Mistakes for Supervisors to Avoid

What kind of mistakes should a supervisor avoid?

There are all kinds of mistakes that you can benefit from, but also an endless number of mistakes that could put you out of business.

One kind of mistake is easily avoided: the mistake you've already made. At least, in theory. Shouldn't we learn the lesson the first time? Shouldn't we be able to re-direct our efforts and do it right? Maybe, but also it's possible that we will repeat the mistake -- again and again, until the lesson is truly learned.

Seriously, mistakes can be valuable learning lessons -- but only if we learn. If we do not learn from our mistakes we most likely get more opportunities in the form of mistakes until we do.

Making mistakes once is no guarantee against repeating them. It takes learning and change to avoid the obvious.

It can be helpful to learn from the mistakes of others. Think about the worst boss you've ever had. You wouldn't want to repeat that set of behaviors would you? But do you (sometimes)? I know that I have caught myself doing exactly what I know to be counter-productive -- only because it was so familiar that it seems easy.

What sorts of mistakes should supervisors avoid?

- Keeping your people in the dark.
- Going over people's heads repeatedly to get things done (this will come back to bite you)
- Yelling, harassing, or being a jerk. Seriously, don't do it.
- Breaking the law
- Hiring people based on your gut instincts.
- Thinking that the answer to every performance problem is "just work harder"
- Taking on too much without establishing clear priorities
- Failing to develop yourself AND your people

... and on and on. What mistakes would you add to the list?

Think about a mistake that you've only made once and were able to improve your performance as a result. What did you do differently? How did you leverage your mistake into a new opportunity?

What mistakes can you avoid today?

-- Douglas Brent Smith

Front Range Leadership

Comments

Your Reputation

More authority means higher levels of responsibility. More power requires more service to others, not less. What you do with your power is who you will be known as. Also, how you use the power you have creates who people will remember you as. How do you want to be remembered? -- doug smith

High Performance Leadership Combination

We can rationalize anything without making it justified. Leaders should always ask: who is this good for other than me? High performance leadership does NOT mean performance at any cost. It means performance that serves a noble cause while also benefiting people. High performance leadership is a combination. Results without relationships are shallow and temporary. Take care of both, and you'll be a high performance leader. -- doug smith

New Ideas

New ideas won't break you but they can make you bigger. -- doug smith

Decide

What do you want? Are you getting what you want? Intention is direction. Decide. And, then go. -- doug smith

What You Need

Use what you've learned to become what you need. -- doug smith

For example

Get good at something that won't obsolete itself. For example: emotional intelligence creating great conversations encouraging people leadership What would you add to the list? Which ones are you developing? -- doug smith

Personally

Improving performance does require us to take our work seriously. But it does not require us to take ourselves too seriously. Taking things personally is a waste of self-esteem. -- doug smith

Measures Matter

Some people measure quantify first and quality later. Some people measure money first and impact to the team later (not even second!). How you measure productivity might determine your character and your reputation. Put people first. -- doug smith

Start With Kindness

When you start with kindness you don't have to stay there, but you probably will. It works better for others. It works better for you. If you're human, you'll probably relapse. It does take practice to stay the course. The course starts by starting. When you start with kindness, it becomes more naturally the way. High performance leadership develops from the core leadership strengths of clarity, creativity, courage, and compassion. Build one of those strengths today thru some act of kindness and the others will get stronger as well. -- doug smith

Show Integrity

The goals we seek bring a lot of pull to them. We get wrapped in them. It's useful and it's powerful when we care about our goals so much that they propel us forward and keep us working even when we're tired, beyond the boundaries of our usual limitations. But they should not take us beyond the boundaries of our usual values. They should not trick us into bending the rules just because the rules are in the way. Truly high performance leaders of character who are focused, and centered, and noble maintain integrity. No cheating is ever worth the outcome. Integrity is so rare that many people don't even recognize. If you do, be thankful. We need leaders like you. To truly understand integrity you've got to keep it. Even when it's hard. Even the lines are blurred. -- doug smith

High Performance Leadership

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