Management Mistakes to avoid

Although some managers are really amazing at their jobs [but] most managers don’t really know what they’re doing. And that’s because in most places and most people weren’t really trained or taught how to be a good manager. Maybe they were amazing at their job, but they’re still making mistakes as an amateur. And today, we’re going over some amateur mistake that you will never ever make again.

Stop procrastination

Mistake number one that most business owners and managers tend to make is procrastinating and waiting until the very last moment before they’re hiring new people. You see managers and business owners understand that hiring a new person to the team or entire teams in bigger organizations is very, very expensive, and sometimes even pretty risky. And this is why they tend to procrastinate it.

Professional business owners or managers such as yourself, know that when you want to hire a new person or a new team, it requires some time. You need time to train them, to emerge them into the company. And you know that if you wait until the very last moment, there won’t be anyone that will be able to help emerge them into the team. Everybody will be so stressed that they won’t get the necessary time to get into their job to learn what they actually need to do and to be good and productive employees in the team. 

Hire full time employee

And another thing is that when they’re going into or coming into an atmosphere of stress, this is their expectation of the work. You think when a person comes into the very first time to a new place, whether it be a new job, a new relationship, a new restaurant, what he sees on his very first day is what he will expect to see in the future. When you hire a new person into an atmosphere of stress, when everybody’s in their maximum capacity, you end up with a stressful employee for life. 

My personal rule of thumb in a growing business is that whenever I can see or can understand or I can plan for someone that will do a part time job, which is very important. I simply hire someone full time. I do that because I understand that in the time of his training of emerging into the company, many times they will need more work, more help, and his job description will actually expand. 

Do not afraid to hire superstars

Another bonus is that he can personally or she can personally expand their own job description based on their interest and their personal strengths. Of course, you need a very strong and foundational understanding of the company finances before you hire new people. But if you think that by having everybody at 100% capacity, everybody will be incredibly stressed, then you will be profitable enough to hire a new person, then your financial plan is broken.

A business must be profitable even when not all employees are 100% capacity. If your business cannot be profitable when your employees are working on 75%, you’re in deep, deep trouble and you are going to suffer. And that’s my friends, the number two most common mistakes amateur managers and business owners make. And that you never will [make] because you’re a professional. And that’s expecting the people that work for you to work just as hard as you do. 

Some of the people you hire should and must be better than you and more skilled than you in specific areas of expertise. And some of them might actually even work harder than you. But that will always be for a limited amount of time. Ask yourself truthfully, for how long would you work as hard as you do if you were in their situation? And how quickly would you ask for a raise or promotion? Many managers and business owners are looking for people that are as energized, as motivated, and as hard working as themselves that will be willing to work for many years at an entry level job in a small company where they cannot see the future to get any promotions. This specific person simply does not exist in real life.

The simple personality trait and position in life that creates this amazing energy are the same traits that will make them look for major opportunities. As a business owner or as a manager, you should do everything you can to motivate your people to empower them, to make them as productive as possible. But you should always create a very strict and very clear plan and very powerful business model that will allow you to still be profitable when everybody is working at 75%. Productivity. 

Me personally, I wouldn’t get into as a partner in a business that cannot be profitable on 40% of employee productivity. Because I understand that over time, many organizations and big teams have less productive people. It doesn’t mean that no one will be productive. It means that some people will not be. And if your entire business model leans on the idea that everybody will be very productive, you’re going to fail. I’m sorry. By the way, when you do find a superstar incredibly productive person, you should probably create an amazing opportunity for him. And that’s exactly Mistake number three that amateur managers and business owners tend to make, and you will never [make]. 

Many managers and business owners are afraid to hire superstars and afraid to offer them very rewarding contracts. And in my opinion, especially in small businesses, a smart business owner should not be afraid to hire incredibly talented people, and even pay them more than they pay themselves. Ever since I started my business, there was always at least one person who makes more money than I do on a monthly basis, including now. Must remember that as a manager, you get rewarded on the success of your people. And as a business owner, you must remember that your equity in the company grows when the company grows. And you will make much more money, even if your monthly paycheck might seem a bit low in time.

So when you think about how much money you’re making from the business, you must consider not only your paychecks and not only the company’s profits, but also the raise in value that the company creates by growing. 

At the end of the day, whether you’re a manager or a business owner, if that person helps you make more, who cares if he makes more than you. This is something that happens very frequently in sales teams. Many times a superstar salesman can make more than a sales manager. And if the sales manager is dumb enough to compare him to, he will lose that person and make less money. If you will empower him, yes, maybe this salesman will make more money, but he will make more money as well. 

Don’t be short-sighted

Mistake number four is being very short term thinkers. I see many managers and many business owners get really stressed and bummed down and demotivated by a bad day or a bad week or even a bad month at work. And I know, for very small companies, a bad month can be dramatically impactful. But still, sometimes this is just the way things are. And we must expand our range of observation. If we have one bad month or two bad months a year, but the entire year is amazing, we must be able to see the big picture. And I’m not saying a bad week should go unspoken of. And of course sometimes we should make difficult conversations about bad performance or bad results of certain people. But we must also think about the long term effects of our behavior and what kind of culture we’re going to create in our business. 

Personally, I want to live my life in a low stress environment and in a warm environment in which I get support and love from the people around me. And this is the kind of culture I’m trying to create. Some obviously do it in amazing circumstances, but I’m trying my best to behave this way also in other very tough circumstances. Think long term, hire great people, and understand [that] they’re going to have better and worse times. Plan the culture you actually want to create because you’re a professional.