Last updated on January 30, 2025
Once upon a time, on a Saturday morning, a completely average manager went to a flea market and bought a lamp. When he tried to clean it, a genie came out of it, granting him three wishes. “I want to become the best boss ever!” shouted the manager, and the genie made his wish come true.
It’s obvious that such stories happen only in fairytales. In reality, there’s no quick solution to becoming a great boss. It takes time, effort, and dedication to become someone employees respect and follow.
If you’re here, reading this article, it means you’re already on your path to becoming a great boss, you just lack the right input on how to achieve it.
Knowing what you should do is important, but knowing things you should steer clear of is vital to success too. That’s why we decided to provide you with five management tactics you should avoid, making your journey to an exemplary manager much easier.
#1 Management tactic to avoid: Being the employees’ best friend
Professional and personal relationships shouldn’t mix. Drawing the line between private and personal space can sometimes be hard. What’s more, it can backfire pretty easily.
Furthermore, it’s harder to assume authority over someone who knows details of your private life, and it can be challenging in a delicate situation – such as, for instance when giving negative feedback.
If you want to be the boss employees will love you don’t have to be friends with them to achieve it.
One of the worst management tactics you can adopt is to try to become like Michael from “The Office” and befriend every employee you manage, which will make people way too comfortable, undermining your authority.
We don’t say you shouldn’t ask your employees about their day, their struggles, and express general interest in their lives, but you have to know where to draw the line.
#2 Management tactic to avoid: Don’t be an autopilot boss
When people work together for a long time, it might seem that managerial input isn’t necessary. However, even the best-performing teams need their manager to tell them what’s working or what should be improved, give them feedback and motivate them to keep up with good work.
If you’re managing a team that works perfectly and it seems that there’s little work for you to do, one of the worst management tactics you can make is to let everything run on autopilot. Don’t forget that your role within a team is crucial and that you should be present, no matter how well things are going.
#3 Management tactic to avoid: Too much talking, too little doing
Usually, a team looks up to their manager. For that reason, managers need to be true to their words and actually lead by what they preach.
One of the worst management tactics you, as a manager, can implement is to take a stance where you talk a lot, but do little or nothing. What’s more, once employees realize that the manager’s words and actions don’t align, they are more likely to lose control over a team, along with their confidence.
To avoid this from happening to you, make sure to listen to your employees’ needs and take action to address those needs in a proper and timely manner. Be the one who thinks outside of the box, and takes the lead. Show your team that you’re the first among equals who’s ready to lead.
#4 Management tactic to avoid: Setting goals that are too high
Of course, as a manager, you should know each team member’s strengths and weaknesses and pull the best out of everyone. However, that doesn’t mean you should burden your team members and set overly complicated, and near-impossible-to-manage tasks as a way to “push them beyond their boundaries” and improve their existing skills.
The truth is, people are today working more and more autonomously. Employees understand what needs to be done, they know everything about the pressures of work, and they are coping with those pressures daily. They don’t need someone who’ll throw rocks at them to make them more resilient. They need someone who can communicate well and set reasonable tasks, according to the strengths they do have.
#5 Management tactic to avoid: Micromanaging
Micromanaging is, by far, the worst management tactic you can practice on your employees. Micromanagers usually want to control every situation, to the smallest details. They are so afraid of losing control over things that they end up supervising and suffocating their employees to the extent they lose motivation and become less productive and motivated. Micromanagers often have trust issues – they’re not sure their employees will get the job done in time, or good enough they feel the need to aid the task completion in detail.
Micromanagement usually leads to anxiety, frustration, and burnout in employees. Furthermore, micromanaged employees often feel as if they’re unable to do anything right. These feelings often lead to poor mood and decreased work quality, productivity and performance.
That said, try to avoid micromanagement, and hold your employees accountable for the job they do. If you trusted your decision while hiring them, there’s no reason to look back on it now.
Ana Mladenovic
A cat enthusiast and a cupcake maniac, Ana is a freelance Content Writer passionate about HR, productivity, and team management topics. When she’s not at her keyboard, you can find Ana in the kitchen, trying to make delicious cookies.
