The Seven Deadly Sins
A look at the most common mistakes that new managers make—and how to avoid them.
BY SARAH GILBERT
Often, new managers earn their positions by excelling at something else first. They do their own jobs so well that they get promoted-and suddenly, they have to give up what they were good at and start overseeing other people instead.
"On Friday, they're doing one set of activities, getting evaluated for them, and having their pay put up against them, but on Monday, they're not doing that same stuff anymore," says Mick Sheppeck, the assistant dean of professional and executive development at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. "Now they're in charge of the people who are doing those activities."
It's a very American way of doing business, Sheppeck adds: The people who perform the best at any given task are rewarded with a step up to management, even when they don't have the leadership and interpersonal skills necessary for the new job. In most cases, with proper grooming and support from senior managers, they learn to lead efficiently and gracefully. But along the way they are bound to make many of the same mistakes.
"There are some generalizations to think about in terms of what to look out for," says Jack Militello, a professor of management and the director of the University of St. Thomas's health care MBA. "But our mistakes are all unique to us. We choose to make our own."
No matter how a manager's mistakes manifest themselves, many of them will fall into one of seven categories. And most could be prevented with a little bit of preparation on the part of both the company and the new manager.
Companies need to create a clear picture of what management looks like, says Peggy Andrews, a human resources consultant for MTI. "Assess people against that clear picture before promoting them," she notes. "Give them a realistic view of how they measure up, and help them identify potential blind spots and plans to deal with them."
Once in the position, managers can and should take a little initiative of their own as well. "One of the first things they should do is check into a new manager's program and get themselves to it," says Susan Gebelein, executive vice president of client relationship management at Minneapolis-based Personnel Decisions International. "And there are also a number of books on the market that talk about becoming a new manager. Get ahold of one of those and read
DEADLY SIN #1: Not letting go of the past
When an employee is plucked out of a pool of workers and promoted to a management position, that person is often reluctant to let go of the job he or she left. But trying to do both the handson job and management is an exercise in futility. “They don’t have to time to do the work of a manager if they’re still doing all the work of an individual contributor,” Gebelein says. “So some real important managerial work goes by the wayside.”
The challenge is to establish a new identity in the new position. “When you come into an organization as an individual contributor, that’s where you get your sense of satisfaction, your sense of accomplishment, your sense of identity,” Gebelein says. “One of the biggest changes that has to occur when you become a new manager is to change where you get that sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.”
Sheppeck says that socialization is a key part of the processbut that it is often overlooked by those in upper management. “In many cases, you see the more senior bosses not doing much to help the new managers acclimate to the job,” he says. “But some of the bigger companies do have a person or small team of people to do ‘on-boarding,’ to help the managers figure out how to bring a new person on board with as few let downs and mistakes as possible.”
DEADLY SIN #2: Letting authority go to your head
Andrews once worked with a man who had been promoted to lead a team of six people. “He immediately assumed an air of authority and began telling his team members what to do,” Andrews says. “In short order he was labeled as a bully.” When Andrews pointed out what was happening to his reputation and suggested a few new strategies, the man rebuffed her. “He responded with, ‘I have worked hard to get where I am in my career and I have earned the right to tell people what to do. I don’t want to have to ask questions all the time,’” Andrews remembers. “I pointed out that the best leaders don’t have to do much telling; instead, they are curious and ask a lot of questions to generate dialogue. Often the solutions their teams generate come from a collaborative effort. As a result, these leaders have buy in and support for their decisions from all levels.”
As tempting as it is to assume an air of authority along with a new title, it’s rarely a solid strategy for new managers. It alienates subordinates (many of whom used to consider the manager a contemporary) and isolates the manager. “It’s almost as if they forgot what got them to a management position in the first place—collaboration, teamwork, working, and playing well with others,” Andrews says.
DEADLY SIN #3: Trying to be everyone’s friend
The flip side of the abrupt authoritarian is a manager who tries too hard to be friends with everyone. This is particularly problematic when new managers are asked to lead people who were previously their peers. It can be difficult to establish new relationships with people who were once friends. “Some people slam their fists on the table and say, ‘I’m the boss now and by the way, I know you take a nap every afternoon,’ and some people run from dealing with it,” Sheppeck says. “In both cases it’s different sides of the same thing: how to establish new relationships with the old team.”
Developing an appropriate relationship is a difficult but important step, Gebelein says. “It’s different from being friends,” she says, “but you certainly need to have a close relationship, or at least a not-too-distant relationship.”
Again, Sheppeck says that a little socialization goes a long way to help establish what’s right and what’s wrong. “You can soften these errors a great deal by having a senior person talk to the new individuals,” he says. “It’s a huge challenge to become a boss; you need the help of a more senior manager who has lived through it.”
DEADLY SIN #4: Pretending to have all the answers
When new managers haven’t had good models, they often misunderstand that their role is not exclusively about telling people what to do, even when they themselves don’t know exactly what that is. “They try too hard to have all the answers,” Andrews says. “It comes from a misconception about what managers do. Managers have a primary responsibility for creating an environment that fosters successful participation by all team members. Too many managers seem to think that management is about telling people what to do.”
DEADLY SIN #5: Not seeking enough support
Militello has heard all the clichés educators use to prepare students to succeed on their own in the workplace. And it is true, he says, that many bosses do leave new managers to their own devices. The trouble, he adds, is that such an approach discounts the benefits of “business friends.” “It helps to have a good mentor,” he says. "You can’t be afraid to ask for advice.”
Gebelein says that one mentor is often not enough; she suggests reaching out to as many different managers as you can. “Find other managers you know and respect, people who you want to emulate as leaders,” she says. “Ask them about their transition from individual contributor to manager, about what they did that was the most helpful, what was most difficult, and how they are handling that. You’re looking for as many ideas as you can find, so that when you find yourself in a tough spot, you have ideas about what to do.”
DEADLY SIN #6: Being afraid to make mistakes
Fear of failure paralyzes people, Militello says, and often leads to bad managerial behavior. “No one wants to look bad or foolish,” he says. “So they come across as defensive and closed to new ideas. It can look a lot like arrogance.”
The truth is, of course, that everyone makes mistakes—many of them. But in most cases, the mistakes don’t matter as much as genuine efforts to fix them. “People don’t mind mistakes,” Militello says. “What they mind is a failure to recover. We understand problems, be we want to be able to solve them. If someone makes a mistake or does something that appears foolish, recovery is a big issue. You want to be able to show that you’ve learned something.”
That gets easier with age, he admits. “I’m in my 60s now,” he says. “I’ve had plenty of opportunities to make mistakes. As we age, we learn that we do screw up, but that it can be a learning opportunity. We learn that if something didn’t work, then we fix it and make everything better.”
When things happen, it helps to have both a sense of humor and someone to talk to about it. That’s where a good mentor comes in, Militello says. “When we’re young kids, our parents do that for us,” he notes. “It should be a lot like that—new managers should be in a situation where they’ve got help to make good judgments.”
DEADLY SIN #7: Giving up too soon
"Managing people is hard,” Gebelein says. “In some ways, it’s like being a parent—there are some absolutely wonderful things, but it’s really very hard. And you need time to learn how to do it.”
So even if it feels like it isn’t working, hang in there. In fact, Gebelein suggest that new managers stick it out for a couple of years before bowing out. “If you get into a managerial role and think, ‘Yuck, I hate this,’ hang in for a while and see if it changes over time. The transition doesn’t happen in a month or two; I recommend that people give it a try for two or three years.”
But there’s also no shame in deciding that management isn’t the right fit for you. “There are plenty of people who decide that they like the hands-on, direct work more,” Gebelein says. “If that’s what a person’s preference is, then what they’ll want to look for is a company that rewards its technical people similar to the way it rewards its managerial people.”