Where New Managers Fail

New Managers Have a High Failure Rate

New managers have a high failure rate. It’s organically built into the role, company, expectations, and business need on a fundamental level. A manager’s role comes in titles: shift supervisor, lead, front-line manager, coach, floor supervisor, shift leader, office manager, floor manager, department manager, regional manager, area manager, etc. The flaw begins in the ‘immediate need’, which means that it must be addressed with a solution, by the company.

Immediate Need = someone to lead the shift, lead the team, etc.
Solution = (insert name) can do it or maybe (insert name); we just need someone to make sure work is getting done.

The flaw continues with the ‘power rush’ and excitement of ‘the money’, by the employee selected; sometimes it’s an easy sell and sometimes it’s a firm push.

Result = New Manager.

This is the norm in small to mid-size organizations, generally in medium to large corporations there is training, better training budgets, and mentoring programs.

Let’s talk about it. New managers fail and/or function in a recurring difficulty cycle because:

Lacking fundamental understanding of:
- Role beneath the Title.
- Basic Interpersonal and Communication skills
- Boundaries
- False Assumptions
Training, Mentoring, and Skill Building are essential, cannot be replaced with:
- TikTok
- Facebook
- Instagram
- Threads
- Friend, Parent, Uber Driver
Management of human beings is the most challenging job in the world.

The conversation with the employee needs to cover:

Job description and duties, line by line (example):
1. Working member of the team or Strictly supervisor the others
2. Payroll and Employee punches responsibilities
3. Incidents/Injuries/Safety violations and reporting protocol
4. Equipment/Vehicle responsibilities
5. Open/Closing Reports or duties
Allowing the employee to consider the responsibilities (before reviewing pay), if interested continue.
Review expectations (should include training, shadowing, or mentoring) and boundaries (rules of engagement on legal and illegal) in the role (before reviewing pay), if understands and is interested continue.
Review support structure and chain of command (before reviewing pay), if interested continue.
Discuss pay.

Given our Google Addiction – let’s do a Google search that provides a statement or two, followed by bullet points that has word with a definition is not training.

Let’s break it down:

Google search – ‘What skills do you need to be a manager?’
- Effective managers combine emotional intelligence with strategic execution, prioritizing human-centric leadership to retain talent. Key capabilities include active listening, clear communication, delegation, and adaptive problem-solving. As noted by professionals, mastering these abilities is the key to creating a healthy, high-performing work environment
  - Bullet points (not the full listing)
    - Emotional Intelligence and Empathy
    - Active Listening
    - Conflict Resolution

Reading the Google summary is the tiny flake on the top of the iceberg floating in the ocean. It’s words, phrases or sentences. That’s not skill building. It’s not training. Educating on terms used, this is the start.

Building Skills comes with a combination of education on the subject and training to understand the core concept, which allows adaption to the situation, company, industry, and in real time with employees, especially direct reports. YouTube can’t do this with ONE in a twelve (12) minute video. Skill building is like building a house; there are levels or blocks as it goes up.

If you skip some a few blocks or ‘fake it’ here or there, 100% guarantee your employees, other employees and managers will see the cracks in the foundation. The point is simply this, if you accept the role of managing employees, it’s ongoing skill building process for you. Experts, top in their subject-matter field, are still learning and they put in years of dedication.

Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.

Let’s talk about it. If you are looking for the fastest way to fail, these will get you there. New managers default to the friend and/or the shouting method, time after time. There aren’t many human beings that can overcome: lack or limited skills, nervous energy, insecurities, expectations, responsibilities, workload, the great abyss before them with direct reports staring at them before the first moment greeting. So, they fumble and default to what they believe they would like or what they have experienced in the past.

The Friend Method – manager focuses on building personal relationships with employees who report to them, with the thought of if they like me then I’ll be a great manager. Instead, it causes more challenges:
- Compromises
  - Holding employees accountable – the friend card will be pulled for everything from being late (cover for me) to poor performance review conversations (ahh, come on man or joking about it is not real) to a disciplinary action (thought we were friends or this isn’t right, man).
  - Creates favoritism – by default we connect with others on different levels (close friends vs acquaintances), same happens in the workplace. There is no way to win as manager; intentions will be questioned. Relationships perceived by others breed assumptions. Direct reports not in the ‘popular’ role are undervalued.
  - Integrity to be Impartial – the special treatment flag will always be waving; on every promotion, pay increase, performance review, attendance or time off request. There is no way to remove the undercurrent of what others see as inconsistent, because of a manager’s favorites.
The Rage or Shouting Method – this ‘lore’ method focuses on the myths of how to manage others using terms like ‘back in my day’, ‘my boss would’, or ‘I learned quick’ associate with lost temper rage and yelling at someone instead of training and educating employees on their job. This one tends to be expensive with lawsuits attached to it.
- Compromises
  - Resulting Impact – creates a fear or intimidation in employees which nets low production and loss of employee. Word gets out about the manager, company and the mistreatment of workers. Employees will avoid asking questions and will continue to make mistakes because of the fear created.
  - Work Environment & Culture – it’s completely toxic, the only one who feels like its successful is the manager. They believe that fear forms character and installs hard work ethics. This approach has worked for years, and it was how they learned and look at them now. A 99% fail rate is not something to brag about.

The Secret

Let’s talk about it. A manager cannot operate from a place that works for them (personally). Must change that mindset. It’s critical that that belief is erased. Along the whining and sometimes challenging path of building skills on what it takes to manage others; the secret was right there.

Congratulations manager. Every employee is different, therefore developing a neutral style works best. It allows for consistency, fairness, and employees notice and respect that trait.

We all enter the workplace with an understanding to be civil and work with others, we are paid for the work done, and an expectation of fair treatment. Part of fair treatment is finding that neutral point to manage from to get the best results.

Important

Managers are the source of employment violations and lawsuits. Check out Management and Management Issues for more information.

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