Anyone who has ever been in a position to manage a number of people will attest that it is one of the most difficult things to do as you're never quite sure what you're going to get. The BeamPod Management Nightmare Stories is a monthly series that delves into some anecdotal experience from managers from various fields and industries.

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Mary * - Marketing

I don’t like to see myself as “the boss.” When I work with people, I make sure everyone is free to share their ideas on how we can achieve our goals. In marketing, we have everyone working together; from the copywriter to the graphics designer, so it’s good when we can all relate on the same level. In fact, I’m only the team lead when I need reports on projects.

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Being a team lead is fun, especially in a remote work setting. Well, until the UI/UX designer who is supposed to make a presentation to a client is unavailable because she went to church. Without notice. This particular experience was frustrating because she could have asked to reschedule knowing she would be unavailable at the agreed time, but she didn’t. We were just lucky that the design intern had been involved in the project, so he helped with the presentation.  

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One challenge I’ve had to overcome with managing people is deadlines. I know we all procrastinate. But what I don’t understand is why a person will decide to not start a project until the deadline is passed. And no amount of query could make them work faster. So what I did was adjust deadlines. If I need something ready in maybe two weeks, I’ll give my team three days. Then they’ll start after the fake deadline and finish before the real one. Everybody wins.

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Zainab * - Project Manager

My experience with managing people was quite terrible. I was the branch manager at a Microfinance bank and things didn’t go as I had planned in my head. I wanted to be that easygoing boss, but my subordinates took my calmness for a ride.

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I would ask for their opinion and let them work on projects in whatever way was easy for them. If they wanted more time, that was fine. Fewer meetings? That was fine too. But it all backfired. I had three people reporting to me and we were all new at our jobs so we struggled most of the time.

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My team members wouldn’t do what they were assigned and it affected my job negatively. I wasn't getting reports on some projects and sometimes I received false reports. They couldn’t manage clients and we lost a lot of money but I was lenient because they were new on the job. That was until I found out they had cut shady deals with some of our clients. The three of them got fired and I also resigned.

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I think I would've handled being a manager better if I had started my career with smaller roles, which I eventually had to do. Working under a manager helped me understand people management better. And I’m convinced most people only perform well when they have a strict boss.

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Stephen * Entrepreneur

During the 2020 lockdown, I started a branding agency with a team of three. They were all my friends, and it was the worst mistake of my life. I was limited when it came to delegating tasks because of the familiarity. Imagine telling your teammate to do something and they ask why they should be the one to do it. I ended up doing a lot of things myself. And for things I didn’t know how to do, I took online courses.

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Another mistake I made was adding my crush to the team. She would always counter whatever I said at meetings. And this caused a lot of internal conflicts, which I didn’t know how to manage. Then people started leaving and I was left with my best friend.

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I wanted the company to succeed so badly that I spent a year learning how to manage people from experienced managers. My best friend also learnt to separate business from personal stuff. Then I hired new people. This time around, I made sure they were people I didn’t have any personal relationship with.

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I was so young and ambitious. Even with more people on our team, I still did most of the work. The company didn’t have a workflow structure because we were more focused on getting clients and hiring top talents. But last year, we put a structure in place that allows everyone to know what they are responsible for.

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The best part of working with these people is the level of creativity I get to witness. And I love when everyone does what they should when they should without me getting involved. The worst part? That would be whenever I bring up an idea and everyone is like, “NO.”

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Actually, worse things have happened. Like the time I had a meeting with a client who was going to give us exposure. I was handling some projects at the time and was unable to attend, so I sent a teammate instead. Guess what? He missed the meeting. Fortunately for us, the client agreed to reschedule.

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*Names have been changed to protect their privacy.

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