Seven Deadly Sins!

Managers are committing the following seven deadly sins as we speak! Don’t be one of them!

  1. They are focusing on the task more than the people. Workloads are such that a lot of managers focus on getting the work done at the expense of developing their teams. "I'd love to coach more but I don't have the time" - this is a common phrase I hear from many managers. A balance needs to be struck between managing the process and leading their teams.
  1. They are "telling" rather than coaching. Because so many managers are strapped for time they do not take the time to invest in coaching their teams. Instead, the easy thing to do is to just tell someone what to do rather than "coach" some alternatives from the staff member. This is the right thing to do at times but it does not do the manager or the company any favours in the long run.
  1. They see themselves as managers rather than leaders. Some managers do not understand what their role actually is and could do with stepping back and taking a look. Do they know what the difference between a manager and a leader is? They need to know this and do both roles and more importantly, know when to do them.
  1. They are not flexible in their approach to how they communicate to different types of people. Your managers are treating everyone the same with regards to how they communicate with them and fail to take into consideration any of the following when communicating to others: - Their preferred learning styles - Their view of the world - Do they like detail or big picture? - What motivates them? - Their values - Their beliefs - Do they think in pictures, sounds or feelings? - Would they prefer a diagram or for you to tell them what to do? - Their experience and ambitions - the list goes on...
  1. They are working harder not smarter. They are chasing their tails to get work done and this has a knock on effect. They do not know how to prioritize workloads and know the difference between urgent and important tasks hence everything gets classed as the same!
  1. They are not using their own team and other people enough to help them with their workloads. They do not delegate their workloads to other people. They do not realize that there are 7 ways of delegating workloads, it's not just "Do this for me please". They are 6 other ways of getting things done through others. They do not know how to say "No" and feel uncomfortable saying this so they take on more and more work. They do not know how to handle a demanding boss for fear of looking bad in their eyes.
  1. They are not managing performance effectively. They do not face issues when they happen and when they do face issues they do not have the communication tools, techniques and strategies to deal with them effectively.

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