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Transcript of How to Avoid the Most Common Mistakes New Managers … · How to Avoid the Most Common Mistakes New...
How to Avoid the Most Common Mistakes New Managers Make
Glossary Page 1
Term Definition Introduced in:
Autonomy Practice of managing oneself Module 1
Documentation The act or product of recording official information or evidence as part of a recordModule 3
Performance Improvement Practice of changing a certain policy or procedure in order to improve performance Module 3
Subordinate An individual in a lower position Module 1
SWOT Analysis A planning method (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) used in business Module 3
TEN COMMON MISTAKES - ANM121220 – Module 1 Page 1
TEN COMMON MISTAKES
MODULE ONE – KNOW YOUR JOB
Module One – Know Your Job. As we said, you are most likely really good at
your old job. So what happens? You get promoted, and now you have to go
from being a pro to being the new kid. You might think that you’d know a lot
about being the boss. You for sure know a lot about what you didn’t like about
some of the bosses that you’ve had in the past. But until you’ve had a little
experience and seen the kind of problems that come up that are now your
problems, and the kind of decisions that people are looking to you to make,
you’re not seeing the whole picture. So my first piece of advice for you is to
know what your job is and what you’re responsible for and what you’re not.
Mistake number one is trying to do it all. Most managers think that they have to
do everything. But your job now is to plan and organize the work that your staff
does, and to motivate your employees through leadership. If you do everything
yourself, why would you need a staff? Mistake number two is not learning how to
make changes. Now you don’t want to change everything, but you don’t want to
change nothing, either. You need to take time to know the processes and the
procedures, the rules and the policies before you change anything. There’s no
need to reinvent the wheel. See what works and what doesn’t before you start
making changes. I once had a new boss whose first words to the staff was,
“Forget everything you know. I’m changing everything.” Well lucky for us that
guy didn’t last very long. Mistake number three is thinking that you know
TEN COMMON MISTAKES - ANM121220 – Module 1 Page 2
everything. We talked about this one a little bit already. Don’t act like you know
everything. If you listen to people and ask questions, you might learn something.
Keep an open mind. You don’t have to take every piece of advice that people
give you, but be open to it. And don’t think that you’re going to impress your
boss by acting like you don’t need any help. Remember that any job – just like
the one you had before you got promoted – is to help your boss get the job done
and reach goals. So be sure that you budget time to meet with your boss and
both give information and get guidance and mentoring. Mistake number four is
believing that your job is about control. You need to learn to be a leader and not
a commander. The most miserable excuse for a boss that I ever had to work
with – not for, thank goodness – was a prime example of this mistake. This
woman thought that the only way to get people to work was to threaten them.
Her favorite expression was, “I’ll hold their feet to the fire.” And she had more
staff turnover than any other department in our organization. If you’re a leader
and a motivator, you can move mountains with your team. If you try to manage
by control and instilling fear, your team will do just enough to keep their feet out
of the hottest part of the fire and no more. Mistake number five is not learning
discretion. You need to know what you have to keep to yourself. If I have a
trademark with my employees, it’s communication. I try to keep them as
informed as possible, and a lot of times, my team is pretty smug about hearing
information before their peers in the other departments. But there’s always a line
that managers can’t cross when communicating with employees. A really fast
way to get yourself in trouble is to let your employees – especially if the
TEN COMMON MISTAKES - ANM121220 – Module 1 Page 3
employee’s also a friend – let them know information that was not supposed to
cross that manager/employee line. Mistake number six is not checking the facts.
Don’t let one employee use you as a weapon against another. This is going to
happen at some point in time. Some employee will try to use you and your
authority to win a dispute with another employee. I have had one employee
come into my office and tell me about the terrible things that another employee
had done, and then that next employee would come into my office and complain
about the first one. They had a running feud that lasted until one of them retired.
So the thing to remember is to not take action based on any one employee’s
complaint without checking the facts. Mistake number seven is not learning how
to hire and how to fire. Managers tend to hire too fast and fire too slow. Hiring
the right people is something that experienced managers wished that there was a
magic formula for. It’s hard. But you should learn to do whatever you can to
research your candidates and find people who will be good for the job, and also
people whose personalities are a good fit for the team. On the other side of the
coin, when an employee’s not working out, don’t wait too long before you take
the right action, whether it’s putting that employee on performance improvement
plan or other steps, or even termination. Now I know that this is one of the least
favorite management responsibilities. But I’m telling you right now, it gets worse
the longer that you let it go on. Mistake number eight is misjudging your
authority. You need to give up the myth of authority and learn how to negotiate.
And you need to earn your subordinate’s respect and trust. You probably had
quite a bit of independence and autonomy in your old job because you were a
TEN COMMON MISTAKES - ANM121220 – Module 1 Page 4
star performer. But now you’re the new guy, and not only with bosses and peers,
but with employees. You might also think that your new title gives you all the
authority that you need. But the truth is that the more talented and experienced
the employee, the less likely they are to blindly follow your direct orders. They
ask questions and they debate the need to do what you want. Over time, good
managers know that they have to earn their employee’s respect and trust in order
to have the authority that comes with the job. Mistake number nine is failing to
take responsibility. Bad managers blame the problems on their employees.
When you’re the manager, you’re responsible for what your employees do right
and for what your employees do wrong. You should take your advice from Harry
Truman and say the buck stops here. The responsibility is yours. Whenever one
of my employees makes a mistake, my first concern is to get it fixed. And I
always want to report to my boss we had a problem, but now it’s fixed. But
whenever he asks me who made the mistake, I always say it’s on me. You
should never throw your employees under the bus. Now that does not mean that
you don’t need to take action if your employees are doing things they shouldn’t
do. But it’s internal to your department and it’s not the business of other
departments. Mistake number ten is not taking the time to learn. Failure to learn
the value of training for yourself and your employees is a costly mistake. People
who are up to date on the newest technologies are more productive. They feel
more confident and they do a better job. Even if your budget is limited, you can
have employee training sessions where your key people, more experienced
TEN COMMON MISTAKES - ANM121220 – Module 1 Page 5
people, can share tips and ideas with the less experienced employees. Training
always pays for itself over time.
[End of recording.]
TEN COMMON MISTAKES - ANM121220 – Module 2 Page 1
TEN COMMON MISTAKES MODULE TWO – FOCUS ON THE RIGHT THINGS
Module Two – Focus on the Right Things. You know that there are many moving
parts to management. This next set of mistakes concern learning what it is that
you need to focus on. Mistake number 11, not seeing the big picture. You
should know your organization’s mission and goals, and you should know how
your job contributes. I have seen this a lot. People concentrate on what they do
and they’re so focused on the “what” that they have no idea of the “why.” I
worked for many years in a software development organization. And there are
hundreds of pieces to the puzzle that all have to come together in order to get a
software release out the door. I’ve always been surprised and disappointed that
so many people involved in that process couldn’t tell you how what they did all
day contributed to the organization’s mission – or even what the organization’s
mission was. It’s a great incentive to know that what you do is important
contribution to your organization. Mistake number 12 is punishing the
messenger. You should leave your door open. Other than the times that you
have to shut your door to conduct some sensitive business, you should
encourage a sense of connection to your staff, and don’t punish the messenger.
If you present yourself as a boss that only wants to hear good news, you’re going
to set yourself up for unpleasant surprises down the road when problems
become critical. Let your staff know that they can come to you with problems or
potential problems, and with suggestions on how to improve the processes in
your division. Don’t let them dump the problems on your lap and leave. You can
TEN COMMON MISTAKES - ANM121220 – Module 2 Page 2
help them figure out a solution, but don’t just take the problem over for yourself.
Mistake number 13, fixing the blame – not the problem. It is a much better use of
your time to figure out how to fix a problem rather than how to figure out who to
blame. I’ve been in meetings where people involved spent all their energy
pointing fingers instead of fixing problems, and I’m glad to say that whenever
people on my staff are involved in those kind of meetings, they come back and
report to me, appalled at the behavior of the people from other departments and
their failure to focus on the important thing, which is fixing the problem. My staff
members know and take pride in the idea that we just don’t do that. We see our
job as problem fixers. Now I understand that you might need to track down a
cause of a problem in order to fix the process that allowed that problem to
happen. However, if you foster an attitude of okay, this is where we are. Now
what can we do to fix this? Then people won’t try to hide the cause of a problem
for fear that they’re going to get in trouble. Mistake number 14 is not
acknowledging mistakes. This mistake kind of goes along with not focusing on
blame. When you make a mistake, you should admit it. You should say, “Here’s
what happened. I’m accountable for this. And I’m sharing this with you so that
we can all learn from my mistakes.” When you say these things in a sincere tone
of voice, you come across as a strong leader. And you encourage your staff to
know that they can admit to mistakes instead of making excuses. Mistake
number 15, ignoring HR rules. This is big. I don’t know how many managers
that I’ve seen that don’t know employee laws and rules. How could you manage
employees if you don’t know employee rights? If you have an HR department,
TEN COMMON MISTAKES - ANM121220 – Module 2 Page 3
you should work with them. But don’t just turn over your employee management
responsibilities to HR. You need to be educated and know what your rights are
as a manager, and what your employee’s rights are as well. Not knowing HR
rules and employee laws puts not just your company, but you personally at risk
for legal action. Mistake 16, cultivating adversarial relationships. If you work in
an organization with several departments, there are very likely rivalries between
departments. You need to do your job in order for the next step in the process to
do theirs. Or you have to wait on another department that’s hogging up all the
time on the schedule and not giving you enough time to meet your deadline.
This happens everywhere. But as satisfying as it might seem to gripe about the
other departments and maybe do something with a well-let’s-see-how-they-like-it
attitude, it is never productive, and it’s always – yes, it’s always better to foster a
sense of cooperation with other departments and with other people. Mistake 17,
making snap decisions. Don’t base critical decisions on incomplete or inaccurate
information. As a manager, you have to make decisions all the time – many
kinds of decisions. From the outside, it might look like you’re making snap
decisions. But even if you’re giving a quick answer, you should always have
based that decision on the best information that you have available. For really
important decisions, you should learn a decision-making technique and go
through a logical process to make the best decisions that you can with all of the
information available. Mistake 18, focusing on privileges. As a manager, there
are perks that you have that come with the job that your employees won’t have.
But it’s a mistake to rub those in right away. Now I’m not saying that you
TEN COMMON MISTAKES - ANM121220 – Module 2 Page 4
shouldn’t take advantage of the perks. Just remember what it would have felt
like when you were on the other side of the equation. So don’t act in any way
that you would have resented from a boss when you were the worker. Mistake
19, taking all the credit. A good manager takes the blame and shares the credit.
I can’t emphasize that enough. Your performance will be assessed based on the
accomplishments of your staff. So for example, if your boss asks you for a list of
your accomplishments for the year, you should absolutely list all the
accomplishments of your folks. But that’s the only place that that’s appropriate.
You should take every opportunity to give credit to your staff or to individuals
often and in public. If you have an employee recognition program, take the time
to write your best performers up for awards. Mistakes that become visible
outside of your department are on you. You are responsible for the work, and for
the mistakes that your staff makes. Mistake number 20, failure to seek help.
Don’t be afraid to ask for advice. Just like we talked about when we talked about
not being a know-it-all, don’t be afraid to ask for advice. Your boss certainly
should be the first place to go for advice, but your peers are often glad to help the
new guy with problems that they have had in their management careers and help
you avoid those same problems. So don’t be afraid to go to them for advice.
[End of recording.]
TEN COMMON MISTAKES - ANM121220 – Module 3 Page 1
TEN COMMON MISTAKES MODULE THREE – KNOW YOUR EMPLOYEES
Module Three – Know Your Employees. Mistake 21, failing to see employees as
individual. You might have some training in management techniques, but it’s
important to remember that those techniques don’t work the same way with every
one of your employees. You need to remember that each of your employees is
different with different personality types, and different work styles. I would advise
you to learn about personality types and situational leadership techniques to help
you see your employees as individuals. And I’m going to ask you to write that
down, because I believe in this very strongly. Write down “learn about
personality types and situational leadership techniques.” Mistake 22 is showing
favoritism. Chances are your first management position is in the same group that
you worked for as a technician. And your friends are your friends. But you need
to treat every one of your employees equally and not show favoritism to any of
them. It only breeds resentment towards you and towards your favorite. And
remember the management/employee line for communication. It’s especially
important that your employees don’t think that you’re giving inside information to
some of your employees and keeping it from others. Mistake 23, being too
fearful of being disliked. Everyone wants to be liked. And that’s normal. But
every manager finds out sooner or later that someone sometime isn’t going to
like you. And it’s a waste of your time and energy to focus so much on being
liked that you can’t get your work done. People are going to like you, or they’re
not. You should concentrate on being fair and treating all your employees
equally. If you can do that, then you’ve done all you can. Mistake 24, not setting
TEN COMMON MISTAKES - ANM121220 – Module 3 Page 2
clear goals and expectations. This one is big. I encourage everybody to write
this one down. Make a note. Your employees need to know what you expect
them to do and what constitutes success in your evaluation. Now that sounds
really simple. But it is one of the mistakes that I’ve seen the most often.
Managers a lot of times seem to think that their employees should know what’s
excepted when the manager’s view of success is often “I’ll know it when I see it.”
You owe it to your employees to let them know what you expect. Mistake 25,
ignoring employee problems. Employee problems are not going to get better
until you take some kind of action. If you have a problem employee, then you
need to take steps to solve the problem. Whether that’s performance
improvement or discipline, you need to be prepared to have those tough
conversations and work towards solutions. Putting it off only makes it worse.
Mistake 26, not making time for employees. You have a lot of paperwork. You
have a lot of meetings. You have to develop a budget. You have to analyze
spreadsheets and you have to write reports. But your job is to get a team of
people to work together to accomplish specific goals. And you can’t do that
without making time for your people. You should be friendly and approachable,
take the time to chat, and when you do have a meeting with an employee, make
sure that you show them that the meeting is the most important thing that you
have on your schedule. Forward your telephone calls and make sure that you
don’t look at your popup announcements on your computer. And if someone
else comes into your office, let them know that you’re in an important meeting
and that you’ll speak to them later. When you’re talking to one of your
TEN COMMON MISTAKES - ANM121220 – Module 3 Page 3
employees, that’s the most important thing that you’re doing. Mistake 27, failing
to trust your employees. I’ve seen this many, many times. Years ago, I had a
boss that had an office with glass windows that had venetian blinds. And he
would leave at the time that he was supposed to leave, and then a lot of times,
he would sneak back in the office through a back door, and then he would peek
through those venetian blinds to make sure that the other employees who had
later schedules were sitting at their desks like they were supposed to. Of course
everybody knew it. And nobody was going to leave before it was time to leave
anyway. But he didn’t trust anybody. Now you might say that you want your
employees to earn your trust. Now my advice is to take the opposite approach.
Every employee is worthy of your trust until proven otherwise. Now I’m not
saying that you won’t get the occasional employee who will take advantage of
your trust. But there are processes for dealing with employees who do things
that they shouldn’t or not do things that they should. Mistake 28 is failing to
consider employee input. You shouldn’t ask employees for their opinions, ideas,
improvement suggestions, and then ignore them. Obviously you’re not going to
implement every single idea that you get. And you’re not going to make every
improvement idea suggestion that comes your way. But if you’re not going to
take them into consideration at all, why are you even asking? Mistake number
29 is not treating all your employees equally. Employees need to feel as though
they receive equal treatment. Now we’ve touched on this before. But at some
point in time, you will have an employee accuse you of unequal treatment. You’ll
give an employee a negative review or a crummy assignment or a disciplinary
TEN COMMON MISTAKES - ANM121220 – Module 3 Page 4
action, and the employee is not going to like it. And the employee will decide that
you’re unfair and treating them unequally. Your best defense against this is to
treat all of your employees equally and fairly and to make sure that you
document your reasons for negative reviews or disciplinary actions, and be
prepared to defend them. Now this is another thing that I want you to write down.
Make sure that you document your reasons for negative reviews and all
disciplinary actions, and be prepared to defend them. That’s very important.
Mistake number 30 is failing to manage your employee’s strengths and
weaknesses. You should know the strengths and weaknesses of your
employees and how you can use those abilities to manage your employees
toward your goals. The SWOT analysis that’s up on your screen is a
management technique – is a powerful management technique – that you can
learn and use to make the best possible use of your employees’ individual
abilities. Remember that we said every employee is individual, and one size
doesn’t fit all. If you learn this technique, you can learn to manage your
employees as individuals. And this is another thing that I encourage you to write
down. Write down SWOT analysis, and find some training that will help you to
manage your employees’ strengths and weaknesses.
[End of recording.]
TEN COMMON MISTAKES - ANM121220- Four Page 1
TEN COMMON MISTAKES MODULE FOUR – LEAD YOUR TEAM Module Four – Lead Your Team. Mistake 31, not making the transition from
employee to manager. I’ve seen a lot of managers who like their old job so much
that they kept on doing it after they were promoted to management. This is a
disaster waiting to happen. If you think of your old job as your real work, and
your management responsibilities as something that’s getting in the way of you
getting your real work done, you will never be an effective manager. Along those
same lines, number 32, failing to delegate. A lot of times people fail to delegate
because they fear a loss of control, or they don’t trust that someone else can do
a job right. And this is probably the most common mistake that I’ve had to deal
with when I promoted my outstanding technicians to management positions.
They were mostly all perfectionists and they figured that for everything to be
perfect, they’d have to do it themselves. Now they tell me they delegated. And
they were delegating day to day routine chores where the processes were solid
and there were not a lot of decisions to make. But if it was anything that was
new or interesting or important, they would do it themselves because they
wanted to make sure it was done right. You have to give your employees
something that they can own. Delegate a function, and not just delegate them to
run errands. Mistake 33, failing to motivate. There are lots of ways to motivate
employees. I encourage you to get training in motivating employees, but
remember that every one of your employees is an individual, and different things
motivate different people. Don’t expect your employees to motivate yourself.
That’s the biggest reason why we have managers is to motivate employees.
TEN COMMON MISTAKES - ANM121220- Four Page 2
Now one thing that managers often fail to do is let their employees in on the big
picture of the company and its goals. Just like it is for you, for your employees,
knowing how they fit into that puzzle and how they contribute to the company’s
goals can be very motivating. Mistake 34 is not knowing when to do nothing.
Sometimes the best action is no action. You don’t have to get in the middle of
every petty argument that your employees are having, and it’s not your job to
make sure that the person who’s assigned to clean out the communal refrigerator
does it. If you get into the habit of putting yourself into the middle of those types
of things, you will never get out of it. And it’s best not to start in the first place.
Mistake 35, allowing your actions to eclipse your message. Your employees will
listen to your actions more than they will your words. Now don’t think that your
employees will respond well to do what I say and not what I do. If you’re a
stickler for promptness, then don’t come in late to meetings. If you insist that
your employees have a certain dress code, then don’t have your own personal
casual Thursday. Your employees are going to do the way you do, regardless of
what you tell them to do. Mistake 36 is failing to provide your team with insight.
Now we talked about this when we talked about failing to motivate. Employees
respond to getting the reason why something needs to be done a certain way. I
believe that you should tell your employees everything that’s not firmly on the
other side of the employee/management line. They’ll feel like they’re being
consulted and informed rather than just ordered to do something. And because I
said so is rarely a good reason. Mistake 37, not protecting your people. This
goes along with a good manager shares the credit and takes the blame. We all
TEN COMMON MISTAKES - ANM121220- Four Page 3
know that stuff runs downhill. But you can act like a kind of umbrella to keep the
stuff from falling on your employees and let them get their work done. You
should make it clear to your folks that when it comes to blame, it’s on me. The
loyalty that that will engender will pay for any rough time that you might get from
protecting your people. And again, that doesn’t mean that you don’t take care of
issues with your own employees within your department. You just make sure
that you protect them from anything outside of your department. Mistake number
38 is holding too many unproductive meetings. Okay, you’ve got to have
meetings. But you should learn how to make meetings productive. If there’s no
reason for the meeting, why are you having it? If you’re not accomplishing
anything, again, why have the meeting? Meeting management is a skill that can
be learned. And it’s a good idea for you to get some training in meeting
management. It really does work to help you make your meetings more
productive. Mistake 39, failing to recognize and reward your employees’
accomplishments. Your employees deserve recognition. And that recognition
should be in public. Now one of my supervisors thought that he was the best
supervisor in the world. But he also thought that writing up awards and showing
recognition was his very lowest priority. He was positive that he had the best
team in the organization. And I had to tell him that his team was the only team in
the organization that not one member had gotten any recognition during the year.
I ended up having to give him a direct order to write up his employees and
recognize their good performance. Don’t let that be you. Mistake number 40 is
not giving constructive employee performance evaluation. Another thing that you
TEN COMMON MISTAKES - ANM121220- Four Page 4
owe your employees is feedback on their performance. Now a lot of managers
dread employee evaluations to the point that they don’t do them at all. Your
employees deserve to know how you think they’re doing, and if you think that
they need improvement. They deserve to know that, too. You should give
continuous feedback so that when you do sit down for your employee’s official
evaluation that there are no surprises. Your employee cannot read your mind. If
you don’t give effective feedback, how can they do what you want them to do?
Now you can get training in giving effective performance appraisals and
feedback, and I encourage you to do that.
[End of recording.]
TEN COMMON MISTAKES - ANM121220 – Module Five Page 1
TEN COMMON MISTAKES MODULE FIVE – MANAGE YOURSELF Module Five – Manage Yourself. Mistake 41, becoming too authoritarian. Some
managers get too caught up in the boss business, and they think that their job is
to lay down the law and that they have the final authority on everything. And they
think that they are the authority on everything. Your employees are not going to
lose respect for you if they find out that there’s something that you don’t know. A
manager should learn and grow by listening and observing others. You should
improve yourself with reading and training, and not feel that you have to have all
the answers every time. Mistake 42 is forgetting to have fun. Yes, work is
serious business. We have a mission to complete, and we have goals to
accomplish. But it helps to break up the monotony and have some fun once in a
while. You should use your judgment on what kind of things would be
appropriate for your workplace. But just remember to have some fun. Mistake
43, avoiding difficult conversations. You should learn how to have difficult
conversations that every manager needs to have – the negative performance
review, the offensive personal hygiene conversation, and the disciplinary actions.
There are good techniques and tips that you can use to get through these types
of conversations without losing your cool. I encourage you to get some training
in having those difficult conversations that will help you when the time comes,
because I can tell you right now the time will come for you to have difficult
conversations. Mistake 44, solving someone else’s problems. Just because
there’s a problem to be solved does not make it your job to solve it. I know – you
want to be helpful. I know you like the thrill of finding a solution to a problem.
TEN COMMON MISTAKES - ANM121220 – Module Five Page 2
But don’t let your employees dump their problems in your lap, and then have you
fix the problem. You can certainly give guidance and support and direction. But
employees need to be able to depend on themselves and not always depend on
you to solve their problems. Mistake 45, bringing your personal problems into
the workplace. My advice is to leave your personal problems at the door. Now I
know that a lot of times, that’s a lot easier said than it is done. But when you’re
at work, you should focus on work. And sometimes focusing on the work actually
helps you get your mind off of what’s troubling you at home. My favorite boss
that I ever had gave me that advice, and at first I thought that he was being kind
of callous, just saying, “Forget your personal problems once you’ve reached
work.” But then I remembered he also went on to tell me that his wife had had a
serious longtime illness before she passed away. And the only thing that saved
him was to be able to go into work and concentrate on the work so that he didn’t
have to think about his personal problems for that time that he was at work. So if
you look at it that way, going to work and focusing on your job is an opportunity
for you to forget your personal problems for a little while. Mistake 46 is providing
feedback in public. You should never give negative feedback to an employee in
front of anyone else. Positive feedback, recognition – always in public. Negative
feedback should always be given in a private place, in a calm way, no raised
voices or threatening body language should ever be used. I’ve seen many, many
managers forget these rules and let their emotions get in the way and yell or
berate at one of their employees in public. It’s embarrassing for the employee,
and their manager can lose a lot of credibility and not just from their employees,
TEN COMMON MISTAKES - ANM121220 – Module Five Page 3
but from anybody else that hears them doing what they’re doing. Mistake 47 is
not valuing people skills. A lot of managers – especially in the environment that I
was in in software development, think that training should only be technical
training. Forget all that touchy-feely training that people go to just to waste time
and the company’s money. These same managers usually have such poor
people skills that they’re the ones who need the training the most. But they
probably wouldn’t listen if they went. A good manager has good people skills.
And don’t undervalue those skills. You should get training for you and your
employees in people skills. Mistake 48 is not taking time for yourself. You need
to make sure that you take some time for yourself, especially when you’re new to
management. It seems like there’s a never-ending mountain of work to be done.
But if you don’t take some time for yourself, you likely won’t be there to finish it.
Try to balance your work and your home life so that you can give each side your
best. Mistake 49, not recognizing and dealing with stress. If you do get
stressed, there are techniques to help you manage it. Stress management
techniques can be learned, and I encourage every manager to learn them. You
have a stressful job. But you don’t have to let the stressors get the better of you.
You can learn to deal with stress and learn techniques to help you when you feel
overcome with too much to do and no time to do it. I’m going to give you one of
my simple, simple techniques for dealing with stress that I use that helps me a
lot. It only takes about 30 seconds, so you can do this just about any time or
anywhere. What you do is you close your eyes and you take a deep breath and
let yourself relax. Relax every muscle. And then think of something that makes
TEN COMMON MISTAKES - ANM121220 – Module Five Page 4
you happy. It could be a place, or it could be a person, or it could be a time – an
event in your life that happened in the past, or something that you’re looking
forward to in the future. My personal vision that I look at is my grandson. And
every time I do this, I use this technique just thinking about my grandson and
relaxing makes that stress go away, even if for just a little while. Mistake number
50, failing to see the rewards. When you were a technician, the rewards of your
job were in your individual achievements. Now that you’re a manager, your
reward is to see that you’ve motivated and influenced your team members to
accomplish what they have accomplished on their own. If you’re still focused on
individual achievements, you’re never going to get the sense of satisfaction that
comes from a management job well done. You need to learn that one of your
employees gets a reward, or when your team accomplished the company’s goals
that you had a big part of that success. Without your leadership and motivation,
your team’s accomplishments wouldn’t have been possible. And it’s a really
great feeling. I am so proud of my teams and their accomplishments – more than
I can possibly say. I’ve never felt as proud of a personal accomplishment than I
have in seeing my employees work together with a common purpose and
accomplish goals that other people said that we couldn’t do, and we showed
them that we could.
[End of recording.]