10 Mistakes of First-Time Managers and How to Avoid Them

Darja Gutnick
6 min readApr 13, 2022

Got promoted to manage a team? Buckle up — you’re in for a ride! Most managers make painful mistakes when starting out, and they can hurt you and your team. Ouch.

We teamed up with The Female Factor to host a masterclass to review common mistakes that first-time managers make when they start out and what you can do to not fall into those traps.

When it’s your first time leading a team, you’ll definitely face some real challenges. We asked our community and the hive mind and came out with a list of the top 10 first-time manager mistakes.

1. Skipping 1:1’s to get work done

When you skip 1:1’s for the sake of productivity, you might get results in the short term. But actually, you’re depleting your team’s trust and commitment levels, and missing a great chance to help them grow. Don’t skip these! You want to make sure that you follow through on your commitment to the team, build trust, and make their development a priority.

Check out our AI leadership coach for more resources on how to build trust with your team.

👉 Reliability Reminders

👉 The Trust Bank

2. Letting your ego get in the way

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Darja Gutnick

Co-founder, CEO at Bunch — Helping future leaders grow; bookworm, psychologist and relentless optimist. Grow | Inspire | Stay humble