Which of these 17 management mistakes are you making?

Interested in more career-related content? Check out our new weekly newsletter Newsletter on working life. Sent every Monday afternoon.

Managers make mistakes. How? Let’s list them.

According to Susan Lucia Annunzio, director of the Center for High Performance, at the top of the organization, CEOs put their companies at risk through five blind spots. If you are not a CEO, you should still be concerned because the same mistakes occur at all levels of management, with potentially destructive consequences for your career, or even for the company:

1. Creating false narratives: The prevaricator, as this type of leader is called, creates a narrative that suits his own purposes. Prevaricators are often braggarts, who underestimate or ignore evidence that is clear to others.
2. How to avoid difficult decisions: The Cowardly Lion delays making difficult decisions and then, under pressure, often chooses financial considerations over principles and focuses on the short term rather than the long term.
3. Condescension: The smartest person in the room is quick to dismiss ideas and refuses to listen to those who express opposing views.
4. Letting friendship cloud judgment: “The Loyalist doesn’t see the negative behaviors of another senior executive, often a ‘peer.’ The individual may have been a valuable contributor in the past, but is now having a destructive impact on the team. Everyone knows about it except the Loyalist,” he writes on ChiefExecutive.net.
5. Harassment: She points out that the corporate bully, like the ones we knew in childhood, picks on the less powerful, does not tolerate disagreement, blames others when things go wrong, and rarely admits mistakes.

Consultant David Burkus offers these four common mistakes managers make in human-centered change and innovation Blog:

1. Speaking first: Managers are often promoted because they solve problems and generate ideas faster and better than their peers. Sometimes this is still helpful, but more often they facilitate discussion and allow everyone to share their opinions first. This encourages collaboration, creates an environment where everyone feels heard and valued, and provides the best chance of finding the optimal solution.
2. How to avoid conflicts: No one likes to be the bad guy, but she notes that sometimes, in the name of avoiding conflict, managers fail to confront people and situations appropriately. “Managers need to address underperformance and insubordination, and their team needs them to do so even more,” she says.
3. Reacting urgently: Managers are besieged by problems. The instinct may be to solve them immediately, but perhaps given some time and a bit of discussion, the team would have come up with a better solution. Managers also need to avoid the tyranny of the urgent, getting bogged down in the little things that arise instead of giving more attention to more important matters.
4. Assuming availability: Many managers simply take for granted that their team feels free to come to them. But over time, discovering that when they did, the boss was busy or distracted, much of the team may assume that unavailability is the reality. “Managers would benefit from being deliberate and intentional about their availability. They shouldn’t promise to be available all the time. Instead, they should make themselves available at specific times and block them out on their calendar. That way, they can give team members their sole attention,” she writes.

Managers deal with people. Their day-to-day life consists of constant, even fast-paced, interaction. Kate Nasser, who calls herself The People Skills Coach, lists these eight common mistakes she sees:

1. Thinking you have to choose between civility and honesty: In fact, they go hand in hand: civility is the way to convey honesty.
2. Confusing good judgment and prejudice: Good judgment is valuable and comes from a variety of experiences. But she argues that judging people (bias) demeans them and blocks opportunities for success. Instead, view each person as a chance for the team to win.
3. Forgetting or denying that all conversation creates emotion: “People mistakes are common in those who focus exclusively on their own message and never on honoring other people. The brilliance of social skills lies in the awareness of how your actions impact others and the generosity to adapt,” she writes on her blog.
4. Fear of losing: The behaviors that arise when someone is consistently afraid of losing tend to appear selfish and inconsiderate to others. Protect yourself from this by becoming more self-aware. Identify and stop the fears that drive your behavior.
5. Confusing listening and adapting with giving up: A rude man once told her that “the world belongs to those who don’t give up.” She replies, “The world belongs to those who listen, interact, influence and create a win for all.” None of that constitutes giving up.
6. Focusing on the stressful moment rather than the desired outcome: Differences can cause stress, but they don’t have to affect your social skills or prevent you from achieving a favorable outcome. When stressful feelings arise, remember that you have options that can help you move forward. Choose wisely.
7. Believing that confidence and humility cannot coexist: In fact, a person can be confident in his message and humble in delivering it.
8. Sticking to a comfort zone: The greater the desire for personal comfort, the greater the risk of making a mistake in dealing with people. “The comfort zone is full of easy targets and is not as safe as it seems,” he concludes.

There are 17. There are more, of course, but that’s enough for now. Which ones apply to you? Which ones are the most dangerous, the most common, or the most embarrassing? Which one will you work on first?

Cannonballs

• New research shows that generative AI enhances individual creativity but generally misses out on collective novelty, and many AI offerings fall in the same range.
• A new format for conferences, known as long-form conversation, could also be useful for organizational events. At conferences, Wired journalist Kevin Kelly explains, two speakers begin with a conversation on stage. After 15 minutes, one of them is replaced by a new speaker and the conversation continues, with a speaker being replaced every 15 minutes for the next eight hours.
• Wednesday, July 31 is Productivity Parity Day, marking the time of year when, according to Janet Winkler of the Difference Lab, the average worker theoretically transitions from doing routine tasks to doing real knowledge tasks. It’s a good day to think about eliminating routine tasks from your organization.

Harvey Schachter is a Kingston-based writer specializing in management issues. Together with Sheelagh Whittaker, former CEO of EDS Canada and Cancom, they are the authors of When Harvey didn’t meet Sheelagh: Emails about leadership.