The title is misleading. It's not about management skills. It's also impolite to use "nobody" in it.
Agreed. Cliff's Notes version: "Apologize when you make mistakes."
All managers make mistakes; good managers acknowledge and repair
21–30 of 134 posts
Re: All managers make mistakes; good managers acknowledge and repair
#22Nah, obviously good managers don't need to repair because they don't make mistakes in the first place. And if they are really really good at not making mistakes they become executives, which are the closest we have to human perfection.
Re: All managers make mistakes; good managers acknowledge and repair
#23Someone posted a link on HN years ago to a set of google docs titled the "Mochary Method", which covers all sorts of management skills just like this. I have it bookmarked as it's the only set of notes I've seen which talks about this stuff in a very human way that makes sense to me (as a non-manager). Here's the doc for responding to mistakes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AqBGwJ2gMQCrx5hK8q-u7wP0... And here'…
Would you happen to have the links to all the docs? I feel like there might be done value at re-disseminating it, even if I am guessing most things are common sense, sometimes seeing things written down help to stop, reflect, and do better.
Re: All managers make mistakes; good managers acknowledge and repair
#24My first boss told me that it's the primary role of a good manager to keep bullshit away from your most competent staff and 'manage' everyone else. I've worked for a number of organizations with different ideas of management since then, but that has been my guiding principle.
Re: All managers make mistakes; good managers acknowledge and repair
#25> The ~~Management~~ Skill Nobody Talks About.
Getting on with people long term is often about making them feeling acknowledged and being clear about what makes them valued.
The real trick to 'repair' is not to make hollow promises. Managers can be perceived as failing when an external event happens and they haven't planned for it, or they bet against it happening. This can kick off a whole chain of events, including pushing team members into crunch time or 'impossible positions'. Its rare that you can stop the external event or a similar one from happening, so promising it won't is hollow.
The next hollow promise commonly made is 'when it happens I won't let X happen [to you]'. The problem here is often that you probably will. In two ways: either X happening is clear in hindsight but not with foresight, so you'll probably make similar decisions again; or, the team member ending up in an unhappy situation is the best of a bad bunch of options.
I've had to place people in positions where they had insufficient support and excessive demands. Sometimes I knew this going in, and sometimes I did not.
You also have to be careful about passing the buck - if you're the manager you need to be clear with yourself about what your job is and whose issue any given problem actually is. Do you help your team interact with third parties, or do third parties interact with your team through you? How much are you supposed to represent your teams needs to management (e.g. pushback) vs how much are you supposed to represent your management's desires to the team (e.g. pushdown).
If you are caught passing the buck to shirk responsibility by your reports or by management you will lose a lot of trust and respect very quickly. You can always pushback or pushdown harder to appear 'good' to one party, but at some extreme that is going to lose you your job. Its your choice how to play this - so own the choice.
Re: All managers make mistakes; good managers acknowledge and repair
#26That sounds more like a daycare skill, not a management skill. Good managers don't get distracted by "favors" for other departments or navel gaze after making mistakes. They have a clear vision of what needs to be done and execute on it aggressively, and aren't afraid to make mistakes when pursuing a goal. Good team members love this, and the rest fail out.
Disagree. This sounds like a manager that would drive me absolutely insane.
Likewise. This sort of manager would immediately trigger my instinct to "manage up" and start documenting every scrap of communication as they're likely to have an unrealistic understanding of current capabilities and will over-promise deliverables.
Re: All managers make mistakes; good managers acknowledge and repair
#27People love to talk about management skills and how things should be, but in my experience the autonomy to have that freedom is greatly lost upon the manager. At every level of management you'll be barking down orders as a transitory and the main difference is how you do or do not get buy-in from your reports - and often it is next to impossible to gain that buy-in (more work! longer hours! emergency pragmatic fix fo…
[deleted]
Re: All managers make mistakes; good managers acknowledge and repair
#28Oh no. Not another LinkedIn insight from a new dad about how managing humans in corp is just like parenting. Just fucking enjoy being a parent and don't apply your obvious empathy epiphanies to your career out loud.
Re: All managers make mistakes; good managers acknowledge and repair
#29Someone posted a link on HN years ago to a set of google docs titled the "Mochary Method", which covers all sorts of management skills just like this. I have it bookmarked as it's the only set of notes I've seen which talks about this stuff in a very human way that makes sense to me (as a non-manager). Here's the doc for responding to mistakes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AqBGwJ2gMQCrx5hK8q-u7wP0... And here'…
Would you happen to have the links to all the docs? I feel like there might be done value at re-disseminating it, even if I am guessing most things are common sense, sometimes seeing things written down help to stop, reflect, and do better.
Of course! I've added an edit at the bottom of that comment.
Re: All managers make mistakes; good managers acknowledge and repair
#30That sounds more like a daycare skill, not a management skill. Good managers don't get distracted by "favors" for other departments or navel gaze after making mistakes. They have a clear vision of what needs to be done and execute on it aggressively, and aren't afraid to make mistakes when pursuing a goal. Good team members love this, and the rest fail out.
Disagree. This sounds like a manager that would drive me absolutely insane.
Sounds like the typical know it all, drives the thing into the ground while not re questioning either the why or the how, then attempts to scapegoat the team and try to save their own skin.