Mistakes we sometimes make as bosses (thinking we are always right)

Once again I am writing a new post for this series of articles I have been writing about mistakes bosses frequently make. This is the eleventh post and soon I will finish these series. Before you continue I invite you to read about other common mistakes that are made when we have people in charge: mistaken ways to correct employees, not being able to delegate, having essential people in our team, not listening to our workers, not promoting a good work environment, not leading by example, being unable to decide, not promoting their team growth, not promoting discipline and having analysts that only execute. Today I am writing about a subject related with the mistake of not listening to our work team, but worsen and it is thinking that as bosses we are always right.

When we have people that work for us, the idea is that they add value to our processes. Adding value is not just a matter of having a team that does operative work and act as machines. Adding value also implies that people think and that they express their view of things that are related with their work.

Taking into account what I have just stated and as I mentioned in the post that talks about not listening to our team, it is true that if we are bosses is because we have some traits that maybe our team doesn’t have and that makes that at the end we are the ones who have to take important decisions. However my invitation is to have an open mind and to listen to our people and even our peers and bosses. Confronting their ideas with ours enrich our perception and generates a better sustain when we need to take decisions.

It is clear that many times it is difficult for a boss to accept they where wrong and that someone in their team might have a better answer for a problem. However my take on this point is that it is just a pride subject that bosses should forget on behalf of the company. Before I finish this post I want to remind you two aspects. First is that to err is human. The second aspect is that in the same way as we have some important traits that make us bosses, our employees have other important characteristics for which we can take advantage, such as having a team with different education or that have specific knowledge acquired by being in the daily operation.

Remember that in a few days I will finish these series of articles. Wait for my last posts!

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