Management is a difficult field to navigate, and one of the most difficult aspects of the job is effective communication. Even with the best intentions, miscommunication can negatively affect employee morale and productivity. While there are myriad ways to be misunderstood, there are certain phrases all managers should immediately remove from their lexicon. “You’re doing a great job, but…” might sound good on paper as a way to affirm an employee’s hard work while guiding them in a different direction, but more often than not, the praise will be lost in the criticism. “I need you to be more like [blank]” is also well intentioned, setting a benchmark for the employee, yet bringing another employee into the feedback mix can foster jealousy and contempt. “How do you think you’re performing?” seems like a legitimate question, but can sometimes come off as a trick; it will more than likely fail to bring about truly honest answers. Additionally, the words “hopefully” and “soon” should be eliminated because they don’t provide any concrete information. Instead of, “Hopefully we’ll start training on the new platform soon,” managers should be able to say, “We are going to start training next week.”