The 11 Worst Mistakes to Make As a Manager

Learning from a mistake is the best way to improve. But what happens when you’re in a role where one mistake could end your career?

Management is one of the most demanding roles in any business. You’re responsible for yourself, your team, and your team’s objectives. With so much responsibility, even small mistakes can be costly. It’s a catch-22, because there’s a steep learning curve when you step into management. And when you’re learning a lot — quickly — it’s a breeding ground for mistakes.

In leadership, the same mistakes can trip you up from junior management, all the way to the C-suite. Not all mistakes are career-ending, but even small ones can carry big consequences. To find out about the biggest (and worst) mistakes people have made while working as a manager we surveyed 200 people from middle management through to executives.

If you know about the most common mistakes from the minute you step into your first management position, you’ll be able to recognise them before they happen, learn from them if they do happen, and hopefully avoid anything disastrous.

Being supported by a talented and hardworking team is incredibly rewarding. But, like any big reward, you should expect big risk — especially when you’re hiring.

Not all managers are in charge of recruitment, but the ones that are know it’s a serious task, with serious consequences if you make the wrong judgement.

Male manager, 40, WA

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“There was an instance where I ended up bowing to pressure and recruiting someone who I knew wasn’t right for a role. Ultimately my instinct was right, and it was a mistake to give in.

“It was a good learning experience because I realised I should stick to my guns when facing outside pressure from others.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“It is a difficult one, but stand your ground and provide solid reasoning for your decision. You might think at the time it’s easier to give in, but it will likely end up worse for you in the long run.”

Male manager, 47, VIC

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“The biggest mistake I’ve made in my career would have to be the employment of a person that abused their position in the company not long after taking the job.

“It taught me to be more careful when looking at people to hire.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“Review all information and conduct thorough background checks.”

Male manager, 26, VIC

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“I hired a bad member to the team and it created problems for the next twelve months.

“I learned that I need to spend more time with background reviews.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“I think new managers need better training on recruitment programs. I would ask your organisation to organise training for you if you’re going to be responsible for hiring people.”

Male manager, 65, VIC

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“Wrong staff selection, which led to conflict and problems in the office.

“This mistake made me realise how important staff selection is to your overall operation. It’s not a responsibility to take lightly.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“It’s hard, but it’s important to develop proper staff selection skills. Or, use a recruitment organisation.”

Hiring isn’t just about finding someone who can do the job. It’s about finding a good cultural fit for your organisation, and more importantly, your team. At the end of the day, hiring someone who will mesh well with the personalities in your team is, in a lot of cases, more important than hiring someone with years of experience. You can always train someone to do the job well, but you can’t force someone to gel with the rest of your team.

What’s that infamous saying? “Never assume — it makes an A** out of U and ME.” A hilarious play on the word that actually rings scarily true. Assumptions are a curse in any situation, but when you’re in a position of authority, your assumptions can have a far bigger impact than you might intend.

Female manager, 33, VIC

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“I assumed things regarding an employee and accused them wrongly.

“Making this mistake taught me to be more empathetic and to really listen to people.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“Listen and clarify with others before jumping to any conclusions.”

Female manager, 33, QLD

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“I listened to workplace gossip rather than going straight to the source.

“I learnt very quickly how information can become misconstrued when individuals’ opinions are added onto it.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“Have confidential discussions with those involved separately to gain all sides of a story first. You’ll only know the best course of action once you understand the full picture.”

Female manager, 55, QLD

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“I got distracted by a fight a colleague kept starting with another employee. I didn’t hear what the other employee was really saying until after she left. When I finally worked it out, I realised I need to focus on the topic and not on aggressive people.

“This mistake changed how I deal with confrontation. It was a reminder that people can manipulate situations, and that you’ll never actually know the truth unless you hear both parties out.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“Don’t think just because someone’s job is to help you that that is what they will always do.”

Aside from taking workplace gossip with a grain of salt, the best way to avoid getting thrown into the turmoil yourself is to seek clarity from both parties before taking action. Remember that even if a team member seems to be acting out, there’s likely always a reason behind it — personal or professional. You don’t want to crush morale or ruin a relationship just because you took a situation at face value.

There’s a lot to be said about the importance of communication as a manager. When you step up to a position of authority, the stakes are higher — not just for yourself, but for your whole team.

A single miscommunication from you is enough to get your whole team in trouble. For instance, if you don’t communicate a brief properly and your team doesn’t fulfil their objectives, it will reflect poorly on all of you.

Communicating information is important. But even more crucial is the way you go about communicating that information. Being too blunt, cold, or disengaged when communicating with your team will do even more harm than not communicating at all.

Female manager, 19, QLD

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“A staff member got in huge trouble because I didn’t tell my boss about something. It made me realise I need to inform management of things much faster.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“Always tell your boss everything they need to know straight away.”

Female manager, 54, NSW

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“I accidentally didn’t communicate properly, and a former staff member mistook what I said. I’m much clearer now. I hate having anyone think I’d discriminate against them for something unchangeable.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“If you aren’t confident in your communication style as a manager, it might help to take a few communication classes. It’s not just about being clear, it’s also about being calm, encouraging and inspiring.”

Female manager, 23, QLD

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“Not communicating properly with my team was a mistake I made a few times as a manager.

“I learnt how to do things better and made an effort to learn more about effective communication from my colleagues. I even asked my employees how they preferred me to communicate.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“Training, management training and seek mentorship from those in a similar role.”

When you first step into management, you may not realise how much your communication impacts team morale until it’s too late. A 54 year old manager from NSW says: “If you aren’t confident in your communication style as a manager, it might help to take a few communication classes. It’s not just about being clear, it’s also about being calm, encouraging and inspiring.”

A big part of effective communication is your ability to listen, and your ability to pick up on non-verbal cues. Staying tapped into employee morale is crucial as a manager. Low morale can impact workflow, productivity and, of course, the general sentiment towards work. 

No matter how busy things are, it’s still important to give your team your time and empathy — especially when they come to you directly to talk about a problem.

Female manager, 26, VIC

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“Didn’t assist my staff enough to manage stress, we didn’t have the foundations to implement this.

“While it was a tumultuous experience, it allowed me to better support my staff in the future, and gave me an understanding of why it’s so important to be there for my staff.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“Ensure there are frameworks around stress management either within the business, or worst case, within your team. HR might be able to better assist with implementing some positive foundations to support staff.”

Female manager, 40, QLD

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“My worst mistake as a manager is not listening to somebody or giving the proper weight to a problem that they brought to me when I should have. It cost the company and my team a lot of time and money, and it made me feel terrible.

“It was a good learning experience. I do believe that you learn better by being put in tough situations and making mistakes. And that mistake taught me a lesson about how I don’t want to manage people and allowed me to become a more tentative and present leader.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“As a beginner you’ll likely be surrounded by people who know what they’re doing. You’ll work with people who are incredibly smart, and you should accept their advice. If they come to you and say something important, you should listen to that and ask questions.”

Female manager, 36, QLD

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“My worst mistake was not noticing a team member had a depression relapse. My inattentiveness regarding the situation ultimately led to him injuring himself and a fellow worker.

“This mistake constantly reminds me to pay more attention to my staff and their mental health issues.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“They can be more attentive and interactive with fellow workers. Check in with people about their personal lives, not just professionally.”

Male manager, 38, VIC

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“Going hard on my workers when I was a young manager. I had thought that to be a good manager and get good results I had to be a hard task-master — demanding a lot and praising little. It took time to figure out that was a mistake, and I was severely damaging morale. In the process I lost some good employees.

“I learned that if you’re good to your employees they will work harder for you. Pushing them hard and demanding a lot actually damages morale.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“I was naive when I started in management, and I didn’t understand the importance of good people skills. Inspire your team rather than command them. You’ll reap the benefits.”

It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking work should come first, and employee feelings or problems can be addressed later. It makes sense at a surface level, but when you push problems down it’s only a matter of time before they bubble up again (worse than before). 

Plus, like one manager explains, ignoring the problem made her “feel terrible”. That’s an extra layer of personal stress that you don’t need when you’ve got so much on your plate already. Observation and listening skills will develop as you grow in your role. You’ll learn to pick up on even the slightest cues, and will also have the experience to know how to handle tough situations.

If you’re looking to develop these skills professionally, though, you can learn them in a leadership training course. After all, leadership and empathy go hand in hand. 

For a lot of people — probably including yourself — the big break in a career came from being trusted to handle something bigger than your current responsibilities. It’s a pivotal moment where you start to get noticed by others and believe in your own abilities. Whether it’s owning a project end-to-end, or stepping into a new responsibility for the first time and nailing it, these are the moments that shape someone’s career. 

Motivated professionals crave extra responsibility, but when they’re not trusted by their direct manager (aka: you) to take it on, that motivation deflates very quickly.

Female manager, 52, VIC

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“When I was a young manager, the biggest mistake I made was not allowing those under me to take some of my responsibility. I rarely delegated work or let employees take on large projects because I assumed it would be easier to do it all myself. At the time I didn’t realise how bad this was for my team’s morale.

“The learnings from this mistake only came with age. I was a manager at the age of 21. I have learnt a lot about how to manage people over the course of my career, and one of the best morale boosters is believing in your team.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“Be more collaborative, and let people explore work beyond their role. Everyone deserves an opportunity to prove themselves.”

Female manager, 34, SA

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“Not delegating to my team was a big mistake I made a few times. Without the skills and support of my employees, I kept getting snowed under.

“These were good lessons in planning and trust.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“Trust your people and your processes. There’s no “I” in team, and especially as a manager, it’s important to loosen the reins and have faith in your team.”

You can’t expect your employees to believe in themselves if you don’t show any faith in their abilities. Of course that doesn’t mean giving one of your junior team members full responsibility for a project they don’t have the skills to execute. But take notice of your team: how do they perform, what do they get excited about, and what are they asking for professionally? 

Being an observant manager means you’ll be able to align your employees with responsibilities they’ll be passionate about and execute well. 

One of the biggest challenges new managers face is figuring out where to draw professional boundaries with colleagues. It’s often a first impulse to want to befriend the people reporting to you in an effort to build strong relationships. But this tactic will actually cause more harm than good.

Friendships can quickly cross professional boundaries, even if you don’t intend that to be the outcome. Many managers have at least one cautionary tale around friendships in the workplace.

Female manager, 30, WA

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“Favouring some staff over others. It was a mistake I made as a young manager and wasn’t fair on other staff and I’ve learnt from that.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“Treat everyone the same. Even if you don’t personally mesh with individuals on your team, speak kindly to them, give them the same opportunities as everyone else, and ensure they feel valued as a professional.”

Female manager, 32, NSW

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“My worst mistake as a manager was speaking too freely to staff that I had built friendly relationships with. I thought I could trust them because we were so close, but they used the things I said against me in the workplace.

“It has shown me that, at the end of the day, staff are still staff, and fraternising causes more issues than you’d think. No matter how well you get along, the moment something doesn’t go their way there’s a big possibility they’ll try to turn things on you.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“By only building professional relationships with staff. Be friendly, but avoid building friendships. You don’t want to compromise your authority or your reputation.”

Female manager, 38, WA

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“Getting too friendly with subordinates. They then used our friendship to test professional boundaries.

“Now I try to keep staff at an arm’s length to keep relationships professional.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“This may not be totally avoidable for a new manager. But it would be good for a more senior leader/mentor to share guidance here.”

Female manager, 51, QLD

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“Trusting a staff member who I also considered a friend. She not only didn’t do her job properly, but told my line manager they were my mistakes.

“I learnt friendship and staff members I manage do not mix.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“Don’t employ or promote people you know personally.”

Female manager, 39, QLD

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“Trusting in the friendship side of a work colleague and believing they had integrity rather than throwing someone under the bus for their own career gains.

“It was a reality check I needed.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“Be aware that making friends at work is fine as long as you don’t cross professional boundaries. Your staff aren’t your confidants.”

Favouritism, bias, and confidential information being spread in whispers — all things to expect if you become too close to your direct reports. The best way to avoid the risk is to be friendly without being friends.

If you’re someone being promoted to management within the same company, you probably already have friendships that you’ll have to navigate and set new boundaries in. It sounds difficult, but some open communication will go a long way (and if they’re good friends, they’ll respect the reason you’re setting these boundaries).

A management or leadership course can give insight into how to gain respect and trust from your employees while maintaining healthy professional boundaries.

As humans, we have emotions. They’re natural, and in the right situation and context, it’s better to express them than to hold them in. But at work — especially when you’re a leader — the best way to serve your team is to project calmness no matter how stressful things get.

Having an emotional outburst at work isn’t necessarily going to be career-ending, but it could damage your reputation or change the way you’re perceived at work; especially if it’s an angry outburst. 

Female manager, 34, QLD

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“I didn’t lead by example and yelled at one of my employees.

“It taught me to be more relaxed when it comes to mistakes made by my team members. I realised it’s important to take the time and explain what they’ve done wrong instead of letting my frustration build up.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“By listening to your employees’ needs more.”

Male manager, 31, NSW

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“I got aggressive with a staff member in front of my team.

“Because of that situation, I learnt how to deal with similar situations if they arose, and I’m much better at keeping my temper in check when I’m frustrated.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“Being able to control your temper or aggression is vital in the workplace. People look up to you as a manager, so it’s important to be kind to your staff, even when they’ve done the wrong thing.”

Ultimately though, if you do happen to slip up and get frustrated in front of (or directly at) an employee, you can save the situation by taking accountability for your actions and apologising if need be. Leading by example is less about being perfect, and more about how we handle situations where we’ve acted imperfectly. 

Some of us instinctively try to avoid conflict and difficult conversations. It might stem from a desire to keep the peace, being afraid of making a misjudgement, or even just wanting to be nice. As a manager, you’ll definitely come up against situations where “keeping the peace” is actually a one-way ticket to disaster.

At the time, it might seem easier to wait it out and hope things will resolve on their own, but that will rarely happen. Avoiding tough conversations is one of the biggest and most consequential mistakes managers make. 

Male manager, 35, NSW

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“My worst mistake was not intervening early enough with a temporary staff member who was not performing. This resulted in the person having a false sense of their contribution and led to issues working with other staff.

“It was a good learning experience in making sure feedback is given in a timely fashion, and not letting bad habits perpetuate.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“By being mindful that sometimes difficult conversations need to take place, and that it’s better to get in early rather than later — when it becomes even more difficult.”

Male manager, 34, SA

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“I was too kind to new staff initially and found it difficult to discipline them later as they began to view me as more of a friend than a boss. Ultimately they were unable to keep their position as higher ups were not impressed with their work ethic. I blame myself for not instilling a better workplace ethos initially.

“I’ve learnt to be harder on new staff, so yes it was a good learning experience and helped me to grow as a manager and understand my responsibilities better.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“By being better than I was.”

Female manager, 33, QLD

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“Not standing up for myself and dealing with conflict in the workplace before it got out of control.

“I now know to deal with things early and communicate about issues.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“The organisation has processes for discussing issues. If you’re not sure how to tackle a problem, you can escalate it to HR.”

Female manager, 28, QLD

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“Conflict resolution between staff members wasn’t my strong-suit. I’ve avoided getting involved in a few tough situations between employees, but in hindsight that’s been detrimental to me and the people involved. By avoiding the issue, I wasn’t able to stop the situations from escalating, which caused bigger problems down the line.

“These situations proved to be great learning experiences for me. I’ve implemented changes in the way I manage so I’m now able to approach conflict resolution better.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“I’d recommend taking a course on conflict resolution, and even getting staff members to take one. It’s so important to be able to approach conflict in the workplace confidently but with empathy and kindness. These are skills every manager should be learning.”

Female manager, 32, ACT

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“I allowed a team member to undermine me in front of other staff members. He talked down to me and questioned my position. It made my employees question me as a leader.

“I learnt how to stand up for myself in a professional way.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“Be confident in your abilities and confront situations like this as soon as you run into them. Unfortunately you probably will have to stand up for yourself to various people as you step into more senior roles, but knowing how to do it confidently and professionally will save you a lot of stress.”

Stepping into tough situations and directly handling them will benefit your wider team and yourself. While you can (and in some situations, should) escalate things to HR, being able to take charge yourself will help you build a positive reputation as a manager, and build loyalty within your team.

If you’re worried you don’t have the skills to effectively manage these conversations, many managers advise taking a conflict resolution course to amp up your ability to communicate and garner a good outcome from a bad situation.

In a similar vein to avoiding tough conversations, ineffectively handling conflict can also cause big issues within your team and workplace. You can go about something with the best of intentions, but good intentions alone aren’t enough to quell arguments or address poor employee behaviour. 

You need established skills in conflict management to bring positive outcomes from these kinds of situations. Good communication skills also come in handy.

Male manager, 34, SA

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“I tried to deescalate a situation between colleagues instead of letting HR deal with it. It caused one of them to believe I was biassed and taking sides which eventually led to him being toxic in the workplace. As a result he left the company.

“It was a good learning experience because it showed me the importance of HR in the company and that, as a manager, I shouldn’t intervene as it could be taken by colleagues as me taking sides in a situation or argument – potentially leading to a toxic workplace.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“They should let HR deal with all arguments and issues between colleagues and not try to solve the issue themselves.”

Female manager, 31, SA

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“I found out an employee was stealing. I was incredibly angry and wanted to fire her, but I was very new to the management position and didn’t feel comfortable having the conversation. I told her we didn’t need her for that day and sent her home, then escalated the situation to someone higher up for them to handle.

“I learned really quickly from that that I needed to have composure and not be so offended by the theft of our business, at the time I felt thrown in the deep end with that happening so soon into my role, but things like that are great to dwell on and rectify in the future.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“I think it just depends on the person, I was much more passive when I began my career. Maybe training would have helped, that was not covered in the slightest, so I didn’t know how to handle it and in fact I wasn’t even prepared to even think I could face it.”

Like one manager explained, the most important thing to do during conflict is keep your emotions in check. Try to remove any personal feelings from the situation to avoid accusations of bias or having an emotional outburst in response to the issue (another top mistake managers make). 

It’s never too late in your career to take a conflict resolution course if you’re not too confident in your skillset. This knowledge will come in handy for a range of situations you’ll encounter as a manager.

No matter how senior you are in an organisation, it’s still possible to make little mistakes. Most of the time these mistakes are things you haven’t made in years, or happen purely because you’ve been a bit careless. It happens to everyone so don’t worry — these kinds of mistakes will rarely end your career. But, some of them will definitely get you in a lot of trouble. 

Male manager, 47, VIC

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“I sent an email with sensitive information to the wrong group of people. This was definitely a career-threatening mistake, and something that could have been avoided if I had been more careful.

“It made me learn to check details of emails and recipients more thoroughly.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“Always double-check to make sure things go to the right people. No matter how many times you’ve done something, and no matter how confident you are, always take the time to double check. Some things can’t be reversed — or in my case, un-sent.”

Male manager, 59, VIC

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“I sent the wrong shipment of stock out — only to never see it again. It was a careless mistake that cost a lot of money.

“It taught me to pay more attention.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“Always write down what is required of you. If you have questions, ask. It’s always better to double-check rather than to make an avoidable mistake.”

Female manager, 26, NSW

What was the biggest mistake you made as a manager?

“This is so silly. I had just written a report about a cyber attack and all of its ramifications and deleted it before I saved it…

“It was definitely a good lesson, now I backup everything I do before deleting anything.”

How can a beginner avoid making the same mistake?

“Use the adage: measure twice before cutting. Use it for everything in life.”

Carelessness in management always comes with a significant cost. One that’s much higher than being a junior and making the same mistake. There’s a lot less leniency when you’re the one accountable, so like one manager recommends: always measure twice before cutting.

Above and beyond any of the mistakes you could make as a manager is a bigger, more serious one. According to some respondents, their biggest mistake was becoming a manager in the first place.

At the crux of every story is the fact that some people simply aren’t going to thrive in management. This doesn’t mean they were poor leaders, or bad managers.

Some people thrive being on the tools — being a knowledge specialist in their organisation. When people prove themselves to be highly efficient and knowledgeable on the tools, a natural pipeline for them is into management. While this is a dream for some, for others it’s a nightmare. Managers spend less time on the tools, and more time strategising, training and leading. Seeing your job drift out of alignment with your passion can be a rough reality and rougher transition.

The fact is, management isn’t for everyone. And it’s not about having the skills. It’s about whether your passion and goals align with the role. If you’re happy on the tools and love what you do, a more sensical pipeline is to become a specialist or a team lead. Otherwise you’re taking on a lot of extra stress and responsibility for very little personal reward.

Management comes with a lot of accountability, and a big learning curve to conquer. Building the right leadership and management skills will help you find your feet in an environment that can be quite tumultuous. Whether you’re currently in management, or about to step into your first leadership role, it’s a good idea to conduct a skills gap analysis on yourself. This will help you to decipher where your strengths lie, and where you could develop skills. From there, you’ll easily be able to find a generalist or specialist management course to help you build respect and results in your role.