As many as 57% of employees quit not because of the job but because of their boss. And that’s a statistic that should force the majority of managers to take a hard look at how they lead their teams.

But in many cases, managers aren’t entirely to blame for the bad relationships they develop with their employees. There are many misconceptions about leading a team that can make even someone with the best intentions succumb to poor practices and inefficient methods.

The good news is that all of that can be avoided if you steer clear of a few critical mistakes that can negatively affect your leadership ability and your team’s performance.

Let’s explore five of these mistakes below.

Not Celebrating Special Occasions

A work environment can be stressful. Managers have goals and deadlines to meet, and employees have tasks that can pile up quickly and make even the most resilient people feel overwhelmed. 

And unfortunately, the stressful environment can make nurturing healthy relationships between coworkers more difficult. When people are on edge, they are less likely to help others, creating an increased risk of conflicts.

And while a lot of that is a natural process, part of it is because of managers not encouraging positive celebrations in the office. Celebrating birthdays and milestones helps people blow off steam, talk with their peers about things outside of work, and develop deeper relationships that will help strengthen a sense of camaraderie.

At the very least, good managers should strive to send out memorable and funny coworker birthday wishes, letting each employee know that they’re more than just a subordinate and that they are valued as human beings.

This seemingly simple gesture can go a long way in breaking down the barriers between leaders and teams, which can have a far-reaching effect on how people interact on a day-to-day basis.

Not Sharing the Company’s Vision

Employees do their best work when they are motivated and engaged in the task they are doing. If they know that the task matters and the purpose that it serves, focusing their attention and maximizing their efforts becomes a natural thing that doesn’t have to be forced.

But many leaders make the mistake of getting caught up in the big-picture plans themselves without sharing them with the team. And that can be a problem because many tasks can seem pointless, dull, and unchallenging without some context.

That’s why the best leaders take the time to talk with team members about why the work they do matters. They paint the picture of how the company will benefit from a task getting done and why they are the right person for the job.

When you educate your team on why getting past specific hurdles matters and how it plays into the company’s goals will also allow you to celebrate milestones when you reach them. As we already discussed in the previous section, celebrations and acknowledgements help build stronger bonds and come together to accomplish great things. 

Not Providing Growth Opportunities

76% of employees say that career growth opportunities are important to them. So companies that want to keep their employees happy and prevent them from leaving must have an effective strategy for helping employees grow and progress in their careers.

A lot of the responsibility falls on managers, who work with their team every day and have the best view of each person’s unique traits and strengths. They can use those insights to create individual career opportunities and help people hone their skills in the right direction.

And the very best leaders actively participate in the career growth process of each member of their team. Sometimes, the only way to figure out where the person wants to go is to talk to them. Managers can listen to the person’s priorities and share their insights about what they feel would be a good opportunity in a specific situation.

Over time, being present in the career development of your team will nurture trust and an increased dedication to each person’s work. And also, it will help grow new leaders from within the company, allowing people to take on more responsibility and grooming them for specific roles they can take over in the future.

Hesitating to Address Issues

One of the unavoidable tasks managers have to deal with is solving issues and resolving conflicts. That’s because if these situations are left unattended, they can grow into more serious problems or conflicts that will end up disrupting work and damaging the chemistry in the office.

But less experienced managers are afraid to get in the middle of problems for a couple of reasons. First, because they lack experience, they are worried that if they mishandle the situation, that can make it even worse.

And at the same time, they often fail to recognize when problems are developing until it’s too late to mitigate them without much effort.

To avoid these types of scenarios, always keep your finger on the pulse in the office and regularly talk to people about what’s happening. You could even encourage your employees to come to you with anything they feel is important or concerning.

Over time, you will become better at recognizing when a situation requires immediate attention. But until that happens, relying on your team to provide you with intel is the best way to go if you want to be a leader that people know will effectively resolve issues.

Failing to Delegate Tasks

Delegating tasks is hard. As a leader, you want to make sure things get done the right way, and many times, you will have more experience than the people working in your team.

But while you might get a task done faster and more effectively than someone else, you will also be depriving that person of a learning opportunity. And over a more extended period, that can be much more costly for the entire company.

Team members can’t improve unless given the autonomy to try and figure out things by themselves. And while that can cause some frustration right now, when you delegate tasks, you will find that you can allocate your own time more effectively and put more responsibility on others.

One thing to remember is that while it’s good to provide more autonomy, you should remain present if someone needs help. It’s also a good idea to provide initial guidance and set clear goals so that people know how to work through the problem and what they need to achieve.

Final Words

Leading a team is a complex process. Even the best leaders had to go through many challenges and face their mistakes until they become effective managers who know how to lead a team forward.

The good news is that while you do need experience, there are common mistakes you can look out for. And that alone can put you miles ahead of most other managers that try to figure everything out on their own.