Problems That First Time Managers Face

March 2, 2010

Many aspire to be the boss, but with the power and prestige of being a manager comes with its own set of problems. Sarah E. Needleman talks about some of these issues in her Wall Street Journal article titled First-Time Owners Find Management Comes With Headaches.

Delegating

If you built your business from scratch, learning to trust and delegate work can be tough. You have to realize that building your business means you have to trust the people you hire.

Reprimanding employees

Yes, you are working with adults, but employees are bound to make childish mistakes. The example Sarah gives in her article is on an employee who accidentally copies his manager on a racy email. The manager couldn’t simply let it go, she had to confront the employee, even though she manages a rather loose office environment.

Letting Employees Go

Many managers agree that letting an employee go is one of the hardest parts of being a manager. As a manager, you have to do what is best for the company, even if it puts you in the uncomfortable position of telling an employee that they are no longer needed.

You can read the whole article here. If you are a new manager, check out our previous blog post, Tips for New Managers .