10 Mistakes to Avoid as a New Boss
10 Mistakes To Avoid As A New Boss
10 Mistakes to Avoid as a New Boss
If you're likely to step into a manager or similar leadership position soon, it's a good idea to learn about some common mistakes early on. These mistakes can easily sour a new boss's relationship with others—enough to ruin your reputation.
At least in the first year as a new team boss, pay extra attention to the following ten mistakes from time to time. Hopefully, such precautions will help you come across as a popular and responsible boss in the future.
1. Same Approach For All
Leadership is about investing enough time for everyone on the team and trying to understand their needs and weaknesses. A wise boss tries to get to know his team members well at the very beginning, then tries to motivate them one by one accordingly. This type of leading is called an 'equitable approach'.
2. Not Communicating Properly
Good news is easy to share with others, but discussing the consequences of a mess or wrong decision is not for everyone. Skilled leaders can do this well. They discuss all kinds of issues with their team members and try to come up with a solution. Honest and transparent communication strengthens others' trust in you, thereby preventing unwanted rumors about your working methods.
3. Thinking That The Reasons You Got The Promotion Are What Will Make You A Better Leader
Many times a worker gets promotion to managerial position for his paper skills and intellectual ability. That doesn't mean he naturally has the skillset needed to be a good leader. In this case, it is necessary to take the advice of an experienced mentor before starting the work.
4. Try To Change Everything In The Beginning
One of the biggest mistakes a new boss can make is to make sweeping changes to the office shortly after taking over. Take the time first to understand the culture of your workplace and the relationship between employees. Then make any changes that involve as much consent and participation as possible. And don't try to change anything just for the sake of innovation, it might ruin the functionality of the office.
5. Abuse Of Power
Don't pretend you have power. Rather, leadership is about making sure others take advantage of their power. If you can create an environment of mutual respect and responsibility sharing, team members will be your followers rather than your 'subordinates'.
6. Avoid Giving Negative Feedback On Anything
New bosses want to be liked by everyone, so they are reluctant to give negative opinions about anyone or any issue. But if your leadership style is to try to please everyone - then over time everyone will start to think of you as more insecure, which naturally leads to less respect for you. If you don't address problems and challenges, your skilled colleagues will begin to suffer from frustration. As a result, the morale of the team will decrease.
7. Isolating Myself
Starting work in a new position is definitely a bit scary. So to run everything properly, we often separate from everyone in the office and keep doing our work with full attention. It is foolish to separate like this. A good boss always keeps employees involved. He is available for everyone. Putting yourself in front of employees for a while will give them the courage and confidence to have you by their side in an emergency.
8. Sniff At Everything
Many people who start working in a new position think that they have to be involved in everything to do their job perfectly. In this way, if you also go to poke your nose in everyone's work, then everyone will think of you as a micro manager. They will get an idea about you that you can't trust your teammates. There is no use trying to please you, as a result their work effectiveness will also decrease. Trust the work of colleagues. Give them a chance to stay engaged. Stand by them, but don't hinder their freedom. Because the basic idea of leadership is to get the work done by distributing the responsibilities properly among everyone.
9. Inability To Motivate Others
First you need to know what things easily motivate your colleagues. By fully understanding who is driven more, what excites them, you can get others to do things they never thought possible.
10. Not Appreciating The Work Of Others
Constantly taking stock of their own success, many leaders forget to recognize the contributions of others. Don't just focus on the results. This leads to the risk of overlooking the efforts, talents and work of others. If you only look at the results of a task in terms of negatives and positives, your team's productivity and creativity will decrease. Your colleagues will maintain a safe distance from the rest of the work by only doing their own duties.
