<strong>Editor’s note</strong><em>: This is part one of a two-part series. Part two will appear in early October.</em>

Some of you may be aware of NewYork-based, nationally syndicated radio personality John Bachelor, a novelist and one of the most literate media personalities on the air today. His is not a call-in radio program, but instead, he interviews authors; covers people in the news with topics ranging from astronomy to the Middle East; medicalbreakthroughs; historical figures; and much more.

Whenever I listen to him and his guests, I feel like I’m back at the universities I attended (Kansas State, University of Iowa,Florida State), hearing talented and brilliant professors. He broadcasts on WLS890 AM 9 p.m.–12 a.m. But I primarily listen to his podcasts at: audioboom.com/channel/johnbatchelor.

Here is where I’m going with this — so many of Bachelor’s podcasts raise interesting dilemmas and issues. A good share of his podcasts titles end with the question, “and what should be done?” It is a powerful technique to not only raise issues, but also to pose solutions. From time to time, I have started to use the same approach as with this column. I’ll then add some wisdom on the four main points from prominent people in the form of pertinent quotations.

We usually associate “bloopers” with actors making funny mistakes. But we are all prone to bloopers. Some bloopers or things that we laugh at actually aren’t so funny to the people involved. Managers, supervisors, parents, athletes, employees all make mistakes from time to time. But I want to focus on ten managerial bloopers that have serious consequences and then suggest what is to be done.

All of these are based on real situations from my friends, family or my experiences of working multiple jobs over 40 years in four different states.

<strong>Managerial Blooper No. 1.</strong> Setting an “urgent meeting” with an employee but not stating the purpose of the meeting. This is incredibly tough on an employee, when on a Friday afternoon, the request is made for a Monday meeting.

No matter how good the employee is, it can destroy their weekend with worry. For some bosses, it is just thoughtlessness, but for others, it is a cruel manipulation. So what is to be done? Always be willing to give the reason for a meeting, so the person has a chance to reflect on it. “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place,” said George Bernard Shaw

<strong>Managerial Blooper No. 2.</strong> Without warning, people are called in and dismissed or fired. Then they are immediately escorted to the door by security. Unfortunately, this has happened in some businesses here locally. Does it make sense to trust someone for 20 years and then not trust them for a couple of weeks to give them time to finish things?

I’m convinced that this blooper is punishable by 3-5 years in purgatory. What is to be done? Sometimes, downsizing is necessary, but be humane and fair and assist the person in the transition! Frankly, if I worked for such an organization, I would leave because I would be afraid that eventually, I would be the target.

Furthermore, in the long run, these organizations will have trouble recruiting “the best of the best”and will continue their slide toward mediocrity. Ralph Waldo Emerson gets to the core of this issue when he says, “Men are respectable only as they respect.”

<strong>Managerial Blooper No. 3.</strong> Spending the vast majority of your time with problem employees rather than with your best employees. Those of you who are, or have been a boss, have employees that create big problems. The same is true, by the way, with teachers and unmotivated students. Of course, it is our responsibility to see what we can do to help.

But I have found if you care more than the employee-student than they care about their own future; you are throwing “good money after bad.”

In the meantime, there is a tendency to leave your best employees alone. But they may feel that neglect and feel unappreciated. Let me use a metaphor. Suppose you are drilling for oil. At a low prospective site that may have 10,000 barrels potential, you invest lots of money and have no profit.

At another site, there are at least 100,000 barrels. But you are spending so much time and money at the inferior site, you do not have the resources to get the most return out of the superior site. With people the solution is: make sure you give the person(s) who are not producing a chance to improve. If they don’t,even if you can’t release them, shift more of your time, attention, and appreciation to make the best even better. “Building a culture of purpose-filled employees who are engaged every day is sustainable only if your team feels supported.” — Darren Wilson

<strong>Managerial Blooper No. 4.</strong> Hitting the added work button for your employees to do more, but never hitting the subtract button. Obviously, as a manager, you want your employees to be as productive as possible. Hopefully that benefits everyone. But in recent times most organizations are asking employees to do more and more with less and less. That might mean more reports, more presentations, more this and that.

In many cases, the “top brass” in the organization require you as a manger to initiate new services or products that you in turn must pass on to your employees. Assuming these are really important, you need to take a comprehensive look at what you are doing that is no longer vital. I’ve been in situations where I have seen employees (myself included) called on the carpet for even bringing up the work overload and time-wasting nonsense. As a manager, you must be an advocate to do away with meaningless time-consuming tasks that are no longer important to your mission. “Where your attention goes, your time goes” — Idowu Koyenikan.

In part two, we will focus on six more of these managerial bloopers and again focus on what can be done.