Developing leadership skills — 4 manager mistakes to avoid

Photo by Jonathan Borba

As a manager, try your best to avoid these 4 mistakes, which are well-intentioned, but produce “bad” — or unsustainable outcomes.

Watch a video version of these tips, and explore how working with a leadership coach can help you become a more effective leader.

1: DON’T try to fix every problem you encounter

Solving problems like whack-a-mole might alleviate pressure in the moment, but it’s not sustainable and doesn’t enable other people to grow and develop their own problem solving muscles. It also sets the expectation that all problems should or will be solved by you, which is a dangerous precedent.

Try asking the person with the problem to come up with 3 solutions and then review those together and give them guidance. If that doesn’t work, then before solving the problem yourself, ask them to sleep on it or partner with a colleague for more ideas.

2: Focus on defining/communicating the “how,” rather than the “what” and most importantly, the “why”

Your team must be entrusted to figure out the how, just as your leaders should trust you to…