#manager-tools

This Book Will Save Your Life (if you ever do any hiring): The Effective Hiring Manager

Back in January, I found out that Mark Horstman’s second book, The Effective Hiring Manager, was available for pre-order on Amazon.com. It was a no-brainer: I ordered it immediately.

When a Manager Tools licensee newsletter announced in August that Horstman would be signing copies, I ordered a signed copy. I had to get a signed copy to match my signed copy of his first book, The Effective Manager.

Accepting Uncertainty at GE

RE: GE Re-Engineers Performance Reviews, Pay Practices

So General Electric is going Lean? It’s exciting to hear they have hired Eric Ries as a consultant to shake up the emphasis on Six Sigma. If you’re a Manager Tools fan some of the changes at GE simply match good management.

That’s right: It shouldn’t take 5 months to write your annual review. And yes, the annual review shouldn’t be the…

Recommend: Effective Communicator and Interviewer Conference

Waking up in my own bed again after two days in Palo Alto for the Manager Tools training on DISC (Effective Communications Conference — ECC) and interviewing (Effective Interviewer Conference — EIC).

Bottom Line: I recommend them, both.

The Experience

The setting was intimate. There were 11 attendees the first day and seven the second. In a group so small with high-energy interactive training it…

Yesterday I presented on how to coach your employees. These slides might be useful for you.

Unfortunately the image backgrounds aren’t quite right in the web preview. You still get the message. Download the deck for a better view — and the speaker notes.

Many thanks to my co-presenter Brian. And of course, to Manager-Tools.com. Much of this content comes from…

One-on-ones for Nomadic Managers

I’m sold on taking notes with paper so that I’ll remember it better. But I don’t have a single office.  I have to work out of three to four locations in a week. In most of them I don’t even have an assigned desk or cabinet.  This is how I learned to stop worrying and love Evernote.

The type of meeting I’m in most often is one-on-ones. Today I polished up the form I’ve been using for the last two…

Here’s a gem from the February 20th edition of Mad, Sad, Glad from ManagerTools.com:

This is a typical HBR article in that it’s long and academic.  The important part is that people would rather work with with someone who is incompetent than someone who is unlikable.  If you think that smarts are enough, refer to our very first podcast ‘Solution to a Stalled Technical Career‘.  Yes, HBR, we said…

You Can Talk To Your Team Mate

Over the years I’ve had my share of frustrations with team mates.  As a manager I’ve had people bring their frustrations to me, and I’ve developed a bit of training that I always make sure they have.

First of all, I assure them that I will take appropriate action and am grateful for their insight.

Second, I make sure they know these tips for talking directly to their team mate about performance.