If you were teaching a class of future managers, what would your top "pit-falls to avoid" be?

Too often, new managers make mistakenly expect that what worked for them will work for the people they manage -- based on an often-erroneous assumption that other people are like themselves. Some percentage will be similar to themselves (whether you use "Type A", Myers-Briggs, or other models to identify personality types, etc.), but others will not be.

Managers need to learn how to be flexible and versatile in how to lead and manage people to be successful who are NOT like themselves.

Learning to handle conflict is not easy. Nor is learning to manage incompetence or non performance. No book prepares you for the first time you have to address someone for not performing, and even worse when you have to fire them.

Managers need to learn to stay calm, objective and unemotional in these situations. Firm, but kind. When your staff either collapse in tears or end up screaming at you, it takes a special kind of personality to keep calm and get the situation back under control.

It's easy to manage something when things are going well, but the true test comes when things are going badly. That takes experience and fortitude to get through - as well as strong leadership right from the top.

New managers (especially if they were promoted from an individual contributor position) sometimes fall into the "I'm your friend" trap. If you happen to obtain a promotion and you are managing individuals that used to be your peers, you have got to learn to distance yourself from old relationships. This is sometimes difficult to achieve. You must behave accordingly. Be approachable but set boundaries. Make sure that you are supportive but do not play favorites. It's a delicate juggling act.

Speaking of books, there's a book that every employee should read, including managers : The Leader Who Had No Title by Robin Sharma. It is truly life changing. It is full of ideas and stories of how to be a true leader regardless of your position in the company.

I don't have much to add to the many good answers above.

However, I'd like to address the need for new project managers to make a shift in their "locus of pride." When I work with these newbies in my PM Basics workshops, I look for opportunities to shove them gently out of their comfort zones as experts in a particular field and into the role of facilitator. To put it bluntly, the toughest thing for a hotshot-contributor-turned-project-manager to do is to let go of being the center of attention as the smartest kid on the block. But if they are going to get the most out of team members, they will need to make it a practice to dive out of the spotlight when it comes their way... consciously pushing hard-working project contributors into the glow.

Ultimately, they will need to get their gratification by thinking of themselves as a kind of orchestra conductor instead of as solo pianist. This is a big shift for many newbie project managers. And it challenges the big egos that may have put them in the position of leadership in the first place. But if they don't make it, they will be unlikely to get volunteers to work with them more than one time.

One of the biggest pitfalls I see with managers is that they forget to create leaders, and instead they create followers. Instead of needing to make all the decisions and solve all the problems for their teams - help their teams to create solutions for themselves. Teach them to fish, don't give them a fish - that way they don't starve when you're not around.

Hi Brad,

I saw a lot of managers falling when they lost control above their ego.

Humility is something managers need to learn and keep in mind.

Regards, Daniel

Brad, excellent question and great responses. I number of years ago I read an article from the Harvard Business Review about "Why managers fail?" The authors said the managers fail for so many reason that it was not too helpful so they were going to stop their research until someone suggesting asking the question "Why do managers succeed?"

Managers who always or nearly always succeed changed managing styles to suit the demands of the task that needed to be managed. Detail focused managers succeeded when the task required attention to details but these same managers failed when the tasks demanded a big picture overview. Likewise for the big picture managers, they fail when they need to pay attention to the details.

In summary, manage as the situation demands, not as you would prefer to manage.

"It's not about you."

WOW!! What a great question. In our consulting practice we run into people from all four active generations currently in the workforce and learning how to manage these distinctly different groups of people may be one on the biggest current and future challenges. Each group has different values and goals for their lives and, in many ways, each group believes that they are "right" and the others are "wrong". This can lead to both subtle and overt workplace conflicts.

All managers must learn how to lead and manage these desperate groups of people and still keep everyone focused on business results. A good resource for learning more about this subject is the book "Tribes" by Seth Godin.

Not treating people as people. I heard of a CEO knew the names of all his employees... That's special.

I am going to shamelessly quote a number of pithy nuggets from a new book, "From Bud to Boss," by Kevin Eikenberry and Guy Harris, that is aimed at helping new managers make the transition from their old world to the new and daunting world of having to lead, manage, motivate, etc. I think we sometimes expect our new managers to figure all the "soft stuff" out on their own and rarely - from a Human Resources perspective at least - do we do a good job of arming them with the skills they need to successfully make this transition. The following quotes can be credited entirely to Eikenberry's and Harris' book.

* "Focusing on others will give you more influence and power than focusing on yourself."
* "Complex problems like the ones you will face as a leaders often have multiple 'right' answers."
* "The skills of interacting with people are a bigger portion of your leadership responsibility than is your personal ability to accomplish tasks."
* "Learn to balance your focus between getting results and building relationships."
* "You can influence other people. You cannot control them."
* "If you want people to feel ownership of a goal, set the goal with them, not for them."
* "While the right attitude alone won't create success, without it you will be severely handicapped."
* "Your desire to listen is at least as important as, if not more important than, your listening skills."

There are many more where this came from...

Great question Brad. I might add to always give your employees the ability to make decisions for themselves and to let go of the need to control people. I'd also focus on listening actively to what my employees have to say. So, the pitfalls to avoid are: Not listening to employees, not giving them decision-making ability and needing to control them. It's also helpful to avoid making management about you instead of about the collective effort.

I don't have much to add to the many good answers above.

However, I'd like to address the need to make a shift in the "locus of pride" that new project managers must make. When I work with these newbies in my PM Basics workshops, I look for opportunities to shove them gently out of their comfort zones as experts in a particular field and into the role of facilitator. To put it bluntly, the toughest thing for a hotshot-contributor-turned-project-manager to do is to let go of being the center of attention as the smartest kid on the block. But if they are going to get the most out of team members, they will need to make it a practice to dive out of the spotlight when it comes their way... consciously pushing hard-working project contributors into the glow.

Ultimately, they will need to get their gratification by thinking of themselves as a kind of orchestra conductor instead of as solo pianist. This is a big shift for many newbie project managers. And it challenges the big egos that may have put them in the position of leadership in the first place. But if they don't make it, they will be unlikely to get volunteers to work with them more than one time.

For Michael Greer (and others) -- I noticed you work with Project Managers and wanted to offer a resource from my organization that you may find valuable. We recently completed an initiative with a major PMO where we introduced Smart Skills -- the blending of IQ and EQ with TQ. Smart Skills allow PM's to take their practice to a new level.

Here's a link if you want more information.

http://www.glowan.com/learning_programs/smart-skills.php