Do you find that your team is not responsive enough to you? Do they seem to be doing work halfheartedly and do not seem to respect you?
Well in case you have even 2 out of these 5 qualities you are an ineffective manager. In case you have all 5 –Congratulations you are the winner of the “Worst boss of the year award”!!!
Read on to find the qualities(You have a manager with these qualities? Join the club, my friend…)
1. You Don’t delegate– If you believe in doing everything by yourself because you feel that your team is incompetent of doing even the simplest tasks -you can’t delegate. This only means that you have trust issues with your team and can’t let go. This will not only lead to your team getting lazy it will also burn you out!
Way out-Try delegating the simplest tasks first, as you develop trust, try to delegate a complex task to your best team members, slowly you will learn to let go.
2. You can’t project-This means you can neither project yourself nor your team. Doing work is one thing, projecting is another. Not every hard worker is a smart worker. A hard worker will continue to slog without anyone noticing. A smart worker will concentrate on both — working and also showing it to the right people using the right mediums.
Way out-You can take a leaf out of the book of your counterparts who are good at showcasing their work. However, you will need to modify those ways as per your own work situations!
3. You don’t get your hands dirty-An ineffective manager doesn’t know the work that his team actually does. He/she is only good at passing orders and has no core knowledge on the subject. A manager who can’t prove his worth by performing the task at hand better than his/her team members will never succeed in gaining everyone’s respect.
To quote GOT here “The one who passes the sentence must swing the sword”.
Image source-Google
Way out-Try to win your teams respect by offering to contribute in tasks even without being asked (yes its that simple!).
4. You are thankless– The most frustrating quality of an ineffective manager is when he/she cant appreciate to save his / her life! Appreciating someone doesn’t take too much effort or time but it makes someone’s day. A hard-working team member will stop going the extra mile in case there is no acknowledgement of good work.
Way out-Thank your team for tasks accomplished successfully.Appreciate those who deserve it. Saying Thank you don’t cost money but adds a lot to your value!
5. You don’t talk-Many managers do not give any feedback whether good/bad. That confuses people. The team doesn’t know if they are moving in the right direction or the wrong one. This leads to a guessing game which has a 50–50 % chance of going right or backfiring completely.
Way out– Give continuous feedback to your team, be it through monthly one to one meetings or through group meetings to discuss on the teams progress.
Closing Word
A supervisor is almost always disliked for one or more reasons. However, the most important thing one can earn as a manager is “Respect”.If your team respects you, they will go the extra mile for you without you even asking. Being ineffective is easy, its being effective that takes effort -it’s difficult however not completely unachievable.