It’s back to school time already and I’m struggling to see how we got here so soon. I swear, the summer zoomed on by much faster than normal. I was going over some source material recently and came across a list I put together of the five biggest management traps ever. I know we’ve spent some time on speaking on coaching and general hiccups that can occur. However, I’ve never shared a cohesive list like that, like in my book The Leadership Playbook. So, let’s spend some time doing that over these next two weeks. Come on, let’s get into it!
A Reality Check on Management Traps
Full transparency, I’ve been guilty of falling into management traps a time or two. Life isn’t linear, it’s all we can do to pick-up ourselves and get back on track after we’ve made a mistake or two. To reference my book:
Unless we make conscious efforts to avoid these traps or have an exit strategy when we don’t, we will stay snared…and eventually give up on some, if not all, of the coaching skills and principles we have worked on.
I want you to be aware of the pitfalls of being a leader in the middle (LIM) and coach. Once we remain grounded and prepare to overcome said challenges, well, we can still create a thriving and #winningculture.
The Five Biggest Management Traps Checklist
- Trap #1: Coaching is difficult and redundant
- Trap #2: My team is already great
- Trap #3: Checking the box
- Trap #4: Allowing bottom performers to leave on their own timeline
- Trap #5: Not believing
Any of this sound or feel familiar? No sweat, let’s break it down some more and outline strategies to overcome each one.
Trap #1: Coaching is difficult and redundant
Nobody said being a manager or leader is easy and we already know a great leader coaches. The thing is it can be time-consuming and often feels redundant when doing it with the same staff over and over. But we cannot afford to say, “I don’t have the time to coach anymore.” To do that is to give up, give in and get lazy. To circumvent this, remind yourself and your team that:
Although we have already worked on skills or disciplines and know and have improved them, we cannot stop practicing them.
You know I love a good coach metaphor. So here it is, a basketball player will practice free throws his or her whole career. It’s part and parcel for the gig. Why? They cannot afford to think they’re perfect, else they’ll get comfortable and that equals mistakes during game time. The best strategy for a LIM is to commit to making the time to invest in our team by constantly coaching, offering team recognition for high performers, and creating sustainable reward programs.
Trap #2: My team is already great
Dear friend, nobody’s perfect and even maintaining ‘perfection’ (or greatness) without practice is impossible. The truth is when we invest so heavily into our staff, we can get a little blind to the imperfections. Here’s the thing though, as a business leader you cannot get attached to an idealized version of your team.We always need to move that marker, constantly. Instead, train yourself (and the team) to think, “You did great last quarter? That was then (and congrats), but now what are we going to do to improve, this quarter?”.
Also, constantly assess your team to see how good each individual is at their job. Commit to doing periodic internal performance checks and ask yourself questions like:
- Can this person take our team to the next level?
- If I left the company, which of them would I want to take over the team?
Yes, those questions may seem harsh, but everybody’s got to earn their spot on the roster every year. Don’t dodge those important professional decisions.
Doing the right thing is sometimes hard, but never wrong.
Trap #3: Checking the Box
In my book, I refer to it as the going-through-the-motions trap. It means we check a box on the list without actually committing to the goal. We stop planning, rewarding, doing those one-on-one sessions as often. We do it just enough to say we did something then hunker down in an overly comfortable position. Wrong, we can’t EVER afford to be terrible bosses.
We cannot stop giving the same amount of respect and dedication to the coaching of our teams that we want our teams to give to us.
This one is pretty straight forward. The only way to avoid checking the box is to make sure we are involved as much as possible so that we hold ourselves accountable in front of our teams. Be intentional in your commitment to your team and you’ll constantly maintain an excellent roster of team members.
Ok, so I’m going to break here this week. I want to give the last two traps the justice they deserve because they are the make it or break it traps. Over these next few days just promise me one thing though, spend some time internally reflecting to see if you’ve fallen in these traps. If you have, recognizing it is the first and most important step to getting back up, brushing off yourself and getting back on track.
Did you know I offer workshops and executive coaching sessions on how to avoid making the biggest management mistakes around? Yep, I even give keynotes on the topic, too. Hope on over to my workshop, keynote and coaching pages for more information. OH and CHECK OUT MY LATEST demo video! See ya next week!
