One friend recently told me about his new manager. He said that he was so bad that no one could take him seriously. “His management is a joke. You can’t imagine it. He absolutely does not understand what is going on.” My friend was so unhappy that he even considered leaving his job. People say that employees leave their managers, not their jobs.

We discussed this manager’s behaviour in more detail. As a result, we identified the following management failures. So, let’s not repeat them in our management practice.

1. You don’t know your team

Problem: The manager does not know the team but acts as…

Finally, the year is slowly rushing to its end. Yet before you exchange your office chair for a comfortable sofa, there is one question to be answered — how was your year at work? Or rather, did you achieve your goals and targets?

Your answer will be most likely — yes. If you have twenty more minutes, you sweat down a few achievements or a list of activities. Okay, sent! You are relieved this administrative formality is over.

As a manager, I usually spend much more time on performance evaluation than my team members themselves. You can argue that this…

Why would you complain about a management job? Well, it is underpaid. There is no training, but too much responsibility. You have to do a dirty job and say negative things (like you are fired!). You are the first one in the office and the last one leaving. Lastly, you are the greatest firefighter of all. You save things and people from burn-outs.

With that many setbacks, tell me who on the Earth would voluntarily do the management job? I would. It is the best office job in the world. …

`Do you have a sec?’ How many times did you get this message in your work chat? If you are like me, you get it at least a few times a day. Yet, it is never a second, not even a minute. It always takes longer. These are time traps that break down your day plan and make you do nothing. Terrible!

What if you can control your time better? What if you can take these seconds back for yourself and your team? Does that sound tempting? You can do that with simple 5-time management hacks.

1. Get rid of multi-tasking

Multi-tasking is a myth…

I often think about the essence of a good team. What makes a team be a team? Many people say it is about people. When you manage great people, half of your work is done. But what if you manage great people who are also individualistic? Where is the beloved teamwork now? I can tell you one thing — it is a management job to make it work.

What is a team?

Today, teams are everywhere. Teamwork is the main company value. At interviews, personalists ask you straight away if you like working in teams. You are a part of some team or even…

There are many management theories and research. Yet, there is no single book that would give us an exact recipe on how to be a great manager. Management training is often non-existing. There is neither mentoring nor coaching. Who has time to self-study? Not many people are diligent to read. So, what are we left with? With leading by example.

Managers tend to rely on their experience from the previous non-management positions. When they were experts in their field. If one thing is working, why not to apply the same logic in the management position? They aspire to be the…

Management is a great deal of improvisation, experiment, and change. Every day is a bit different in the work-life of your team. There is no single formula that you would apply to have a successful day. You need to test a lot of communication styles and quickly move within roles and situations.

Regardless of the size of your team, you need to pay attention to their work and overall job satisfaction. Managers are accountable for the success of their team and the well-being of their team members. Management is responsibility.

One would say that managers need to focus their all…

There are so many never-ending meetings that are not at all relevant for all invited people. Be playful now and think about how much money is being spent on meetings like these. The amount per year would be tremendous. Shocking in some cases. So, managers, stop the meeting madness. Make happen only meetings adding value to the participants. The rest delete immediately from your team calendars.

1. Relevant information for relevant people

Meetings are a horrible and over-rated tool for information circulation. With the pandemic hit last year, meetings moved to online. People spend hours and hours on calls. They listen to meetings using videos and…