It’s a great responsibility and challenge to properly manage your team in order to get the most out of them.

Growing up, we were taught to be the best – get good grades, be an athlete, become a prodigy in music – all of it basing on individual talents and capabilities.

However, when you’re the manager of your employees, you have to empower a person other than yourself to keep them motivated and get them to share your dream.

Unfortunately, not all managers have proper training in leading and handling a team… And it’s not an easy role to fill.

According to a research by Moya K. Mason, business consultants claimed that 90% of business
failures were due to management inadequacy (48% incompetence and 42% inexperience).

That number is alarming!

Here are some of the reasons that are causing a manager to fail their business:
 

1. Bad at Delegating

Some managers don’t want to delegate tasks to their team because they feel that nobody else can do it as well as them.

As such, they usually end up having too many things to do, and not accomplishing much (if anything) throughout the day.

The solution to this is to find someone who’s good at doing specific work, train them up, and trust them to do the work efficiently.

Keeping all the tasks to yourself not only costs you time but also causes your team to get “rusty” with their skills.

Find out what tasks you should delegate and to whom you should delegate it with.

 

2. Does Not Take Responsibility of Their Mistakes

Nobody wants to work with someone who blames others for their own mistakes.

When something good happens, they claim it as their own but if it’s something bad, they don’t take their own share of the blame.

They always have an excuse ready and the employees shouldn’t question their authority.

It’s not easy to say, “It’s my mistake, I’m sorry.”

Only the best managers are able to do that.

Here are three steps on how you can take responsibility for your mistakes.

1. Acknowledge that you made a mistake.
2. Find a way to fix the problem.
3. Do what you promised to do.

 

3. Does Not Promote Trust and Integrity

All relationships are built on trust. Without it, the relationship is bound to fail.

To trust someone means that you are confident in what they do.

When the manager and their team trust each other, they are open and are not afraid to be honest and express their own opinions or suggestions to improve things in the business.

If a manager trusts in their team, they give them independence to do what they have to do.

This promotes creativity because there’s less pressure.

However, if a manager is not trustworthy, their team might lose their own integrity in following someone who cannot be trusted.
 

4. Lack Self-Discipline

A manager acts as the role model of a company. So if they are not a good model, their team would follow suit.

If the manager is always late in coming to work, and expect their team to come in early, that would be hypocritical.

They are not “walking the talk”.

Everything should start from the managers.

If they want their team to be well-disciplined when it comes to working, they should manage themselves first.

If they are lazy and disorganized, then it would be no surprise if the whole team is unproductive.

Managers would lose their influence and their team’s respect if they are not seen as the role model they should be.

 

5. Does Not Look Out For Their Team

A lot of managers are focused on making profit, promoting their products, communicating with customers.

However, that is not the role of a manager.

It is understandable if the manager is also the owner of the business, that’s why they take care of these things, but they should not forget to take care of their team as well.

According to Peter Trucker, author of The Practice of Management, the primary goal of a manager is to make people productive.

You can’t have productive employees if they are not happy or intellectually challenged with their work.

It is the manager’s responsibility to make sure that their team stays in good health in the workplace.

If the team is overworked, stressed and tired, they will not produce quality work.

It’s also the manager’s role to motivate and inspire the team.

They should be able to promote team building and spend time to listen and talk to their people.

It is also the manager’s duty to support their team, making sure that information is properly communicated so that work will be done efficiently.
 

6. Have Unrealistic Expectations

Unrealistic expectations are not intentional.

Everyone wants everything done quickly and with high quality.

But the problem lies with not having enough information or time to complete a certain task.

Some managers pressure their subordinates into producing a result quickly, without really asking how much time they need. Thus, pressuring the employee and ending up with a subpar quality product.

The main key here is communication.

If a manager wants something done, he should ask how much time is needed to finish the task and provide the necessary information or resources.

They should make sure that their team understands what the product is and the goal that it’s trying to achieve.

Having a clear understanding of a product would let the team see it’s importance and everyone wants to be part of something important.

 

7. Does Not Ask For Professional Advice

Not everyone who goes into business is equipped with the knowledge of managing one. But that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t do it.

If a manager is not doing a good job at managing people, they should look into themselves first to see what they could be doing wrong.

Working with a professional might be of great benefit in this aspect because they already have experience and knowledge in management.

Asking for professional help doesn’t mean that a manager is weak and incapable of handling the role. It means that they are strong enough to admit that they need help and are actually working on improving themselves.

Being the manager of a business is a great task that needs a lot of patience, passion, and dedication.

It’s difficult to motivate people, and it’s more difficult to motivate oneself. But a manager should start working on oneself first, so they can properly and effectively manage others.