Best Practices: Managing People: Secrets to Leading for New Managers
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About this ebook
In today's hypercompetitive business climate, managers who help employees achieve their individual potential stand to get—and stay—ahead. Managing People, a comprehensive and essential resource for any manager on the run, shows you how.
Learn to:
- Delegate the right work to the right employee
- Motivate people to outperform the competition
- Establish and empower effective teams
- Manage multiple projects and stay on track
- Inspire trust and lead in times of change
The Collins Best Practices guides offer new and seasoned managers the essential information they need to achieve more, both personally and professionally. Designed to provide tried-and-true advice from the world's most influential business minds, they feature practical strategies and tips to help you get ahead.
Barry Silverstein
I am an author, blogger, brand historian and retired marketing professional.I have a background in advertising and marketing. I founded a direct and Internet marketing agency and ran it for twenty years, and I have over forty years of business experience.I have authored the following non-fiction books: World War Brands; Boomer Brand Winners & Losers; Boomer Brands; Let's Make Money, Honey: The Couple's Guide to Starting a Service Business - co-author (GuideWords Publishing); The Breakaway Brand - co-author (McGraw-Hill); Business-to-Business Internet Marketing (Maximum Press); Internet Marketing for Technology Companies (Maximum Press); and three books for small business managers in the Collins Best Practices series (HarperCollins). I have also written the following eGuides, all published by 123 eGuides: Branding 123 (Second Edition), B2B Marketing, Low Cost/No Cost Marketing 123, Product Launch 123, Sales Leads 123, and On Your Own 123.I have written two novels: The Doomsday Virus and Water's Edge.I publish a blog for Boomers (www.happilyrewired.com) and a blog for dog lovers (www.cmdog.com).
Read more from Barry Silverstein
Branding 123: Build a Breakthrough Brand in 3 Proven Steps - Third Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sales Leads 123: Generating, Qualifying, and Converting Sales Leads in 3 Proven Steps Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsB2B Marketing 123: A 3 Step Approach for Marketing to Businesses Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBest Practices: Motivating Employees: Bringing Out the Best in Your People Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Best Practices: Evaluating Performance: How to Appraise, Promote, and Fire Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Product Launch 123: Launch a New Product or Service in 3 Proven Steps Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Boomer Brands: Iconic Brands that Shaped Our Childhood Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSmall Biz Trio: Three eGuides for Marketing Success Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWorld War Brands: World War II and the Rise of the Modern American Brand Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLow Cost / No Cost Marketing 123: 3 Steps to Effective Marketing with Little or No Money Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn Your Own 123: Launch a 1-Person Business in 3 Proven Steps Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBoomer Brand Winners & Losers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWater's Edge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Doomsday Virus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLet's Make Money, Honey: The Couple's Guide to Starting a Service Business Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
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Reviews for Best Practices
5 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Short, quick, nothing new or earth-shattering, but a good summary of "good" practices (I'm not too keen on the "best" tag without qualifiers.) Recommended for new managers, old managers who think old school (they probably don't know who they are) and anyone wanting to be a manager/leader.
Book preview
Best Practices - Barry Silverstein
Preface
How do you hire people? How do you encourage them to do a better job? What do you say to them if they don’t? How do you fire someone who refuses to cooperate? How do you get your staff on board at a time of major change?
In this book, we distill the wisdom of some of the best minds in the field to tell you how to do a better job at managing your employees and creating a workplace that supports the goals of your company. The language is simple and the design colorful to make the information easy to grasp.
Quizzes help you assess your knowledge of people and project management issues. Case files show how companies have tackled tough management problems. Sidebars give you a big-picture look at management challenges and highlight innovative, out-of-the-box solutions worth considering. Quotes from business leaders will inspire you as you face your own challenges. Finally, in case you want to dig deeper into management issues, we recommend some of the most important business books available. The authors of these books both influence and reflect today’s thinking about managing people and related issues. Understanding the ideas they cover will inspire you as a manager.
Even if you don’t dip into these volumes, the knowledge you gain from studying the pages of this book will equip you to deal firmly, effectively, and insightfully with the management issues you face every day—to help you make a difference to your company and in the lives of the people who support you.
THE EDITORS
Managing People 101
The task of management is to make people capable of joint performance, to make their strengths effective and their weaknesses irrelevant.
—Peter Drucker,
management guru and author
(1909–2005)
Managing people isn’t like managing things or even like managing projects. Each person has unique capabilities and talents, strengths and weaknesses—and feelings. Helping each person achieve his or her individual potential may require different motivational strategies and tactics.
Self-Assessment Quiz
ARE YOU MANAGEMENT MATERIAL?
Read each of the following statements and indicate whether you agree or disagree. Then check your score at the end.
I consider myself a good judge of character.
• Agree • Disagree
I trust people to do the right thing.
• Agree • Disagree
If someone comes to me with a problem at work, I take time to listen and offer help without being judgmental.
• Agree • Disagree
When a co-worker doesn’t understand something, I don’t lose my patience.
• Agree • Disagree
I think it is best not to be very close friends with someone I manage.
• Agree • Disagree
It is better to make the right decision than a popular one.
• Agree • Disagree
I’m good at delegating work.
• Agree • Disagree
I know how to motivate people.
• Agree • Disagree
It is better to give instructions than orders.
• Agree • Disagree
People would say I have integrity.
• Agree • Disagree
Scoring
Give yourself 1 point for every question you answered Agree
and 0 points for every question you answered Disagree.
Analysis
What It Takes to Be a Good Manager
Before you can effectively manage other people, you need to know about yourself and your management abilities. The Self-Assessment Quiz on pages 2–3 will help you understand what skills you bring to the game.
If your staff is happy, you are doing your job. People don’t often leave jobs—and, in particular, bosses—they like. Treat people the right way and you will have disciples for life.
—Tom Markert,
author of You Can’t Win a Fight with Your Boss
Managing people used to mean dominating them. The boss’s word was absolute and not to be questioned. But today’s workplace is very different. As companies continue to increase productivity and reduce costs, operations tend to be consolidated: a smaller number of people do a greater amount of work with fewer managers.
To succeed in this climate, businesses depend on knowledge-sharing, effective communication, and teamwork. These are difficult to achieve without the three C’s described on pages 6–7.
The BIG Picture
THE MANAGER’S PERSPECTIVE
The manager’s perspective needs to be broad and all-encompassing. As a manager, you are the one who needs to understand what must get done, what it will take to accomplish your goal, how to assess and monitor progress, and how to measure success at the completion of the work.
Take advantage of the capabilities of each of your staff members and delegate the appropriate tasks so they can work as a team towards a common goal. Match specific tasks to the skills of each individual. Help and guide them—but let them do the work. Hold team progress meetings to keep everyone on track and follow up individually with any team member who is having trouble or falling behind.
Like a great maestro conducting an orchestra, you are there to keep every individual working in harmony and to ensure that the end result is a beautifully executed performance.
Behind the Numbers
DECLINE IN MIDDLE MANAGERS
During the 13 years between 1986 and 1999, the number of middle managers in large corporations declined by 27 percent. This study reflects the reality of more than 300 publicly traded U.S. firms.
SOURCE: The Flattening Firm
by Raghuram Rajan and Julie Wulf, National Bureau of Economic Research (April 2003).
Collaboration. A good manager creates many opportunities for people to collaborate in setting goals, determining how work will get accomplished, and establishing criteria to measure a project’s success rate.
Cooperation. Fostering cooperation within a work group and setting a good example as a manager encourages employees to focus on the needs of the group rather than only on their own needs.
Consensus. Establishing consensus among your workers creates a common sense of purpose and involves everyone in working toward the same goal. Good managers use consensus-building to encourage employees to voice opinions while maintaining control of the group.
What’s Your Management Style?
Managers can have very different styles and still succeed.
At one extreme are autocratic, heavy-handed managers who govern by fear and intimidation. In the long term, this generates ill will and lack of respect; employees either contribute minimally or eventually choose to work elsewhere.
POWER POINTS
SECRETS OF MANAGERIAL SUCCESS
Effective people managers practice the fine art of delegation.
They delegate tasks without abdicating their responsibility.
They explain the why but never dictate the how.
They give instructions,