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Speaker 1: Welcome to Fear and Greed Q and A, where we

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Speaker 1: ask and answer questions about business, investing, economics, politics, and more.

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Speaker 1: I'm Michael Thompson, and good morning, Sean Aylmer.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Michael, and good morning to you.

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Speaker 3: Adam Lange, Hello, Michael, Hello Sean.

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Speaker 1: Today we're going to make a list, because I love

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Speaker 1: a good list. I want to make a list of

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Speaker 1: the biggest mistakes managers make.

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Speaker 2: Now Adam's laughing here because at one point in our careers,

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Speaker 2: Adam was Michael's manager. So I'm looking forward to hearing

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Speaker 2: Michael's list. Can I kick off?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, because I've got too many to go through, So

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Speaker 1: you get a started there, Sere.

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Speaker 2: Okay. My biggest gripe with managers I've had over the

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Speaker 2: years is when they don't communicate to you. So you

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Speaker 2: send them an email, you get no response. You ask

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Speaker 2: them a question, you get no response. I think the two.

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Speaker 2: Even if the manager doesn't have the answer, just the

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Speaker 2: fact that you've been heard really matters. So my number

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Speaker 2: one is a lack of communication, lack of feedback from

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Speaker 2: emails talking that sort of thing.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, mine, I like it. Well, I don't like

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Speaker 1: but this idea of avoiding tough conversations right where all

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Speaker 1: of a sudden, the tough conversations are perhaps passed to

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Speaker 1: somebody else rather than just having them directly. And the

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Speaker 1: more often you are having those conversations as a leader,

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Speaker 1: the more frequent the conversations that are taking place, the

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Speaker 1: easier it is to have those tough conversations because the

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Speaker 1: dialogue is already there. And when you have a manager

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Speaker 1: that avoids those conversations, it heightens the tension around when

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Speaker 1: you actually have one of them, and it's just not

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Speaker 1: good for accountability within the workplace. And that is something

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Speaker 1: that I learned in a positive way for Adam, not

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Speaker 1: because it was that he demonstrationalizations. Okay, Adam, give us

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Speaker 1: one to add to the list.

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Speaker 3: Probably I'm pleased say this isn't self reflection. Leaving badly,

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Speaker 3: So leaving a job badly is I think a Really,

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Speaker 3: it's just a tough thing to do because obviously someone

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Speaker 3: feels pretty bad about the situation and can't help but

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Speaker 3: get emotional, but just try and leave. Well, yeah, because

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Speaker 3: you're typically outside of a job a lot longer than

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Speaker 3: you were in it, and yeah, that can either feel

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Speaker 3: like a great thing look back with a great memory

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Speaker 3: versus having a regret.

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Speaker 1: Could I ask where delegation fits into the list of

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Speaker 1: biggest mistakes managers make? Would you put a lack of

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Speaker 1: delegation up there, or would you say too much delegating?

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Speaker 1: Can also is there like a sweet spot somewhere in

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Speaker 1: the middle there where you're kind of delegating things that

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Speaker 1: you would never dare to do yourself kind of thing,

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Speaker 1: or you wouldn't feel comfortable doing yourself, so you delegate

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Speaker 1: it to someone else, or you don't delegate and then

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Speaker 1: you end up taking on too much as a leader.

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Speaker 1: Where does delegation fit within the list of mistakes that

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Speaker 1: managers make?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's an imperfect science. I've done both, I think

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Speaker 3: at varying times. But it ends up being totally dependent

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Speaker 3: on the people. You know, So what's the right level

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Speaker 3: of pressure that someone can take? And so you have

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Speaker 3: to be I think that to one of Sean's points

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Speaker 3: before the good communication thing, that's the essential part is

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Speaker 3: knowing someone. Are you being a little too directive micromanaging

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Speaker 3: or are you being two hands off? You know, somewhere

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Speaker 3: in the middle of the sweet spot and where any

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Speaker 3: task is on that sort of exchange is going to

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Speaker 3: be very dependent on the individual and the task.

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Speaker 2: So do you know. One that I get very have

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Speaker 2: gotten very frustrated with over the years is when you've

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Speaker 2: made an effort and your manager hasn't made the effort.

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Speaker 2: So you'll be instructed to do something and you make

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Speaker 2: the effort to do it, and maybe I'd hadn't done

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Speaker 2: a very good job, so that but a bit irrelevant

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Speaker 2: the fact that you had made the effort and then

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Speaker 2: the manager kind of two days later says, where's the

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Speaker 2: you know this or you know what are we doing

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Speaker 2: about that? And so well, I've sent that to you. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 2: but let's just let's just do it together. And it's

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Speaker 2: kind of that incredibly frustrating thing where you've actually done

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Speaker 2: the work and they don't even have the decency to

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Speaker 2: read it to say, hey, this is a good idea

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Speaker 2: or this isn't a good idea. And I had one

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Speaker 2: manager in particular quite a few years ago, and I

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Speaker 2: think the way they asked me those questions, it was

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Speaker 2: for them for them to get me to think about it.

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Speaker 2: So you do all this work and then you'd walk

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Speaker 2: in and you realize they hadn't looked at it. And

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Speaker 2: they're not interested in it, And oh it drove me, mad.

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Speaker 3: Adam.

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Speaker 1: You mentioned one in passing before about micromanaging, and I

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Speaker 1: reckon everyone has had experience with a micromanager, someone who

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Speaker 1: just does not let you get in and do the

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Speaker 1: job yourself. Whether it's is it a lack of trust

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Speaker 1: essentially to do it, or just a belief that you

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Speaker 1: can do it better yourself, or I don't know what

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Speaker 1: it is that causes micromanaging, But my god, that is

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Speaker 1: a hard thing to deal with, isn't it.

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Speaker 3: Oh it's tough for everybody, but you know you wanted

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Speaker 3: to like, yes, it's tough, but is it really a

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Speaker 3: form of ignorance, meaning that you so believe that you're

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Speaker 3: good at it that others can't be as good at it?

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Speaker 3: And you know that just can't be true, right, either

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Speaker 3: your training's wrong or the execution's wrong.

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Speaker 2: So I think you should be able to tell your

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Speaker 2: manager though, And I know there's an empower and balance,

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Speaker 2: but I have at time said to managers, Hey, you've

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Speaker 2: asked me to do this, I'll do it and then

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Speaker 2: we'll talk about it afterwards. Maybe I have enough self

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Speaker 2: confidence to do that. So not everyone has that yeah,

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Speaker 2: but I do think there is something that if you've

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Speaker 2: been given a task and then your manager starts to

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Speaker 2: do it. I mean I've been in this position saying, well,

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Speaker 2: if you want to do it, you do it. That's fine.

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Speaker 2: But if you're getting me to do it, I'll do

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Speaker 2: it and then we'll talk about it, and it really

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Speaker 2: puts them on the back foot.

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Speaker 1: Can I ask you both about being too slow to

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Speaker 1: move somebody on if you are a if you're a

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Speaker 1: manager and not acting quickly enough, if you've got an underperformer,

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Speaker 1: or if you've got someone who is not good for

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Speaker 1: the company culture or not good for other people within

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Speaker 1: the workplace, and letting that fester and go on for

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Speaker 1: too long. Have you seen that happen, have you done it,

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Speaker 1: or have you kind of learned that lesson.

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Speaker 2: I'm an expert at letting that happen. And it's not

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Speaker 2: even getting letting people go right. It's more subtle than that.

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Speaker 2: It's about a poor cultural fit or a behavior that's

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Speaker 2: not great that you need to address. That is hard

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Speaker 2: as a manager to actually take someone on on and say,

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Speaker 2: look the way you're approaching this, you're too bolshey, or

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Speaker 2: you're not using the right languageoy like because it's a

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Speaker 2: personal insult. Oh my god, I am an expert letting

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Speaker 2: that one flow.

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Speaker 3: I think they definitely got better at it over time,

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Speaker 3: but certainly made that mistake. When you in the coaching business,

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Speaker 3: performance by design, we only ever get invited.

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Speaker 2: In nice plug.

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Speaker 3: Someone someone thinks that something's wrong, they need some help

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Speaker 3: with it, So we never get invited in. Really, but

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Speaker 3: everything's going so well that the management team is signlighted

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Speaker 3: to go, Hey, you know we're going so well. We

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Speaker 3: need to make sure this keeps going. Let's get some

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Speaker 3: experts in. It's always a problem, and always, always, always,

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Speaker 3: when there's a problem, it's always related. We know that

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Speaker 3: there's stuff wrong here. We don't actually need you to

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Speaker 3: tell us. We almost just need to have a conversation

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Speaker 3: about how to get it done.

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Speaker 1: One last question. We are out of time. But when

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Speaker 1: you are a leader, when you are a manager, the

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Speaker 1: buck should stop with you. Have you ever worked with

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Speaker 1: a manager who just refuses to take any accountability for

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Speaker 1: what happens within the team, And always it's the fault

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Speaker 1: of perhaps someone else, or perhaps someone within the team

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Speaker 1: who didn't quite do it properly. Instead, Adam, you are

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Speaker 1: nodding vigorously. You have seen this time? Oh yeah, all

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Speaker 1: the time.

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Speaker 3: It's a cultural fail because at what point was that acceptable?

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I've had stand up arguments with my manager about

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Speaker 2: them taking responsibility for me not being able to take

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Speaker 2: responsibility for stuff, saying I can't take responsibility for this,

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Speaker 2: you need to take responsibility for it. And I've had

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Speaker 2: a lot of fights with my managers over the years.

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Speaker 1: So I'm getting that sense.

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Speaker 3: All right.

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Speaker 2: I managed, I managed a journalists right, and that was

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Speaker 2: never an easy task. I've got to say, Oh my god.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, So our list no communicating, avoiding tough conversations,

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Speaker 4: leaving a job badly, poor delegation, a lack of effort, micromanaging,

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Speaker 4: a poor cultural fit, and a lack of accountability.

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Speaker 3: Wow, that's it.

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Speaker 1: It's like a Christmas list. Yeah, it's a wish list.

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Speaker 1: It's like we're building.

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Speaker 2: Like my Men style.

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Speaker 1: There we go write a handsbook on what not to

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Speaker 1: do just based on that list alone. Thank you very much, Sean,

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Speaker 1: thanks Michael, thanks, thank you, Adam, thank you both. If

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Speaker 1: you've got a question that you'd like us to tackle,

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Speaker 1: anything that you'd like us to explore, then send it

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Speaker 1: through on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, or at fearangreed dot com

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Speaker 1: dot au. I'm Michael Thompson and this is fear and

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Speaker 1: greed and a