Rating Qualities

8
Engaging
Inspiring
Concrete Examples

How Not to Manage People

The Leadership Mistakes Keeping Your Team from Greatness
Mike Wicks | HarperCollins Leadership © 2020

You can learn a lot from bad managers, as Mike Wicks shows with these instructive stories of
managerial mistakes.He reveals that bad management practices are alarmingly common and
shows how they harm organizations and employees. From sending catastrophic emails to
withholding information or making hurtful assumptions, Wicks shows you what not to do if
you want to be a better manager. His accessible, conversational and motivational guidebook
will inspire readers to become more effective and empathetic leaders who empower others and
build relationships grounded in trust.

Take-Aways
• Good managers prioritize team success over self-serving pursuits.
• Motivate and empower your team by sharing information and building trust.
• Bad managers engage in counterproductive, harmful interpersonal behaviors.
• Assess your communication style and make sure you’re listening.
• Rid yourself of the common communication mistakes that undermine effective leadership.
• Sloppy managers send unprofessional emails and texts.
• Good managers don’t let fear undermine their ability to lead.
• Substandard leaders don’t hold themselves or others accountable.

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 Summary

Good managers prioritize team success over self-serving pursuits.

Good managers share a few traits: They’re fair, accountable, adaptable and empathetic. They
have integrity. They’re strong communicators who turn mistakes into learning opportunities and
empower those they lead.

Unfortunately, bad management is quite common. More than half of the workers who responded
to a 2019 survey by Mental Health America reported a lack of motivation at work. Only about half
reported receiving sufficient direction from their managers to do their jobs effectively. Good
managers offer guidance and help people feel confident about their work, but research suggests
that many managers fail in this regard: 80% of the survey respondents felt strongly that their
corporate culture eroded their confidence in their job performance.

“Poor, bad and downright horrendous management is alive and well and living in your
town, probably in your company.”

Study the mistakes of bad managers so you can avoid them. One of the worst mistakes bad
managers make is putting their ego-driven wishes above the needs of their team. To be an awful
manager, do the following: Forget humility; don’t bother learning people’s names; ignore negative
feedback as you force your agenda forward; and fixate on your own success and status. Display
your awards prominently and remind people of how fortunate they are to have you as their leader.

However, to manage your team well, shift your perspective and focus on your team members’
success. If your team reaches its goals under your management, give people credit when it’s due
and empower everyone you manage. That’s the way to help your organization succeed as you excel
in your career.

Motivate and empower your team by sharing information and building trust.

Bad managers engage in controlling behaviors and don’t empower their team members. For
example, bad managers withhold information from their team so they can maintain control
over a project, whereas good managers share as much information as they can to support their
teams. Bad managers don’t listen to input. This is illogical behavior, because you gain a lot when
you pay attention to your colleagues’ diverse perspectives and ideas. When you listen to your
team members’ ideas and feedback, you demonstrate that you value and respect them. This
helps motivate them, engenders loyalty and prompts them to improve their performance.

“Empowerment is a gift to some managers and a curse to others. In the right hands,
however, it can offer huge benefits.”

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 Empower your team members to make decisions and take ownership of their positions. Bad
managers micromanage team members because they find it difficult to trust them to do their
jobs. Provide your team members with the guidance, training and resources they need to earn
your trust. Build more trusting relationships by having conversations with individual team
members about your common goals. Mistakes will inevitably occur, so learn to deal with them
productively. Ineffective managers search for people to blame; effective managers focus on finding
solutions to challenging situations.

Bad managers engage in counterproductive, harmful interpersonal behaviors.

When interacting with employees, managers often fail by:

• Succumbing to favoritism – It’s natural to like some team members more than others, but
good leaders remain objective about the people they manage.
• Over-valuing loyalty – People can fake loyalty to their higher-ups. Focus on valuing your
staff members’ skills or experience.
• Making examples of employees – If people disappoint you, don’t punish them in front of
your team to teach them and their teammates some kind of lesson. That will make people fear
and dislike you, creating a stressful work environment.
• Engaging in passive-aggressive behavior – When poor managers feel insecure,
uncomfortable or threatened, they demonstrate manipulative, passive-aggressive
behaviors. For example, they may push team members by making them feel guilty. Skilled
managers listen empathetically and have productive, proactive conversations with their staff
members.
• Acting entitled – Bad managers act as if their selfish desires matter more than the people
they lead. They treat others as their servants and give subordinates unhealthy workloads.
They may behave as though rules don’t apply to them, perhaps recklessly losing control
and indulging in harmful behaviors – such as harassment – without fearing consequences. In
contrast, good managers support others, lead by example and encourage people to embrace a
healthy work-life balance.

Assess your communication style and make sure you’re listening.

You can’t lead people by talking at them without hearing what they have to say; good managers
develop listening skills and appreciate conversations as two-way exchanges. Weak managers often
use meetings as excuses for delivering uninterrupted diatribes; good managers listen as much
– or more – than they speak. Track the time you spend talking in meetings to make sure you’re
not verbally dominating others. Failing to listen to your team may generate a false impression of
reality, because people may stop sharing valuable information. Take notes at meetings yourself
– rather than asking someone to do it for you – to help you pay attention to others and to remind
yourself to ask useful follow-up questions.

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 “Great managers know that there are always opportunities for improvement, and each
day they strive to be better shift leaders, supervisors, middle managers, directors or
CEOs than they were the day before.”

Make sure your subordinates feel they have open lines of communication to you. Assess your
communication style: Do you focus your conversations predominantly on your needs? If
so, demonstrate your support for others by creating space for them to share their concerns
and develop better ways to offer feedback. You may feel tempted to focus on your team members’
faults and to withhold praise, but this won’t inspire people. Focus feedback on how people and
teams are doing well, then share constructive criticism or course corrections.

Rid yourself of the common communication mistakes that undermine effective

leadership.

You’re demonstrating poor management skills if:

• You assume things – Leaping to the wrong assumptions harms your relationships with
clients and staff members. Take time to get all the facts before formulating an opinion.
• You rush to blame others – The quickest way to lose respect and damage your credibility as
a leader is to blame your team members when problems arise. Instead, work to understand the
reality of the situation and seek solutions.
• You’re sarcastic and condescending – These are forms of bullying, which harms
employees’ mental health and decreases their engagement.
• You exclude or avoid people you dislike – Leaders shouldn’t dodge people who make
them uncomfortable, especially if that discomfort arises because someone is different. Create
and appreciate diverse, inclusive teams.
• You don’t make an effort to connect – Don’t wait for people to reach out to you. Don’t
nonverbally discourage people from approaching you. Connect with your team managers
daily; try to talk to each member of your team at least once a week.
• You fail to set or manage expectations – Creating unrealistic expectations for employees
is abusive behavior that leads to burnout among even the most talented people. Make sure that
the workload and quality you expect others to deliver is reasonable.
• You’re vague and indecisive – Don’t weigh the pros and cons of a situation for too
long. Get the facts, and deal with challenges by making decisive and clear decisions.

Sloppy managers send unprofessional emails and texts.

Poor email etiquette can provoke others to see you as a bad manager. Be cautious when you send
work-related emails. Double-check your recipients and share only those things you’re comfortable
with others forwarding to more people.

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 Don’t send informal emails full of colloquialisms or jokes when conducting business. Be
mindful of using emojis. While some workplaces embrace emojis, many people see them as
unprofessional. Read emails carefully before replying. Try to answer every question in a timely
manner, but be sure you’ve absorbed it first.

Texting creates even more room for error because it’s immediate and quick. Make
sure you text the right person. Always re-read your message before you send. Be careful that
auto-correct or auto-spell doesn’t garble the meaning of your message. Avoid unprofessional
comments. Be mindful of your social media presence and engage professionally on platforms you
share with clients and colleagues.

“Email is a wonderful thing, until it isn’t. There are so many ways you can mess up with
emails, it’s surprising that email browsers don’t come with warning labels.”

Resist the temptation to send emails when you’re frustrated or angry. If you feel compelled to
write an email full of unprofessional or offensive language, take some time to cool off. Indulging
in negative emotions only leads to negative consequences. If you must express frustration or
outrage, write the email and don’t send it.

Be mindful of sharing bad news via email as soon as you receive it, since email may not be the
most appropriate forum. Fact-check your information and develop solutions before impulsively
sharing potentially catastrophic information.

Good managers don’t let fear undermine their ability to lead.

Many managers make the following mistakes due to fear:

• They fear teamwork – Managers are often afraid to let employees take risks or solve
problems on their own. These managers fail to delegate. Give your employees opportunities to
learn from their mistakes and to take risks cautiously.
• They fear hiring talented employees – Some managers are wary of hiring people who
might outperform them. Instead, seek and hire smart, talented people who can supplement
your skills.
• They assume their worst fears are true – Bad managers jump to conclusions and assume
the worst about people. Give people credit; extend the benefit of the doubt.
• They fear diversity – You might prefer to hire people who resemble you because you think
they fit your company culture, but hiring skilled people who differ from you will make your
team stronger.

Substandard leaders don’t hold themselves or others accountable.

Good leaders create a culture that values accountability. Poor leaders fail to hold other managers
accountable and ignore employees’ complaints about their boss’s poor conduct. Research indicates

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 that 20% of workers experience workplace bullying, while more than 60% claim their boss causes
them to suffer. Justifying a manager’s behavior when an employee complains may be easier than
confronting the offending party, but good leaders take time to investigate reports of bullying and
misconduct. As a manager, hold yourself accountable for setting a positive example.

“You are always leading by example, whether you like it or not. You need to be the
employee you expect all your staff to be.”

Understand that as workplace norms shift, you must evolve, too. Successful managers of the future
will need to embrace collaboration, since workplaces will become less hierarchical. Managers will
need to be open-minded, to empower those they lead and to build relationships based on trust.

About the Author

Publishing consultant Mike Wicks co-wrote the bestseller Built Not Born: A Self-Made
Billionaire’s No-Nonsense Guide for Entrepreneurs with Tom Golisano.

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