan, write it. Publish it and have your employees know it. Ask them to help you design it. This starts the buy in process. Remember, Murphys Law is never more true that when you are living it!

2. You have stopped being effective when you are Fear or Scorn based in your decisions. Look, you are the boss for a reason. Let me emphasize this. YOU ARE THE BOSS FOR REASON! Maybe you are a relative of the owner, maybe you are a college whiz kid or maybe you are an old hand. Whatever. You are responsible to the people you Lead! If you do not make a decision, who will? And if you are concerned about what an employee thinks about you personally, you are in the wrong place my friend. Rorschach yourself and see if you can find the pattern. Start making decisions based on SPECFICS and FACTS, not emotions. Become Assertive by understanding and protecting your rights and thoughts and acknowledge others rights and thoughts and not allowing them to dictate your ACTION.

3. Your position requires loyalty, to your boss and yourself. That means that when your boss is about to make a mistake, you help him/her see it before it becomes policy, procedure or an announcement. You are the Advocate. His/Her Advocate and the Employees Advocate. The position you take is dictated by the circumstances. Being a true Advocate requires courage and trust. If you have neither, you need to reevaluate where you are. When a decision is reached, the words that come from your mouth are YOURS. Not the Bosss. If you disagree with something, youd better have dealt with it before walking out of the office to pass the word. Sometimes its a smelly sandwich and you have to take a bite. Take the bite and pass the sandwich YOU MADE! Dont pass the word with the preface We have a new policy and I dont agree with it but this is what the Boss wants. Nice job. Way to inspire the troops. All you are doing is setting up you and your Boss for failure and that is not very loyal at all.

4. If you are making decisions on the fly, without a pause, or a minute or two of consideration, you might be stealing success from your organization, yourself and your employees. Haste makes waste is never truer than when you are redoing, retooling and reevaluating. Notice all the re that is going on. And, your employees may be counting on your hasty responses to circumvent or misuse a system or policy in place. Once the decision is made they have no responsibility and all of the benefit. In actuality, if you are not taking a moment or two, you are keeping them from seeing the bigger picture and actually taking options away from them and your organization. So, take a breath, tell them youll get back to them, and ponder for a minute or two. (This does not apply to life threatening or immediate emergency situations, like a fire, injury, or other circumstances that require action in order to save a life or prevent a disaster.)

5. You want to be liked. I want to be liked. We all want to be liked. If this is the primary focus and the criteria you use when making decisions, you are probably not liked and definitely not respected. Human beings require Leadership in an organization. Leadership requires making the right decision based on the facts and specifics of the situation. Making a decision based on facts and specifics will lead to respect and when people respect you, sometimes they like you. Not all the time. Do we, as managers make mistakes? You betcha! If our record of making decisions is based on facts and specifics then the message becomes consistency and an occasional mistake is expected and, if acknowledged, accepted.
¹²2Ò³: ÉÏÒ»Ò³ 1 [2] ÏÂÒ»Ò³