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The 5 Most Common Management Traps And How Smart Leaders Navigate Them
It doesn't matter if your heart is in the right place. Your team suffers every time you miss the warning signs.
Dave Kline
November 02, 2023
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Read Time: 3 minutes
Last week, we looked at common management wisdom that's anything but wise.
This week, I wanted to spin the cube and look at those common management traps we get caught in without even noticing.
Some come from good intentions. Some spring from our desire to do what's easy. And others are born of our hardwired cognitive biases.
But the first step to staying out of them is knowing they're out there.
Confusing Progress w/ Performance
Most leaders are optimists. Why else would we sign up for such a tough gig? We believe that people are good. We believe that they want to win. We believe they can change. And we're usually right.
Usually.
But "usually" is not "always." And sometimes, we're faced with underperformers on our team.
The most seducing trap I see leaders fall into is the "it's getting better" trap. Seeing the improvement off the low starting point gives them hope. It plays directly into those optimistic tendencies.
But the question they need to be asking:
"Is this the performance the role requires?"
You can get better and never get to this standard.
Confusing Motion w/ Momentum
There are so many versions of this:
Busy or Building?
Frenetic or Focus?
Process or Progress?
And many times, the exact same activity can wear both hats.
Take reading. When you're reading your 15th business book about starting a business (instead of starting one), that's virtuous procrastination. But when you pick up someone's timeless wisdom to unlock your problems and directly apply it, that's learning from giants.
I'm writing about this trap mostly because I've drifted into it myself.
My path out: Tracking my Management Macros
I'm scoring my daily activities along 3 dimensions:
Do they align with my "rocks" (most critical commitments)?
Are they "running" my business or "improving" it?
Are they "good time" or "bad time"?
I then look for patterns of “No” and make the changes necessary to create space for a lot more “Hell Yes.”
Can You Commit To 12 Hours of Good Time
The difference between a good manager and a great leader is impact. And your impact is directly connected to how much of your day you spend improving the most important things.
What if you could improve the 8 foundational pillars of management in just 12 hours? Seems like that would certainly be “Good Time.”
If you haven’t used your professional development budget for 2023, why not join 50+ leaders in our next cohort and start 2024 a step ahead?
Confusing Debates w/ Decisions
We hire people for their minds. We go to great lengths to find people who think differently. We want them to speak up when we're headed the wrong way.
So, it stands to reason that we create an environment to encourage debate.
Except to lead, you must pick a direction. Eventually, the debate must end, and someone must decide. And that someone is you.
And the paradox is that you can achieve consensus, but only on decisions so obvious they don't move the needle.
Dissent and Commit is a common operating principle. But people can't commit to a direction you haven’t pointed them to.
A practical tactic everyone can deploy is to be clear about your mode and confidence. Say them aloud. It'll help people know the ground rules and how hard to push.
Speaking of confidence...