3 Failures to Avoid as a Manager

Is there anything more exciting or stressful than starting your own business? Being your own boss can be freeing, but if you aren't used to managing people (while also managing yourself) you can run into a lot of problems. Businessmen like Alexander Bouri didn't wake up knowing exactly how to run their businesses; they learned after years of hard work and by discovering their own strengths and failings. Everyone makes mistakes when they're managing their first group of employees, but certain mistakes can leader to bigger problems down the road. When you're welcoming your first group of employees to the company, avoid these common slip-ups:

Failing to see them as employees

There's nothing wrong with having a warm and encouraging relationship with your employees, but it shouldn't go much further than having a good work rapport. It can be easy to start to see your employees as friends. After you spend a lot of time together, you'll get to know each other better and, if you share common interests, you may find yourself talking more about personal things than work issues. Friendships with employees can easily go sour with a department head change or a problem at work, and other employees may start to suspect that you favor your friends more than them. Make sure that you see and treat your employees as employees, and save your friends for when you aren't on the clock.

Failing to give clear direction

If you're the kind of boss that expects your employees to handle problems with little to no input from you, you're going to run into a lot of problems. Many bosses expect their employees to somehow know exactly what their tasks should be and how they should be doing them, and then wonder why they constantly fail to meet expectations. Be clear about what you will expect on a daily basis, as well as what you're looking for in the long-term scheme of things.

Failing to handle problems

"You say that there's a problem happening? Didn't I hire you to be able to handle problems and do work?"

We've heard variations of that line uttered by mean bosses on TV and in movies, but a lot of managers subscribe to this toxic form of thinking. Some managers are more than happy to let their employees handle whatever problems come up, but sometimes your employees are going to need some help. You can give a little direction and help without having to fix everything yourself. Always be involved when there is a problem at work, and don't assign all responsibility to your co-workers.