Many companies promote managers based on merit or their professional achievements—not for their management skills. What’s most unfortunate is though these people want to do good by their team, they lack effective leadership skills.

Sometimes, especially in small businesses, employees get promoted and are assigned their new team immediately the next day.

The few managers who get trained don’t know much about motivating employees or overcoming communication barriers. Why?

Because they were trained using old management techniques, based on manuals probably written in the 80’s.

Honestly, when was your company’s training manual last overhauled?

I’ve worked with many businesses, big and small. Time and again, I’ll see newly promoted managers barely getting by.

Below are some of the mistakes I’ve seen new and even experienced managers commit.

Dumb Moves No Effective Manager Should Commit

Make Rules that Punish Everyone

You’ll always have a few problem employees. Late comers and whiners are a normal part of any team.

Here’s a common rookie mistake: make up rules to curb bad behavior and implement it on the whole team. Unfortunately, these rules will make the good ones feel restricted, de-motivated even, as if they weren’t allowed some leniency, especially if they slip up just once.

If you think reprimanding the whole team is a good way for motivating employees to do better, think again. You’ll end up alienating the productive ones, too. What’s more, they’ll resent you for labeling them as one of the underperformers.

Address underperformers one by one, instead.  This way, underperformers won’t have the protection of the crowd. By removing the communication barriers, they’ll learn how to accept criticism and improve their behavior.

Passing Blame

New managers, when the going gets tough, are often tempted to pass the blame on their team. Bob was on sick leave, Jane was busy with another project, and other excuses subtly pass the blame to someone else without addressing the team’s lack of effective leadership.

Since you’re the boss, it’s your job to get done correctly and on time. When that doesn’t happen, it’s your fault.

Accept the blame with dignity and do what you can to prevent further screw ups. Find out different ways of motivating employees, and identify different communication barriers that may prevent you from working effectively as a team.

Don’t blame your team when you’re talking to upper management. Because that just makes you look incompetent.

Your team will find out soon enough. And when they find out, they will no longer trust you.

Making Bad News or Unpopular Decisions Sound Even Worse

A crucial, but often neglected part of motivating employees is learning how to deliver bad news.

Examples of bad news and unpopular decisions include: a sudden change in rest days, budget cuts, layoffs, relocation, and tedious new procedures.

Now some managers deliver news as if they’re making a regular announcement—without preamble, preparation or enough information on hand. Delivering news this way always results in poor audience reception.

A better way to do this is to remove all communication barriers to ensure everyone understands the decision and the reason behind it. Do the following:

• Review the decision or news to be announced: What, Why, When, Where, Who
• Prepare a list of possible questions that might be asked and the answers to them
• Call a team meeting
• Make the announcement
• Give employees ample time to process what you said. Don’t just dismiss the meeting and ask everyone to go back to work
• Welcome questions from your team and answer them as patiently as you can. Don’t just say, “because I said so”

When someone asks a question you don’t know the answer to, don’t be tempted to make stuff up. Instead, admit that you don’t know and promise that you’ll find out. You don’t want to promise something in the hopes of motivating employees, only to retract it later.

© 2015 Incedo Group, LLC