Three Frequently Held Misconceptions in Management

You'll quickly learn as a manager that many people have preconceived notions about what managers can and cannot do. It's possible that some managers honestly believe they can read minds and are perfect in every way, but the reality is quite different (personality, skills, and experience included).

It's reasoning like this that's being used, and it's wrong. Managers are rewarded for not only being competent in their roles, but also for showing initiative and the ability to learn new things. There is never anyone at the top of a company who knows everything there is to know about how the business actually functions. Let us try to debunk three common myths about management.

All information is available to management.

This is not the case, once again. Despite their best efforts, inquisitive managers often find that the knowledge and data available to upper management remain just that: at the upper echelons of the organization. You and your team may end up spending unnecessary time on tasks that could have been avoided altogether if only an alternative had been made clear to you.

A manager's only job is to give tasks to their employees.

It's impossible to pinpoint the origin of this misconception, but I think we can all agree that it needs to go away. Unsatisfied workers often accuse their manager of doing nothing but passing off their work to subordinates while he sits back in his office to read the paper and drink coffee. A good manager knows how to divide up tasks, keeping some in-house while passing others on to subordinates. A good manager is always busy, whether he is performing his own tasks, directing the work of his subordinates, or reassembling the project after its parts have been completed.

Every successful manager needs to be able to effectively manage their time.

Contrary to popular belief, managers possess considerable skill in the art of prioritization. It's possible that some supervisors have created a schedule for themselves, but they lack the power to enforce it on their subordinates. The manager's day is constantly disrupted by employees, phone calls, emails, and the insistence of others that their work is more important. Maybe we'll find out that on a good day they manage to get seven out of ten things done, but on a bad day they manage to get nothing done. The task of keeping track of time is challenging enough for managers without having to deal with their staff members as well.

Always keep these misinterpretations in mind as you interact with coworkers, peers, and superiors. They may have unrealistic expectations of you, even though you're giving it your all.

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