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5 Things You’re Unintentionally Doing To Irritate Your Employees

By | Charlie  Fletcher

As a manager, it is your job to ensure that your employees complete every project to perfection, and while you may be fortunate enough to have a talented staff that can handle the job, you also need to support them without being irritating. That means avoiding constant criticism and overworking your team. While you likely became a manager because you understand those traits, you may not realize how some of your other behaviors may be upsetting the employees.

Several unintentional management issues can bring your staff down. Recognizing and correcting any potential faux pas will help you to be a stronger and more efficient manager. Let’s talk about behaviors to avoid.

1. Micromanaging

If your employees label you as a micromanager then you may have an issue. If you are constantly checking their work, always asking if they have questions, or you’re hovering over them at their desks, then you are a micromanager, and your employees might dread coming to work.

To be happy at their job, employees need to know that their manager supports them and knows that they are good at what they do. Even if you have full faith in your staff, if you constantly micromanage, then they may not believe it.

That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t supervise and hand out tasks. Instead, you need to be smart about how you delegate the work. Set clear goals and expectations for each project so your staff knows what is expected and avoid spelling out every little detail. Your employees will appreciate that you let them think for themselves.

2. Not Offering A Proper Work/Life Balance

As a manager, you may be requiring long hours so you can complete the project at hand and oblige your superiors, but by eliminating the chance for your employees to have a work/life balance, you may end up losing your staff completely. Studies have shown that when employees cannot spend time outside of work with their families, then there is a greater chance that they will quit, and if this becomes a trend, your company could face serious retention problems.

Asking your people to work overtime once in a while for a large project is usually okay, but if you constantly require 40+ hour weeks, then your workers may start looking elsewhere for work. Again, your employees need to believe that the company appreciates them as people who have needs and lives.

3. Scheduling Too Many Meetings

If most of the work week consists of holding meetings over various topics, then you likely aren’t getting enough real work done, and you are probably annoying your employees. When you call a meeting, you are essentially asking your team to stop their current task in its tracks to go to the conference room to meet. If you are constantly discussing the same topics over and over, then that is also a form of micromanaging.

This isn’t to say that you should never have meetings. Getting everyone together is often great for team building, and it can get everyone on the same track. Meetings and collaboration are especially important in the remote world where you can share your screen to provide examples and engage each employee individually, even when they are working from home. However, the meetings must be meaningful.

Have a scheduled meeting at the start of the week where you go over the tasks and answer questions, and have an end-of-week meeting to recap and ensure that the project is on track. You can have meetings in between, but you also need to let your staff work.

4. Avoiding Conflict

Some leaders have a more easy-going management style, which is fine if everyone on your team understands their role and expectations. However, if you are so relaxed that some members of your team are falling behind, then you have a problem because by routinely avoiding conflict, you are not keeping everyone on the same page.

For instance, if you have an employee who is always late and turns in subpar work, and the other members of your team are reliant on their production, then management needs to speak to them. Conflict doesn’t mean that you are getting into a verbal altercation. It just means that you are handling employee issues as they arise for the betterment of your team.

If your staff can tell that you typically avoid speaking up and taking charge, then some of your employees may take advantage of that, and others may lose respect for you.

5. Failing To Offer Recognition

Finally, if you expect great work from your employees but you never show appreciation or offer recognition, then you are going to irritate your employees, and they may even choose to find a different workplace that appreciates their efforts. If this sounds like you, then it is time to make a change. You can start simply by sending out an email to your team that acknowledges the extra effort of one of your team members. You can also consider sending out occasional “thank you” emails to your team that express your gratitude.

Sometimes that simple pat on the back can mean the world to your worker, and they will likely give 110% going forward because they know that you care and value them.

So there you have it. Five behaviors that you can change to become the best manager possible. Start making these changes today, and you will see exponential improvement within your team.

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