Leadership 101 – 5 Mistakes Leaders Make

Hi everybody! It’s me, Kelly – the other half of Sage!  I’m pretty pumped to begin contributing more to our blog and shedding some light on one of my personal favorite biz topics, Human Resources.  Prior to joining the wedding industry, my career was in Human Resources – so over the next couple of months I’ll be popping in to share my HR expertise with you.  Michelle and I have both seen first-hand how many small businesses struggle with understanding the ins and outs of dealing with the “People” side of business.  We believe there is a huge need to educate small businesses on how to manage the people related functions of their company – from hiring employees to dealing with difficult employee relations issues.  Most of us are in the creative field so haven’t been exposed to learning much about HR.  That’s where I come in!

So first things first - a bit about my background so you know where my experience comes from.  In 1999, I majored in Business with a focus on Human Resources and Marketing from University of Washington.  Between ’99-’07 I worked in Human Resource departments of a variety of different industries – banking, internet security, consulting, and retail.  My last gig in the corporate world was in Starbucks in Seattle.  I was Director of Human Resources for Supply Chain Manufacturing, so I also have leadership experience in personally managing teams and overseeing an HR team for a Fortune 500 company.  Today and tomorrow I’m going to be putting my HR hat back on and helping to provide some insightful information about leadership and managing employees.  Today we’re going to be focusing on the 5 Mistakes Leaders Make and tomorrow I’ll share my recommendations for 5 Things to Focus on as a Leader. Whether you have employees now, or you might in the future hopefully this is helpful info to consider as your people are critical to the success and sustainability of your company!

Here are the five common mistakes that I witnessed leaders/managers make ALL the time:

5 Mistakes Leaders Make

1. They manage instead of leading – the most common mistake I see new or seasoned managers make is to micro-manage instead of lead a team.  Usually this is because the manager has a lack of trust with their employees, is afraid of delegating, or is a perfectionist so would prefer to be involved in the weeds to make sure the I’s are dotted all the time…and ultimately it is de-motivating to employees of micromanagers because they aren’t free to use their talents and strengths, and instead are bound by their manager’s “rules” and constant check-ins.
2. They’re unapproachable or intimidating – I saw so many managers in the corporate world hide behind closed doors in their office, unavailable because of the 812 meetings they had each week, and quite frankly just not interested in engaging with their team.  Tragic!  As a leader it’s imperative to be approachable, invest in your employees and give them the time they need in order to do their job.
3. Don’t set aside time to mentor/coach – yes, a manager’s job is to be more strategic than their team so they can lead the way, direct their workload, etc…however, their role whether they like it or not is to develop each employee and ensure they have positive job satisfaction.  So often managers “don’t have time” to groom, mentor, and train their employees and they end up losing them to someone else because the employee didn’t feel invested with their manager, and inevitably the company.  Studies time and time again prove that the #1 reason employees leave their job is because of their manager.
4. They lose sight of where they’ve come from (ie – power trip) – Usually if you’re managing someone else, you’ve been in the shoes of an employee – you’ve swept the floors somewhere, you’ve filed piles of paperwork, you’ve done the grunt work.  Now that you’re in a management position it’s easy to just delegate that out to your team without having to do the “dirty work”.  Once in a while, I would challenge every manager to “get dirty” with their team – to show them that you’re no better than them and you respect what they do, but also to remember what it was like to be in their shoes.  I also never ask someone to do something that I wouldn’t do myself.  No power trips necessary as a manager – we’re a team and managers should do whatever it takes to help their employees, whatever it may be that they need help with.
5. They don’t challenge their employees enough – When I was in HR in corporate America I would hear from employees time and time again that they were “bored” with their repetitive work, their managers weren’t giving them any new and exciting/challenging work, etc.  Most people thrive if given a new challenge – managers need to set aside time to delegate projects that their employees can either help them with, or take on and lead themselves.

If you manage any employees, what kind of manager are you?  Do you manage, or do you lead? If you’re an employee, what kind of manager do you prefer? Be sure to check back tomorrow to learn the 5 Things to Focus on as a Leader…