Managers come from different walks of life. Many experienced people managers have gained their wisdom through hard work and self-evaluation. They have also typically experienced much frustration along the way, have their own philosophies regarding how to manage a business and employees and have used approaches that appeared to make good sense at the time. With experience, it is easy to see the mistakes which could be avoided:

1. Putting company policies ahead of people. Policies are made to be followed, within reason. Some flexibility with employees, particularly in a small company, is important. An even bigger mistake is standing behind policies at the expense of losing loyal customers. If it is a matter of physical safety or security, policies must be upheld. However, in many other instances, there are reasonable solutions that will not alienate the customer or create a strained relationship with your employee(s). The smaller the organization, the larger the mistake this is.

2. Avoiding confrontation with employees and difficult conversations, thereby typically allowing a problem to get worse. Managers at times fail to hear what your employees have to say. Managers think they