Certain myths about what it means to be a manager and how the role is performed are common. As you approach your work as a manager, consider the five myths commonly held by first-time managers and avoid costly mistakes.

Succeeding as a Manager -Mistakes and Strategies to Overcome Them

It may sound harsh, but as a first-time manager, you'll make mistakes. Studying some of the mistakes commonly made by new managers will help you learn through the experience of others and avoid similar issues.

New managers tend to make three common mistakes: taking on too much, not asking for help, and projecting a lack of confidence.

Taking on too much

The first mistake is taking on too much. Often, new managers will become overburdened with work, which is usually the result of failing to understand how much their role has changed.

And the biggest contributor to taking on too much is the failure to delegate.

Facing the reality that your role has changed from when you were an individual contributor is the first thing you must do to avoid the mistake of taking on too much.

You need to switch your focus from personal achievement to helping others achieve. You'll often have to step back and let your direct reports do the work. And you'll need to place more emphasis on team building.

Learning how to delegate will come with experience. Three activities can help you begin delegating: first learn to focus on the big picture, then distance yourself from the detail work, and take small risks when first delegating.

Delegation strategies

• focus on the big picture – Focus on the big picture by stepping back and reminding yourself that you need to approach your work from the perspective of a manager. You're responsible for helping others, your team, and your organization meets goals. The delegation will give more time to focus on the big picture.
• distance yourself from the detail work – As a manager, you need to distance yourself from the detail work performed by your direct reports. You can't be involved in detail work and effectively perform your managerial role. Trust your direct reports to do their job and build partnerships with them so they'll come to you for help when needed.
• take small risks – When you begin delegating, start by taking small risks. Assign work to individuals you know will be able to deliver, by taking advantage of the strengths of your team members. As you become more comfortable with delegating, you can take bigger risks that will build your confidence in your managerial abilities and stretch the capabilities of team members, helping them to grow and develop too.

Not asking for help

Not asking for help is another common mistake new managers make. Often, new managers don't interpret the relationship with their boss as a partnership.

Instead of reaching out to senior managers for support, many new managers try to resolve issues and work through situations they have no experience with and hope things will work out. This can be disastrous and robs the new manager of the opportunity to learn from more experienced managers.

You may have been promoted based on technical competence – not your managerial skills. If so, accept that you can't know how to do everything, and your superiors don't expect you to. In fact, your senior manager is likely to be concerned if you're not seeking support, answers, or advice.

The best way to stay on top of what's going on with your direct reports is through open communication. Encourage your direct reports to come to you for help when they need it. Likewise, you need to have this type of relationship with your boss.

Just as it's part of your job to support your direct reports, it's your senior manager's responsibility to support you. You'll learn how to do your job through on-the-job experience, and support from senior managers is key to your ability to learn how to be a manager.

When you've established a partnership and clarified expectations, make it a priority to meet regularly with your boss. Use these meetings to develop rapport, ask questions, clarify your understanding of things, and get feedback.

Projecting a lack of confidence

The final mistake you should avoid is projecting a lack of confidence. Managers who make this mistake aren't likely to inspire or energize others, making it difficult, if not impossible, to lead and manage successfully.

Avoid this mistake by always projecting confidence, even when you're not. It's natural to feel overwhelmed and even inadequate. When you focus all your energy on the tasks you must perform, you may forget to check your demeanor. Remember that as a manager your direct reports and others look to you as an example and will model your behavior.

If you're flustered, agitated, defeated, or negative, you will set that example. In spite of all, you may be feeling, it's very important to maintain a professional and positive image and project a confident demeanor.

Work to build your confidence by setting clear expectations and directions for your direct reports, taking risks, and giving credit to others.

Knowledge of the mistakes commonly made by first-time managers and strategies for overcoming them will help you be more successful. First-time managers often make the mistake of taking on too much. You can avoid this by accepting your new role and learning to delegate effectively. Another common mistake is not asking for help.

You can overcome this obstacle to success by establishing a partnership with your senior manager. He's there to help you, so take advantage of this by clarifying expectations for your performance and meeting regularly with your boss to get advice and support. You must also be careful not to project a lack of confidence.

No matter what you really feel, your demeanor should project what you want modeled – positive and confident professionalism. If you do have to express less confident feelings do so in the privacy of your boss's office.

Being careful about decisions isn't a bad thing. In fact, it's responsible to consider the consequences of your actions. But at work, you're part of a social infrastructure – connected in some way to everyone else in the organization. And the inability or reluctance of procrastinators to make timely decisions can seriously affect your ability to do your job. It's human nature to avoid or put off completing work from time to time. But sometimes delaying finishing tasks becomes a serious behavior pattern – procrastination.

It's important for people to have control over their working lives, but it's also important that they be able to work effectively with their coworkers. Procrastinators often jeopardize their careers and work relationships because of their failure to support schedules or follow through on commitments.

Procrastination is triggered by anxiety that interferes with an individual's capacity to complete tasks in a timely fashion. This is known as avoidance behavior. When people procrastinate, they choose inaction over action because they want to avoid something unpleasant. In short, procrastination is a "quick fix" to relieve their anxiety.

The roots of procrastination are varied. Some people procrastinate because they fear they won't succeed in what they have to do. Others use procrastination as a rebellion against authority. They fear a loss of power and control if they "do what they're told." Still others have emotional attachments to their work and resist sharing or giving up influence.

Whatever the impetus for their behavior, procrastinators have one thing in common – they fear a loss of control over their actions and responsibilities. But in a work environment, total control is impossible. So procrastinators rationalize that if they can't control what they have to do, they can at least control when they do it.

There are three common types of procrastinators you may encounter in the workplace:

• avoiders – Avoiders procrastinate by being noncommittal – they're good at disappearing from the radar when needed. And it can be a challenge getting them to answer a voice message or e-mail.
• storytellers – Storytellers procrastinate by telling you what they think you want to hear. They're experts at concocting a web of half-truths to cover up what's really happening.
• perfectionists – Perfectionists procrastinate by becoming entrenched in the details of their tasks. Of all the types of procrastinators, perfectionists are the most emotionally attached to their work.

Avoiders

The avoider is one of the most common types of procrastinator. These procrastinators fear that they can't adequately handle or complete a task, and so they choose to avoid it. Avoiders are frustrating because they're aware of their responsibilities, but avoid any firm commitments to completing tasks. Avoiders are chronically indecisive. Thinking about the consequences of their actions causes them mental anguish. That's why they live in the present, in denial about impending deadlines.

Typically, avoiders hate confrontation and hate disappointing others. Due to the fear of not being able to deliver by their deadlines, they tend to avoid the people that are depending on them. They go to great lengths to avoid encountering coworkers whom they fear they've let down, or will let down.

Avoiders are also in denial about work relationships. They convince themselves that everyone is working well together, and they tend to concentrate only on what needs to be done to keep their heads above water. Avoiders often ignore the fact that work isn't getting done, until they hit a crisis and have to put out a call for help. In fact, being rescued makes many avoiders feel valued.

Storytellers

Another type of procrastinator is the storyteller. Storytellers are people-pleasers. Unlike avoiders, storytellers don't hide when they're facing a crisis. But rather than face your displeasure, they fabricate credible-sounding descriptions of their accomplishments and progress. Dealing with storytellers can be extremely frustrating because you never know what to believe when you're talking to them.

Storytellers are often disorganized and frequently overcommit themselves as they try to accommodate the desires of others. They live in the moment and, in any situation, they're more concerned with accommodating you than considering the consequences of their behavior. Storytellers tend to daydream rather than complete their work. They're often creative types, spinning pleasing stories out of half-truths and selective omissions, but not following through with any concrete plans for action.

Perfectionists

A third type of procrastinator is the perfectionist. The priorities of perfectionists are based on what they would like to accomplish, rather than what's possible. They have an emotional attachment to their work, and don't feel a sense of accomplishment until they're completely finished. They make no allowance for the inevitable limitations and time constraints that are part of working toward a goal.

Perfectionists equate their work with their self-worth. In the past, they may have been rewarded for their attention to detail and self-imposed standards of perfection. This has created a situation where they become absorbed in the minutiae of a task, at the expense of the big picture. They procrastinate because they fear making even the smallest mistake.

Perfectionists often run out of time because they don't prioritize. Because they're aiming for perfection, every detail deserves their attention. Coming close is experienced the same way as failing. For perfectionists, "good enough" is never good enough.

Perfectionists find it difficult to be part of a team. They're intolerant of colleagues whose standards don't measure up to their own, and fear that sharing or delegating tasks will mean a loss of control. They rationalize to themselves that letting go of control means that others will let them down by producing less-than-perfect work.

Procrastination is a negative behavior pattern that involves delaying finishing tasks. There are three common types of procrastinators. Avoiders fear making decisions and ignore impending deadlines. Storytellers spin tales rather than risk upsetting you with the truth. And perfectionists become obsessed with perfecting details at the expense of the big picture.

In the first stage of creating a leadership development plan, you assess yourself and your environment, establish your vision, and plan to overcome obstacles. In the second stage, you determine how to achieve your vision. To do this, you'll need to set goals, objectives, and actions.

• Begin the process by asking yourself, "Where do I need to be and what do I need to be doing a year from now in order to be on track for achieving my vision?" These milestones are your long-term goals. Goals are broad-based statements of intent. They tell what you intend to do.
• Next, consider each goal. Ask yourself, "What must I do to reach this goal? What new skills or knowledge are required?" These questions identify your objectives. Objectives are short-term, specific, and actionable statements that tell what, when, and how.
• Finally, determine what actions are required to meet your objectives. These development actions become the basis for your leadership development plan.

Goal statements can help you, but it's your objectives that really drive you toward your vision.

Objectives tell you what you must do, how you must do it, and sometimes when you must have it done. Objectives have two important characteristics:

• specific – Objectives use action words such as identify, list, perform, demonstrate, show, or calculate. Because the language is specific, objectives are actionable – you know what you need to do just by reading an objective. Words like understand, appreciate, know, and learn are typically too vague to make good objectives.
• challenging – If you don't stretch, you can't grow. Objectives should make you stretch, but they should also be attainable. If an objective requires too much or too little of you, you may not try to achieve it. To create challenging objectives, consider your needs and constraints.

Your goals and objectives form the outline of your development plan.

Next, you identify the development actions you'll take to meet your objectives. These actions usually make up the greater part of the leadership development plan itself. Development actions are composed of a variety of formal, informal, directed, and self-directed tools, techniques, approaches, and methods:

• reading and using resource materials – Reading is one of the best ways to keep up with your area of expertise, to learn more about leadership, and to keep yourself inspired. Develop the habit of reading books, professional magazines, and journals. Broaden your mind.
• participating in training sessions, programs, courses, and internships – Formal training sessions, programs, and courses are an efficient way to gain skills and knowledge. Check your organization's training catalog, look into the offerings of local colleges and universities, and search the Internet. Don't neglect online training. Unlike classroom training, online training is available any time you need it.
• hands-on practice – You aren't likely to retain what you learn by reading without some form of practice. Experience is the best teacher. Take advantage of hands-on learning opportunities in the workplace, and work with your mentor to identify experiences that will help you grow.
• journaling – Journaling is a tool for examining and evaluating your thoughts, actions, and reactions. Getting thoughts out of your head and down on paper helps you examine your thinking from a third person viewpoint. You can gain insights you might not otherwise achieve.
• volunteering – You can't always get the leadership experiences you need when you need them. However, some of the same kinds of experiences can be had by joining organizations or volunteering in your community.
• consulting with peer groups, role models, mentors, and coaches – In addition to identifying activities, you should also identify people who can help you. Find a peer group with which you can discuss your ideas and solicit feedback. Inform your supervisor or manager of your aspirations and check in periodically to assess your progress. And keep an eye out for individuals with expertise in areas where you want to grow. You should also address your need for role models, mentors, and coaches.

The process of identifying actions and people for your development plan is a big job, but it yields a valuable by-product – you will gain skills needed to be a self-directed learner. This means you'll be able to evaluate your needs, identify how to meet those needs, find the training and experiences needed to build new skills, and integrate new skills and knowledge into your existing skillsets. Self-directed learning is something that will serve you well in your career, and for the rest of your life.

Choose the right actions for your plan

start with your goals and objectives. Well-crafted objectives will suggest the actions you must take to fulfill them. A leadership development plan is a living document. You must tend to it every day, as you would any other project plan. To help you do this, you can use a number of techniques and tools:

• daily reminders – One easy and effective way to stay focused on your plan is to write daily reminders on sticky notes and put the notes where you'll see them.
• symbols – Symbols also make good reminders. If you imagine yourself as an eagle in your leadership journey, find an eagle figurine for your desk or use an image of an eagle as a screen saver on your computer. Each time you look at the eagle, your subconscious mind will reinforce your vision.
• activities – A third way to stay focused is with activities that you do every day. Running, exercising, yoga, or meditation provide an excellent opportunity for reflecting on your journey, your plan, and yourself.
• back-up plans, support, and reinforcement – At various points on your journey, you'll encounter dead-ends and obstacles that you didn't anticipate, so be prepared.
• rewards – Every achievement deserves a reward, no matter how small. Rewards keep you motivated and moving forward. The things you designate as rewards must be meaningful to you, and rewards must be commensurate with the effort required to earn them.
• self-reflection – Remind yourself of your key objectives every day. Repeat them to yourself until they become part of you.

The second and third steps in putting together your leadership development plan are to set goals, objectives, and actions; and plan to sustain your development. Begin with goals, broad-based statements of intent. Break your goals into specific and actionable objectives. Then define the actions you must take to meet your objectives. Actions consist of a range of different activities, including reading, training programs, hands-on practice, journaling, volunteering, and identifying people who can help you on your leadership journey. Choosing the right actions to develop you in areas of weakness is key. Your objectives can help you do this. After finalizing a draft of your plan, you plan how to sustain your development and continue growing as a leader. Tools you can use for this purpose include daily reminders, symbols, activities, rewards, back-up plans, support, and reinforcement.

Five elements of communication

A basic communication model consists of five components: the sender and receiver, the medium that carries the message, contextual factors, the message itself, and feedback. To target your messages effectively, you need to consider the variables that can affect each of the components in the model. Following are the five components of communication skills training model to improve your communication skills.

Sender and receiver

Certain factors can complicate communication between a sender and receiver:

• Different beliefs, values, and personalities influence the way the sender and receiver perceive information. So senders and receivers may have different reactions to the same information.
• Various barriers to communication prevent a sender's message from being understood as intended. Examples include bad grammar and word choice, and the nature of the relationship between the sender and receiver.

Medium

You communicate through speech in a face-to-face conversation, as well as through e-mail, an instant message, a telephone call, or a written letter. To choose the right medium, you should consider several factors:

• importance of the message – Generally, you should deliver really important messages face-to-face or over the phone. This makes more impact and enables the receiver to respond immediately. E-mail is suitable for less important messages, or those to which you don't need an urgent response. Instant messaging is best used for casual messages.
• practicality – When senders and receivers are geographically dispersed, using telecommunications media – such as the phone, e-mail, and instant messaging – is more practical than arranging face-to-face meetings. Also, it's more practical to use a text-based medium like e-mail if you need to send someone a lot of data or to keep a record of what's discussed. Other practical considerations are the costs, physical space requirements, and potential delays associated with using different communication media.
• your and the receiver's preferences – Some people just prefer certain media over others. To communicate effectively, you should consider the other party's preference. Sometimes this may also be influenced by the established communication processes in the person's organization.
• receiver's communication style – Some people respond best to information that's presented visually. Others rely more on what they hear, or on information that's text-based. And some learn best by doing – building models or putting ideas into practice. In trying to choose an effective medium, you should consider the preferred communication style of the receiver. You should also consider the receiver's willingness to receive your message. For example, it's better to communicate sensitive information, rather than via e-mail.
• need for feedback – If you need feedback from the receiver without delay, you should choose a medium that allows this – like a face-to-face meeting or a phone call. If the need for feedback is less urgent, a medium like e-mail might be appropriate. If you don't require feedback at all, you can opt for a less personal medium that doesn't support two-way communication.

Contextual factors

Various contextual factors can play a role in how well a sender and receiver of a message communicate:

• body language – Body language refers to all the nonverbal ways people communicate, including facial expressions, physical gestures, and posture. In face-to-face conversations, these play an important role. They often communicate things that are left unsaid – such as a person's enthusiasm, attentiveness, or even annoyance. When you're speaking to someone, it's important to ensure your body language is appropriate. It's also important to read the other person's body language so you can respond to it.
• timing – The timing of a message can influence how well or badly it's received. It's also best to time messages for when you know the receiver has time to attend to them properly.
• environment – Factors like the formality or informality of a setting, noise in the surroundings, and room temperature can all affect the abilities of a sender and receiver to communicate. Their physical proximity also plays a role.

You also need to consider these contextual factors when you communicate with others:

• the type of language you use for your message
• the assumptions you make when formulating your message
• the willingness of the receiver to engage in dialog about your message, and
• your tone of voice, volume, and the rate at which you speak

Communication can also be distorted by "noise" which is anything that causes a receiver to incorrectly receive the message, including distracting sounds, faulty hearing, mispronunciation, and errors in transferring the message.

Message

A message is defined as the object of communication or the thing that is being communicated. A message may be spoken, written, visual, and physical signals. Some qualities of a message include its wording, directness, and purpose.

Each message has a specific purpose:

• to convey important facts or information
• to persuade the receiver to accept or reject certain conditions or actions
• to motivate the receiver to act in a specific way
• to stimulate discussion about a particular issue, or
• to entertain the receiver

Messages can have many other purposes, like instructing, warning, greeting, or requesting information. For a message to be effective, you should know exactly why you plan to send it.

Feedback

Feedback is any response to a communicated message. It takes the form of a message itself, and may be verbal, visual, or written. Often, feedback is essential, because it's what turns one-way communication into two-way communication. Feedback may be positive or negative:

• Positive feedback indicates the receiver has received and understood the message.
• Negative feedback indicates that the receiver either has not received the message or has not understood its content

Feedback is important during communication because it helps the sender to make any necessary adjustments so that the message is correctly received. Feedback is also important after you've delivered a message. It enables further clarification or discussion.

A basic communication model consists of five components: the sender and receiver, the medium, contextual factors, the message, and feedback. Because each component is affected by many variables and varies across situations, it's essential that communicators take the time and effort to plan and target their messages carefully.

What is the importance of communication in the workplace? People in organizations spend over 70% of their time interacting with others, either directly – in private or in meetings – or by phone and e-mail. Effective communication is therefore vital to "getting things done." When communicating across cultures, it can be even more important to communicate clearly because the intended message can sometimes be distorted by each party's "cultural filters."

A person's culture influences how that person sends and receives messages. A cultural filter is how a message is sent and received between two parties. When a message leaves the sender's cultural filter, the meaning interpreted by the receiver's filter sometimes differs from the intended message. Misinterpretations can happen to a small or large degree but are rarely deliberate. Misunderstandings can be common when communicating within your own culture and they potentially become more frequent when communicating across diverse cultures.

Related: Barriers to effective communication

American Communication Styles

The American preference for direct communication stems from various origins:

• egalitarianism – the ideal of egalitarianism, which dictates that people speak openly to each other on the basis of equality, rather than talking down to each other

• self-reliance and individualism – the values of self-reliance and individualism, which encourage free speech, stressing that success isn't dependent on others

• efficiency – the importance of efficiency in American culture, which is linked to straight talking

• immigrant experience – the immigrant experience of learning a second language, where typically, people initially used short English words or phrases to communicate

American communication characteristics

When you have an understanding of the American communication style, you are likely familiar with its main characteristics. The characteristics of any culture's communication style are typically shaped by what that culture regards as the purpose of communication. These characteristics then define the cultural "norms" for communication.

In the American culture, the primary focus in conversation is usually on information exchange. When interacting, they typically talk in a very straightforward manner, and the words they use are often said, and taken, in a very literal way. Americans generally tend to be problem-oriented in their business interactions, and they're also likely to be personal and informal with peers and superiors alike. Of course, these are "typical" characteristics; they won't apply to everyone.

Related: How to use mobile phones and desk phones in office

There are several typical American communication characteristics:

• information exchange – People's lives overlap in the workplace. The workplace is an environment – or "context" – of shared knowledge and experience. For Americans, communication typically prioritizes the quick and efficient exchange of information. There are limited "ritual interactions" or pleasantries, and therefore it's considered a "low context" environment. Interaction in "high context" societies tends to be less focused on the exchange of information and more focused on relationship building.

• straightforward – Being straightforward in the American culture means asking direct questions and making direct requests. The efficient exchange of information requires coming straight to the point – whether in public or private – and therefore avoiding simply implying or hinting something.

• literal – Communicating literally in the American culture involves taking someone's word at face value. In other words, people say exactly what they mean without expecting others to read between the lines.

• problem-orientated – The American preference toward rational thinking means they tend to focus on finding solutions to problems. They may try to organize information in a direct and efficient manner in order to provide recommendations to rectify the situation. For example, if an American is listening to a colleague explain a problem with a work task, the American is like to assume the person is asking for help.

• personal – Given that Americans tend to be literal and straightforward, there's usually more of a reliance on logic than emotions in conversation. However, Americans can also be very personal. They may seek similarities to sympathize with you, but they reserve empathy for situations where there is a shared emotional experience.

• informal – Americans tend to have informal situations for communicating with each other. This enables them to converse freely with people from a range of backgrounds about activities and experiences. They use first names readily and early in a relationship, and typically consider it respectful to treat everyone the same.

The American communication style has a tendency to be personal. When you're introduced to an American, that individual might engage you in conversation on a range of topics in an effort to find common experiences. And if there is sufficient overlap, that person may conclude that you have a lot in common. Actions and personal experience are the predominant topics of much American conversation. In combination with the direct and explicit communication styles of Americans, this can lead to a person revealing too much about themselves. This comfort with self-revelation is not typical of some cultures. And you may sometimes feel uncomfortable with it if you come across it in the workplace. Understanding that it's a reflection of the emphasis on the individual self in American culture may help you deal with it successfully.

Related: How to make sure communication is appropriate 

Effective communication is important in the workplace. However, when communicating across cultures, the message may be distorted by cultural filters. Understanding the characteristics of the American communication style can help reduce the chance of misunderstanding in an American workplace. There are six characteristics typical of the American communication style: a focus on information exchange, and a disposition to being straightforward, literal and problem-oriented, and personal and informal.

The psychological terms restructuring and functional fixedness are relevant to how the creative process works, and can be applied to creative thinking. Restructuring means reorganizing or restructuring a problem to find a solution. Functional fixedness occurs when, as the idea originator, you become restricted by the demands of the task, or other constraints or norms. This functional fixedness means that you have difficulty reconceptualizing the problem to find a solution.

When you use your skills to solve problems creatively, that is, think outside the box, it can be difficult to restructure the problem—to think differently, approach the problem in a new way, or look at it from another angle. But you often need to break with routine to find a creative solution. Over time, and due to lack of practice, you may also become unable to reconceptualize problems because your focus is fixated on the demands of the task, or other constraints—such as deadlines, lack of resources, or workplace norms.

Scheerer's Nine-Dot Puzzle is a good example of restructuring. It asks you to draw four continuous straight lines, connecting nine dots arranged three across and three deep without lifting your pencil from the paper. People find it hard to solve the Nine-Dot Puzzle, as they nearly always assume that they are not allowed to go outside the confines of the square. They literally don't think outside of the box.

Duncker's Candle Puzzle demonstrates problems arising from functional fixedness. Functional fixedness relates to your ability to solve problems and think in a creative way. In an experiment, subjects are given a candle, a box of nails, and other objects, and they are asked to attach the candle to the wall so that wax does not drip on the table. Typically, subjects try to nail the candle to the wall, or glue it to the wall by melting it.

Few subjects consider using the nail box as a candle-holder, and nailing this to the wall. In other words, they are fixated on the box's usual function of holding nails. They cannot reconceptualize it to enable them to solve the problem. Instead, they continue to focus on experience, and allow this to dominate their thinking.

This happens in work situations, too. Your problem-solving efforts may be fixated on a particular approach, because your boss uses this approach. Or your view may be limited because you're focusing too much on the deadline, or lack of resources, instead of looking for the best solution.

If you are struggling to solve a problem, or lacking creative energy, you should consider whether you are fixated by constraints. Are you able to see the project from different angles, or is your ability to think outside of the box being stifled? Asking for input from team members, who aren’t so close to the problem, may enable you to revitalize your creative energy.