Managing For Dummies E-Book

Bob Nelson

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 592

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

The fast and easy way to learn how to manage people, projects, and teams Being a manager can be an intimidating and challenging task. Managing involves teaching new skills to employees, helping land a new customer, accomplishing an important assignment, increasing performance, and much more. The process of management can be very challenging at times, but it can also bring you a sense of fulfillment that you never imagined possible. Managing For Dummies, 3rd Edition is perfect for all levels of managers. This clearly written, easy-to-understand guide gives you practical advice on the most important aspects of managing, such as delegating as opposed to ordering, improving employees' performances, getting your message across, understanding ethics and office policies, team building and collaboration, and much more. * Tips and advice for new and experienced managers * All-new chapters on employee encouragement and corporate social responsibility * Guidance on managing employees by leveraging the power of the Internet Managing in today's lightning-speed business world requires that you have the latest information and techniques for getting the job done. Managing For Dummies, 3rd Edition provides you with straightforward advice and up-to-the-minute strategies for dealing with anything that comes your way.

Leseprobe

Managing For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

What You’re Not to Read

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organized

Part I: Getting Started as a Manager

Part II: Mastering Key Management Duties

Part III: Tools and Techniques for Managing

Part IV: Tough Times for Tough Managers

Part V: The Part of Tens

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Getting Started as a Manager

Chapter 1: You’re a Manager — Now What?

Identifying the Different Styles of Management

Tough guy (or gal) management

Nice guy (or gal) management

The right kind of management

Meeting the Management Challenge

Skipping quick fixes that don’t stick

Partnering with your employees

Being open to new ideas and procedures

Establishing two-way trust

Mastering the New Functions of Management

Energize

Empower

Support

Communicate

Taking the First Steps toward Becoming a Manager

Look and listen

Do and learn

Chapter 2: Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way

Understanding the Difference between Management and Leadership

Figuring Out What Leaders Do

Inspire action

Communicate

Support and facilitate

Surveying Leading Leadership Traits

Optimism

Confidence

Integrity

Decisiveness

Sharing Leadership Roles with Employees

Chapter 3: Recognizing and Rewarding High Performance

Managing Positive Consequences

Figuring Out What Motivates Today’s Employees

Using a variety of motivating incentives

Creating a supportive work environment

Realizing that you hold the key to your employees’ motivation

Recognizing the limitations of money as a motivator

Creating a Recognition and Rewards System

Using Praise and Recognition to Everyone’s Advantage

Including four types of praise

Using elements of a good praising

Covering key aspects of effective recognition

Making an impact with a simple “Thanks”

Making a big deal about little things

Finding power in peer-initiated recognition

Rewarding Employees without Breaking the Bank

Chapter 4: Creating an Engaged Workforce

Understanding the Power of Employee Engagement

Creating a Clear and Compelling Direction

Assessing employees’ understanding of mission and purpose

Modifying strategies to meet goals

Opening Lines of Communication

Employing direct, two-way communication

Exploring communication techniques

Communicating bad news and dealing with rumors

Involving Employees and Encouraging Initiative

Guiding employee focus

Asking employees for their input and ideas

Involving employees in decision making

Increasing Employee Autonomy, Flexibility, and Support

Giving employees a say in their own work

Allowing flexible work schedules

Making the most of technology for working remotely

Providing managerial accessibility and support

Part II: Mastering Key Management Duties

Chapter 5: Hiring: The Million-Dollar Decision

Starting with a Clear Job Description

Defining the Characteristics of Desirable Candidates

Finding Good People

Going through traditional recruiting channels

Leveraging the power of the Internet

Becoming a Great Interviewer

Asking the right questions

Following interviewing do’s

Avoiding interviewing don’ts

Evaluating Your Candidates

Checking references

Reviewing your notes

Conducting a second (or third) round

Hiring the Best (and Leaving the Rest)

Being objective

Trusting your gut

Revisiting the candidate pool

Chapter 6: Goal Setting Made Easy

Knowing Where You’re Going

Identifying SMART Goals

Setting Goals: Less Is More

Communicating Your Vision and Goals to Your Team

Juggling Priorities: Keeping Your Eye on the Ball

Using Your Power for Good: Making Your Goals Reality

Chapter 7: Developing Employees through Coaching and Mentoring

Why Help Develop Your Employees?

Getting Down to Employee Development

Taking a step-by-step approach

Creating career development plans

Balancing development and downsizing

Coaching Employees to Career Growth and Success

Serving as both manager and coach

Identifying a coach’s tools

Teaching through show-and-tell coaching

Making turning points big successes

Incorporating coaching into your day-to-day interactions

Finding a Mentor, Being a Mentor

Chapter 8: It’s a Team Thing

Identifying Advantages of Empowered Teams

Freeing up manager time and boosting morale

Spotlighting quality

Operating in a smaller and nimbler way

Staying innovative and adaptable

Setting Up and Supporting Your Teams

Deciding on the type of team

Helping teams work in the real world

Taking advantage of new technology in team operations

Meetings: Putting Teams to Work

Avoiding common problems with meetings

Following the eight keys to great meetings

Leveraging Internet meeting tools

Chapter 9: Managing Virtual Employees

Making Room for a New Kind of Employee

Preparing to get virtual

Understanding changes to the office culture

Weighing the pros and cons of telecommuting

Managing from a Distance

Increasing your interaction

Providing long-distance recognition

Using the Internet

Managing Different Shifts

Chapter 10: Monitoring Performance and Execution

Turning Goals into Action

Developing a System for Immediate Performance Feedback

Setting your checkpoints: The milestones

Reaching your checkpoints: The actions

Sequencing your activity: The relationships

Establishing your time frame: The schedules

Putting Performance Measuring and Monitoring into Practice

Case 1: Revamping processes for world-class performance

Case 2: Helping employees give 100 percent

Measuring Progress with Bar Charts, Flowcharts, and Other Yardsticks

Bar charts

Flowcharts

Software/Web tools

Assessing Execution and Moving Forward

Part III: Tools and Techniques for Managing

Chapter 11: Delegating to Get Things Done

Delegating: The Manager’s Best Tool

Debunking Myths about Delegation

You can’t trust your employees to be responsible

You’ll lose control of a task and its outcome

You’re the only one with all the answers

You can do the work faster by yourself

Delegation dilutes your authority

You relinquish the credit for doing a good job

Delegation decreases your flexibility

Taking the Six Steps to Delegate

Sorting Out What to Delegate and What to Do Yourself

Pointing out appropriate tasks for delegation

Knowing what tasks should stay with you

Checking Up Instead of Checking Out

Chapter 12: Communicating Your Message

Understanding Communication: The Cornerstone of Business

Getting the Message by Being an Active Listener

Harnessing the Power of the Written Word

Making Presentations

Preparing to present

Making an impact with pictures

Delivering your presentation

Scrutinizing Communication: What’s Real and What’s Not

Believing actions, not words

Reading between the lines

Probing for information

Chapter 13: The Fine Art of Performance Evaluations

Evaluating Performance: Why Bother?

Spelling Out the Performance Evaluation Process

Doing the Right Prep Work

Preparing for the no-surprises evaluation

Avoiding common evaluation mistakes

Chapter 14: Budgeting, Accounting, and Other Financial Stuff

Exploring the Wonderful World of Budgets

Making a Budget

Pulling Rabbits out of Hats and Other Budget Tricks

Maneuvering up-front budgets

Staying on budget

Understanding the Basics of Accounting

Figuring out the accounting equation

Knowing double-entry bookkeeping

Identifying the Most Common Types of Financial Statements

The balance sheet

The income statement

The cash-flow statement

Chapter 15: Harnessing the Power of Technology

Weighing the Benefits and Drawbacks of Technology in the Workplace

Making advances, thanks to automation

Improving efficiency and productivity

Taking steps to neutralize the negatives

Using Technology to Your Advantage

Know your business

Create a technology-competitive advantage

Develop a plan

Get some help

Getting the Most Out of Company Networks

Chapter 16: Embracing Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics

Understanding Socially Responsible Practices

Figuring out how you can employ CSR

Enjoying net benefits of socially responsible practices

Developing a CSR strategy for implementation

Evaluating the Political Side of Your Workplace

Assessing your organization’s political environment

Identifying key players

Redrawing your organization chart

Doing the Right Thing: Ethics and You

Defining ethics on the job

Creating a code of ethics

Making ethical choices every day

Part IV: Tough Times for Tough Managers

Chapter 17: Managing Change and Morale

Understanding Urgency and Crisis

When urgency is really poor planning

Recognizing and dealing with crises

Accepting that Change Happens

Identifying the four stages of change

Are you (or your employees) fighting change?

Guiding Employees through Change

Helping employees cope

Encouraging employee initiative

Keeping employees’ spirits high

Making a Change When All Else Fails

Chapter 18: Employee Discipline for Improving Performance

Getting to the Root of Employee Discipline

Focusing on Performance, Not Personalities

Identifying the Two Tracks of Discipline

Dealing with performance problems

Dealing with misconduct

Disciplining Employees: A Suite in Five Parts

Step 1: Describe the unacceptable behavior

Step 2: Express the impact to the work unit

Step 3: Specify the required changes

Step 4: Outline the consequences

Step 5: Provide emotional support

Putting it all together

Making a Plan for Improvement

Implementing the Improvement Plan

Chapter 19: Terminating Employees When All Else Fails

Understanding the Types of Terminations

Voluntary terminations

Involuntary terminations

Firing someone humanely, no matter what the reason

Conducting a Layoff

Following Procedure to Fire an Employee

Taking steps to protect yourself prior to firing

Planning the meeting and stating the facts

Defusing tense firing meetings

Determining the Best Time to Terminate

Part V: The Part of Tens

Chapter 20: Ten Common Management Mistakes

Not Making the Transition from Worker to Manager

Not Setting Clear Goals and Expectations for Your Employees

Failing to Delegate

Failing to Communicate

Not Making Time for Employees

Not Recognizing Employee Achievements

Failing to Learn from Change

Resisting Change

Choosing the Quick Fix over the Lasting Solution

Taking It All Too Seriously

Chapter 21: Ten Tips for New Managers

Set Clear Goals and Expectations

Don’t Play Favorites

Set a Good Example

Remember That You Get What You Reward

Get to Know Your People

Learn How to Delegate

Find a Good Mentor, Be a Good Mentor

Encourage Teamwork

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

Be a Coach

Chapter 22: Ten Tips for Maintaining Your Work–Life Balance

Make the Case for a More Flexible Workplace

Avoid Workaholism

Manage Your Stress

Change What You Can Change

Accept What You Can’t Change

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

Use Positive Affirmations

Relax!

Take a Mental Vacation

Have Fun

Managing For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Bob Nelson, PhD and Peter Economy

Managing For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Authors

Bob Nelson, PhD: Dr. Nelson (San Diego, California) is president of Nelson Motivation Inc., a management training and consulting company that specializes in helping organizations improve their management practices, programs, and systems.

Dr. Nelson has sold more than 3.5 million books on management and motivation, which have been translated in more than 35 languages, including 1001 Ways to Reward Employees (now in its 55th printing), The 1001 Rewards & Recognition Fieldbook, 1001 Ways to Energize Employees, 1001 Ways to Take Initiative at Work, Keeping Up in a Down Economy, Ubuntu: An Inspiring Story of an African Principle of Teamwork and Collaboration, and (with Peter Economy) The Management Bible and Consulting For Dummies, 2nd Edition.

He has appeared extensively in the media, including on CBS’s 60 Minutes, CNN, MSNBC, PBS, and National Public Radio, and has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, BusinessWeek, Fortune, and Inc. magazines to discuss how to best motivate today’s employees.

Dr. Nelson holds an MBA in organizational behavior from UC Berkeley and received his PhD in management with Dr. Peter F. Drucker at the Drucker Graduate Management School of Claremont Graduate University in suburban Los Angeles, where his doctoral dissertation was titled “Factors that Encourage or Inhibit the Use of Non-Monetary Recognition by U.S. Managers.”

For more information about available products or services offered by Nelson Motivation Inc., including registration for Dr. Nelson’s free Tip of the Week, visit www.nelson-motivation.com. For information about having Dr. Nelson present to or consult with your organization, association, or conference, contact Nelson Motivation Inc. at 800-575-5521 in the U.S., or Dr. Nelson directly at [email protected] or by phone at 858-673-0690 PST.

Peter Economy: Peter Economy (La Jolla, California) is the associate editor for Leader to Leader, the Apex Award–winning publication of the Leader to Leader Institute. Peter is also the best-selling author of more than 50 books, including Managing For Dummies, The Management Bible, The SAIC Solution: How We Built an $8 Billion Employee-Owned Technology Company, and Lessons from the Edge: Survival Skills for Starting and Growing a Company. Peter was the home-based business expert for the AllBusiness.com, NBCi, McAfee.com, iVillage.com, and CNBC.com websites. He also was the staff management expert for TIME magazine’s TIME Vista Boardroom Web site, along with such business luminaries as reengineering expert Michael Hammer and marketing gurus Michael Treacy and Jack Trout. Peter also penned a regular column on client relations for 1099.com, a Web site geared to the needs of independent professionals, and he has written articles for a number of magazines, including Gallup Management Journal and Sailing World. Peter earned his BA from Stanford University and his postgraduate certificate in business administration from Edinburgh Business School. Visit Peter at his Web site, www.petereconomy.com.

Dedication

To any manager who has struggled to do the job and every employee who has had to live with the consequences.

Authors' Acknowledgments

Bob recalls three influential mentors in his career: Jim Reller, a delegator par excellence in Bob’s first corporate position at Control Data Corporation, often gave out assignments with a disclaimer such as, “I could probably do this task faster than you, but I believe you’ll learn a lot from the process”; Dr. Ken Blanchard, co-author of The One Minute Manager, whom Bob worked with for more than ten years, demonstrated how to get the best efforts from people by using the softer side of management and never directly telling them what to do; and Dr. Peter F. Drucker, whom Bob worked with in his PhD studies at Claremont Graduate University, taught him that the best management principles were also the simplest ones.

These mentors taught more than just the technical skills of assigning work, conducting a performance appraisal, or disciplining an employee. They emphasized the people side of management: how to motivate employees by example, reward them when they exceed expectations, and make each person feel like he or she is the most important in the world.

Bob and Peter also appreciate everyone at Wiley Publishing, Inc., who has helped to make their books — and Managing For Dummies, 3rd Edition, in particular — be the best, including Stacy Kennedy, Elizabeth Rea, Krista Hansing, and Julie Cookson.

On the personal side, Bob would like to acknowledge the ongoing love and support of his parents, Helen and Edward; his wife, Jennifer; and his children, Daniel and Michelle. Peter acknowledges his wife, Jan, and his children, Peter J, Skylar Park, and Jackson Warren, for their everlasting love and for putting up with his crazy life. May the circle be unbroken.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax [phone].

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Project Editor: Elizabeth Rea (Previous Edition: Allyson Grove)

Acquisitions Editor: Stacy Kennedy

Copy Editor: Krista Hansing (Previous Edition: Chad R. Sievers)

Assistant Editor: Erin Calligan Mooney

Senior Editorial Assistant: David Lutton

Technical Editor: Julie B. Cookson, PHR

Editorial Manager: Michelle Hacker

Editorial Assistant: Jennette ElNaggar

Cover Photos: © Jupiter Images/Philip J. Brittan

Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Katherine Crocker

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Indexer: Potomac Indexing, LLC

Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies

Kristin Ferguson-Wagstaffe, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies

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Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel

Publishing for Technology Dummies

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User

Composition Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Introduction

Congratulations! As a result of your astute choice of material, you’re about to read a completely fresh approach to the topic of management. If you’ve already read other books about management, you’ve surely noticed that most of them fall into one of two categories: (1) deadly boring snooze-o-rama that makes a great paperweight; or (2) recycled platitudes glazed with a thin sugar coating of pop psychobabble, which sound great on paper but fail abysmally in the real world.

Managing For Dummies, 3rd Edition is different. First, this book is fun. Our approach reflects our strong belief and experience that management can be fun, too. You can get the job done and have fun in the process. We even help you maintain a sense of humor in the face of the seemingly insurmountable challenges that all managers have to deal with from time to time. On some days, you’ll face challenges — perhaps pushing you to your limit or beyond. However, on many more days, the joys of managing — teaching a new skill to an employee, helping land a new customer, accomplishing an important assignment, and so on — can bring you a sense of fulfillment that you never imagined possible.

Second, the vast majority of popular business books seem to be here today and gone tomorrow. Like it or not, many managers (and the companies they work for) seem to be ruled by the business fad of the month. In Managing For Dummies, 3rd Edition, we buck the trend by concentrating on tried-and-true solutions to the most common situations that real supervisors and managers face. Our solutions stand up over time and work in even turbulent times. Since we published the first edition of Managing For Dummies in 1996, managers all around the world have bought more than half a million copies of this book, and it has been translated into more than 16 different languages. Long story short, you won’t find any mumbo-jumbo here — just practical solutions to everyday problems that any manager will find of value.

Managing For Dummies, 3rd Edition breaks the rules by providing a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals of effective management, presented in a fun and interesting format. It doesn’t put you to sleep, nor is it sugarcoated. We know from personal experience that managing can be an intimidating job. New managers — especially ones promoted into the position for their technical expertise — often have trouble knowing what they need to do. Don’t worry. Relax. Help is at your fingertips.

About This Book

Managing For Dummies, 3rd Edition is perfect for all levels of management. If you’re a new manager or a manager-to-be, you can find everything you need to know to be successful. If you’re an experienced manager, we challenge you to shift your perspective and take a fresh look at your management philosophies and techniques. Despite the popular saying that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, you can always incorporate changes that make your job (and the jobs of your employees) easier, resulting in more fun and effectiveness.

Of course, even the most experienced manager can feel overwhelmed from time to time, new tricks or not.

For Bob, this moment came when he was giving an important business presentation to a group of international executives — only to have one of the executives point out that his pants were unzipped. Although Bob scored bonus points for getting his audience’s attention with this novel fashion statement, he could’ve done so in a more strategic way.

For Peter, his overwhelming moment came when he reprimanded an employee for arriving late to work and later learned that the employee had been late because she had stopped at a bakery to buy Peter a cake in celebration of Boss’s Day. Needless to say, the event wasn’t quite as festive as it could’ve been!

Face it, whether you’re new to the job or are facing a new task in your current job, all managers feel overwhelmed sometimes. The secret to dealing with stress is to discover what you can do better (or differently) to obtain your desired results. When you do make a mistake, pick yourself up, laugh it off, and learn from it. We wrote this book to make learning easier so that you won’t have to make all the same mistakes and learn the hard way.

Conventions Used in This Book

When writing this book, we included some general conventions that all For Dummies books use. We use the following:

We italicize any words you may not be familiar with and provide definitions.

We bold all keywords in bulleted lists and the actual steps in numbered lists.

All Web sites and e-mail addresses appear in monofont.

What You’re Not to Read

Not surprisingly, we think every word in this book is worth your time. We know, however, that you may not want to read it all. With that understanding in mind, we make it easy for you to identify “skippable” material by placing it in sidebars. A sidebar is a gray box in each chapter that contains information that is interesting and related to the topic at hand, but not absolutely essential for your success as a manager.

Foolish Assumptions

As we wrote this book, we made a few assumptions about you, our readers. For example, we assumed that you’re either a manager or a manager-to-be and that you’re truly motivated to discover some new approaches to managing organizations and to leading people. We also assumed that you’re ready, willing, and able to commit yourself to becoming a better manager.

How This Book Is Organized

Managing For Dummies, 3rd Edition is organized into five parts. Each part covers a major area of management practice, and the chapters within each part cover specific topics in detail. Following is a summary of what you’ll find in each part.

Part I: Getting Started as a Manager

Becoming a successful manager means understanding and applying several basic skills. This part begins with a discussion of what managers are and what they do, and then looks at the most basic management skills: leading, inspiring, and engaging.

Part II: Mastering Key Management Duties

The heart of management boils down to a number of important management duties — tasks every manager needs to master to successfully get the job done. These duties include hiring new employees, setting goals, coaching and mentoring, working with teams, managing virtual employees, and monitoring performance and execution. We cover each of these duties in this part.

Part III: Tools and Techniques for Managing

To carry out their day-to-day duties, managers have a variety of tools and techniques at their disposal. We cover the most important of these management tools and techniques in this part, including delegating, communicating, evaluating performance, budgeting and accounting, harnessing technology, and applying corporate social responsibility.

Part IV: Tough Times for Tough Managers

As any manager can testify, management isn’t all fun and games. In fact, managing can be downright challenging at times. In this part, we consider some of the toughest tasks of managing: managing change and disciplining and firing employees.

Part V: The Part of Tens

Finally, we include the Part of Tens: a quick-and-dirty collection of chapters, each of which gives you ten pieces of information that every manager needs to know. You’ll find common management mistakes, advice for new managers, and strategies for maintaining your work-life balance. Look to these chapters when you need a quick refresher on managing strategies and techniques.

Icons Used in This Book

To guide you along the way and point out the information you really need to know, this book uses icons along its left margins. You’ll see the following icons in this book:

This icon points to tips and tricks that make managing easier.

If you don’t heed the advice next to these icons, the situation may blow up in your face. Watch out!

Remember these important points of information, and you’ll be a much better manager.

This icon points out wise sayings and other kernels of wisdom that you can take with you on your journey to becoming a better manager.

These anecdotes from Bob and Peter and other real-life managers show you the right — and sometimes wrong — ways to be a manager.

Where to Go from Here

This book is unique because you can read each chapter without having to read what comes before or after. Or you can read the book backward or forward. Or you can just carry it around with you to impress your friends.

If you’re a new or aspiring manager and you want a crash course in management, you may want to start at the beginning and work your way through to the end. Forget about going back to school to get your MBA — you can save your money and take a trip to Hawaii instead. Simply turn the page and take your first step into the world of management.

If you’re already a manager and are short on time (and what manager isn’tshort on time?), you may want to turn to a particular topic, such as delegating tasks or hiring employees, to address a specific need or question. The table of contents and index can direct you to the answers you seek.

Enjoy your journey!

Part I

Getting Started as a Manager

In this part . . .

Before you can become an effective manager, you need to master some basic skills. In this part, you find out what you’re expected to do as a manager and the challenges you may face. Then we cover some of the most important managing skills that will take you far in your position, including becoming a leader, inspiring employees through support and rewards, and creating an engaged workforce through communication and autonomy.

Chapter 1

You’re a Manager — Now What?

In This Chapter

Figuring out what the heck management is

Moving from being a doer to being a manager of doers

Understanding the changing workforce

Defining the key functions of management

Taking the first steps toward becoming a manager

Managing is truly a calling — one that, during our long tenures as managers, we authors are proud to have answered. We’re the few. The proud. The managers. In the world of business, no other place allows you to have such a direct, dramatic, and positive impact on the lives of others and on the ultimate success of your enterprise. This chapter provides an overview of the challenging and ever-changing world of management. Whether you’re a manager or a manager-to-be, you can benefit from our inside look into the kinds of management techniques that can help you get the best from your employees every day of the week.

Identifying the Different Styles of Management

One definition describes management as “getting things done through others.” Another definition more specifically defines management as “making something planned happen within a specific area through the use of available resources.” Seems simple enough. So why do so many bright, industrious people have trouble managing well? And why do so many companies today seem to offer a flavor-of-the-month training program that changes each time some new management fad blows through the business scene?

Unfortunately, good management is a scarce commodity, both precious and fleeting. Despite years of changing management theory and countless management fads, many workers — and managers, for that matter — have developed a distorted view of management and its practice. Managers often don’t know the right approach to take or exactly what to do. And as the saying goes, “If it’s foggy in the pulpit, it’ll be cloudy in the pew.”

Do you ever hear any of the following remarks at your office or place of business?

“We don’t have the authority to make that decision.”

“She’s in charge of the department — fixing the problem is her responsibility, not ours.”

“Why do they keep asking us what we think when they never use anything we say?”

“I’m sorry, but that’s our policy. We’re not allowed to make exceptions.”

“If my manager doesn’t care, I don’t, either.”

“It doesn’t matter how hard you work; no one’s going to notice anyway.”

“You can’t trust those employees — they just want to goof off.”

When you hear remarks like these at work, red lights should be flashing before your eyes, and alarm bells should be ringing loudly in your ears. Remarks like these indicate that managers and employees aren’t communicating effectively — that managers don’t trust their employees, and that employees lack confidence in their managers. If you’re lucky, you find out about these kinds of problems while you still have a chance to do something about them. If you’re not so lucky and you miss the clues, you may be stuck repeatedly making the same mistakes.

The expectations and commitments that employees carry with them on the job are largely a product of the way their managers treat them. Following are the most commonly adopted styles of management. Do you recognize your management style?

Tough guy (or gal) management

What’s the best way to make something planned happen? Everyone seems to have a different answer to this question. Some people see management as something you do to people — not with them. Does this type of manager sound familiar? “We’re going to do it my way. Understand?” Or perhaps the ever-popular threat: “It had better be on my desk by the end of the day — or else!” If worse comes to worst, a manager can unveil the ultimate weapon: “Mess up one more time, and you’re out of here!”

This type of management is often known as Theory X management, which assumes that people are inherently lazy and need to be driven to perform. Managing by fear and intimidation is always guaranteed to get a response. The question is, do you get the kind of response you really want? When you closely monitor your employees’ work, you usually end up with only short-term compliance. In other words, you never get the best from others by lighting a fire under them — you have to find a way to build a fire within them.

Sometimes managers have to take command of the situation. If a proposal has to be shipped out in an hour and your customer just sent you some important changes, take charge of the situation to ensure that the right people are on the task. When you have to act quickly with perhaps not as much discussion as you’d like, however, it’s important to apologize in advance and let people know why you’re acting the way you are. Remember that the majority of employees leave their positions because of the actions (or lack thereof) of their direct supervisor or manager. So make sure you move quickly but with clear communication and respect for your staff.

Nice guy (or gal) management

At the other end of the spectrum, some people see management as a “nice guy” or “nice gal” kind of idea. Theory Y management assumes that people basically want to do a good job. In the extreme interpretation of this theory, managers are supposed to be sensitive to their employees’ feelings and avoid disturbing their employees’ tranquility and sense of self-worth. This approach may come across like this: “Uh, there’s this little problem with your report; none of the numbers are correct. Now, don’t take this personally, but we need to consider our alternatives for taking a more careful look at these figures in the future.” This scenario also plays out when someone from the peer group is promoted into a management position. He sometimes can’t easily transition from being a buddy into being the manager.

Again, managers may get a response with this approach (or they may choose to do the work themselves!), but are they likely to get the best possible response? No, the employees are likely to take advantage of the managers.

The right kind of management

Good managers realize that they don’t have to be tough all the time — and that nice guys and gals often finish first. If your employees are diligently performing their assigned tasks and no business emergency requires your immediate intervention, you can step back and let them do their jobs. Not only do your employees learn to be responsible, but you also can concentrate your efforts on what is most important to the bottom-line success of your organization.

A manager’s real job is to inspire employees to do their best and establish a working environment that allows them to reach their goals. The best managers make every possible effort to remove the organizational obstacles that prevent employees from doing their jobs and to obtain the resources and training that employees need to do their jobs effectively. All other goals — no matter how lofty or pressing — must take a back seat.

Bad systems, bad policies, bad procedures, and poor treatment of others are organizational weaknesses that managers must identify and repair or replace. Build a strong organizational foundation for your employees. Support your people, and they will support you. When given the opportunity to achieve, workers in all kinds of businesses, from factories to venture capital firms, have proven this rule to be true. If you haven’t seen it at your place of business, you may be mistaking your employees for problems. Quit squeezing them and start squeezing your organization. The result is employees who want to succeed and a business that flourishes right along with them. Who knows? Your employees may even stop hiding when they see you coming their way!

Squeezing employees may be easier than fighting the convoluted systems and cutting through the bureaucratic barnacles that have grown on your organization. You may be tempted to yell, “It’s your fault that our department didn’t achieve its goals!” Yes, blaming your employees for the organization’s problems may be tempting, but doing so isn’t going to solve the problems. Sure, you may get a quick, short-lived response when you push your people, but ultimately, you’re failing to deal with the organization’s real problems.

Everyone wants to “win.” The difficult challenge of management is to define “winning” in such a way that it feels like winning for everyone in the organization. People are often competing with co-workers for a “piece of the pie” instead of trying to make the pie bigger. It’s your job to help make a bigger pie.

Meeting the Management Challenge

When you’re assigned a task in a nonmanagement position, completing it by yourself is fairly simple and straightforward. Your immediate results are in direct response to your effort. To accomplish your task, first you review the task, then you decide how best to accomplish it, and then you set schedules and milestones for its successful completion. Assuming that you have access to the tools and resources necessary to accomplish your task, you can probably do it yourself quickly and easily. You’re an expert doer — a bright, get-things-done type of person.

However, if you hold a management position, you were probably selected because you’re skilled in the areas you’re now responsible for managing. For example, Peter’s friend John was a member of a team of software programmers developing a complex application for portable computers. When he was a team member, everything was fine. He came to work in a T-shirt and jeans — just like the rest of his teammates — and often spent time with his programmer friends after hours. The bond that the team shared changed, however, when John became the team’s manager.

In his new role of manager, John first changed offices. Instead of sharing an open bay with the other programmers, he moved into his own office — one with four walls and a window looking out over the parking lot. A secretary guarded his door. Of course, the jeans and T-shirt had to go — they were replaced with a business suit and tie. Instead of having fun programming, John was suddenly concerned about more serious topics, such as cost overruns, schedule delays, percent direct, and days receivable. As John’s role changed, so did John. And as John changed, so did his relationship with his co-workers. He was no longer a co-worker; he was The Boss. To achieve his goals, John quickly had to make the transition from a doer to a manager of doers.

When you want to get a task done through someone else, you employ a different set of skills than when you do the task yourself. This simple decision to pass the responsibility of completing a task to someone else introduces an interpersonal element into your equation. Being good technically at your job is no longer enough, no matter how good your technical skills are. Now you must have good planning, organization, leadership, and follow-up skills.

In other words, in addition to being a good doer, you have to be a good manager of doers. If you need some help in this area, discuss outside training opportunities (Management 101) with your supervisor or manager so you are equipped immediately. There’s no time to waste!

Skipping quick fixes that don’t stick

Despite what many people want you to believe, management isn’t always a shoot-from-the-hip proposition. Sure, some managers may make decisions too quickly from time to time, but the most effective ones take the time they need to consider their options before making a decision. Being a manager isn’t easy. Yes, the best management solutions tend to be common sense; however, turning common sense into common practice is often difficult.

Management is an attitude, a way of life. Management is a very real desire to work with people and help them succeed, as well as a desire to help your organization succeed. Management is a life-long learning process that doesn’t end when you walk out of a one-hour seminar or finish viewing a 25-minute video. Management is like the old story about the unhappy homeowner who was shocked to receive a bill for $100 to fix a leaky faucet. When asked to explain the basis for this seemingly high charge, the plumber said, “Tightening the nut cost you $5. Knowing which nut to tighten cost you $95!”

Management is a people job. If you’re not up to the task of working with people — helping them, listening to them, encouraging them, and guiding them — then you shouldn’t be a manager.

Because management is such a challenge, an entire management training industry has sprung up, ready to help managers learn how to solve their problems. Unfortunately, trainers often focus on creating instant gratification among course attendees, many of whom have spent hundreds and even thousands of dollars to be there.

Once Peter went to one of those touchy-feely offsite management meetings meant to build teamwork and communication among the members of the group. Picture this: Just after lunch, a big tray of leftover veggies, bagels, fruit, and such was sitting on a table at the side of the room. The facilitator rose from his chair, faced the group, and said, “Your next task is to split yourselves into four groups and construct a model of the perfect manager by using only the items on that tray of leftovers.” A collective groan filled the room. “I don’t want to hear any complaints,” the trainer said. “I just want to see happy people doing happy things for the next half-hour.”

The teams feverishly went about their task of building the perfect manager. With some managers barely throttling the temptation to engage each other in a massive food fight, the little figures began to take shape. A banana here, a carrot stick there . . . and, voilá! After a brief competition for dominance, the winners were crowned. The result? We thought you’d never ask. Check out Figure 1-1.

We have to admit that the result was kind of cute (and kind of tasty, too), but did it really make a difference in the way these managers managed their employees when they returned to the office the next day? We don’t think so. Was the seminar a nice break from the day-to-day office routine? Yes. Was it a meaningful teaching tool with lasting impact? No.

Figure 1-1: The veggie manager.

Partnering with your employees

If this challenge isn’t already enough, managers today face yet another challenge — one that has shaken the foundations of modern business. The new reality is partnering managers and workers in the workplace.

Originally, management meant dividing the company’s work into discrete tasks, assigning the work to individual workers, and then closely monitoring the workers’ performance and steering them in the right direction to accomplish their tasks on time and within budget. The old reality of management often relied on fear, intimidation, and power over people to accomplish goals. If things weren’t going according to management’s plan, management simply commanded its way out of the problem: “I don’t care what you have to do to get it done — just get it done. Now!” The line between managers and workers was drawn clearly and drawn often.

Watch out! Technology explosion ahead!

In the new world of information technology, the old ways of doing business are being turned on their sides. With the presence of computer networks, e-mail, and voice mail, the walls that divide individuals, departments, and organizational units have come crashing down. In the words of Frederick Kovac, former vice president of planning for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, “It used to be, if you wanted information, you had to go up, over, and down through the organization. Now you just tap in. Everybody can know as much about the company as the chairman of the board.”

In the new business environment, what’s going on inside the organization is a reflection of what’s going on outside the organization. The following factors are creating rapid and constant change in today’s new business environment:

A surge of global competition

New technology and innovation

The flattening of organizational hierarchies

A global economic downturn, with widespread cost cutting and layoffs

The rise of small business

The changing values of today’s workers

The increasing demands for better customer service

Sure, managers still have to divide and assign work, but workers are taking on more of that responsibility. Most important, managers are finding out that they can’t command their employees’ best work — they have to create an environment that fosters their employees’ desire to do their best work. In short, the new reality is the partnership of managers and workers in the workplace.

The landscape of business worldwide has changed dramatically during the past few decades. If you don’t change with it, you’re going to be left far behind your competitors. You may think that you can get away with treating your employees like “human assets” or children, but you can’t. You can’t, because your competitors are discovering how to unleash the hidden power of their employees. They’re no longer just talking about it; they’re doing it!

Being open to new ideas and procedures

A few years ago, Bob made a presentation to a group of high-tech managers. As he was wrapping up his presentation, he opened the floor to questions. A hand shot up. “With all the downsizing and layoffs we’ve endured, people are lucky to get a paycheck, much less anything else. Why do we have to bother to empower and reward employees?” Before Bob had a chance to respond, another manager in the audience shot back, “Because it’s a new army.”

This response really sums it all up. In business, times are changing. Now that employees have tasted the sweet nectar of empowerment, you can’t turn back. Companies that stick with the old way of doing business — the hierarchical, highly centralized model — will lose employees and customers to companies that make the new ways of doing business a part of their corporate culture. The best employees will leave the old-model companies in droves, seeking employers who will treat them with respect and who are willing to grant them greater autonomy and responsibility.

That leaves you with the employees who don’t want to take risks or rock the boat. You get the yes-men and yes-women. No one will challenge your ideas because they’re afraid to. No one will suggest better or more efficient ways to do business because they know that you won’t listen or care anyway. Your employees won’t bother to go out of their way to help a customer because you don’t trust them to make the most basic decisions — the ones that can make the biggest difference to the satisfaction, or the lack thereof, of your precious customers.

Imagine the difference between an employee who tells your key customer, “Sorry, my hands are tied. I am not allowed to make any exceptions to our policies,” and the employee who tells that customer, “Sure, I’ll do everything in my power to get you your order by your deadline.” Which type of employee do you think your customers prefer to do business with? Which type of employee do youprefer to do business with?

Managers used to rentbehavior. Some workers were even called “hired hands.” Today hiring your hands isn’t good enough. You must find a way to engage their souls and bring their best efforts to the workplace each day.

Establishing two-way trust

Companies that provide exceptional customer service unleash their employees from the constraints of an overly controlling hierarchy and allow front-line workers to serve their customers directly and efficiently. For many years, Nordstrom, Inc. devoted exactly one page to its manual, shown in Figure 1-2.

Figure 1-2: Nordstrom’s rules show an exceptional amount of trust in employees.

Today employees also receive a standard employee handbook — the company’s legal environment has changed considerably over the past decade — but this one page still guides most employee behavior at the company. You may think that a small company with five or ten employees can get away with a similar policy, but certainly not a big company like yours. However, Nordstrom isn’t a small business, by any stretch of the imagination — unless you consider a company with 52,000 or so employees and more than $8.5 billion in annual sales small.

How does management at a large business like Nordstrom get away with such a policy? They do it through trust.

First, Nordstrom hires good people. Second, the company gives them the training and tools to do their jobs well. Then management gets out of the way and lets the employees do their work. Nordstrom knows that it can trust its employees to make the right decisions because the company knows that it has hired the right people for the job and has trained them well.

We’re not saying that Nordstrom doesn’t have problems — every company does. But Nordstrom has taken a proactive stance in creating the environment that employees most need and want.

Can you say the same for your organization?

When you trust your employees, they respond by being trustworthy. When you recognize them for being independent and responsive to their customers, they continueto be independent and responsive to their customers. And when you give them the freedom to make their own decisions, they more often than not make good ones. With a little training and a lot of support, these decisions back up the best interests of the company because the right people at the right level of the organization make them.

Mastering the New Functions of Management

Remember the four “classic” functions of management — plan, organize, lead, and control — that you learned in school? (Yeah, we were asleep in that class, too.) These management functions form the foundation from which every manager works. Although these basic functions are fine for taking care of most of your day-to-day management duties, they fail to reflect the new reality of the workplace and the new partnership of managers and workers. What’s needed is a new set of management functions that builds upon the four classic functions of management. You’re in luck. The sections that follow describe the functions of the new manager in the 21st-century workplace.

Energize

Today’s managers are masters of making things happen — starting with themselves. As the saying goes, “If it’s to be, it’s to begin with me.”Think of the best managers you know. What one quality sets them apart from the rest? Is it their organizational skills, their fairness, or their technical ability? Perhaps their ability to delegate or the long hours they keep sets them apart.

All these traits may be important to a manager’s success, but we haven’t yet named the unique quality that makes a good manager great. The most important management function is to get people excited and inspired — that is, to energize them.

Great managers create far more energy than they consume. The best managers are organizational catalysts. Instead of taking energy froman organization, they channel and amplify it to the organization. In every interaction, effective managers add to the natural energy of their employees and leave the employees in a higher energy state than when they started the interaction. Management becomes a process of transmitting the excitement that you feel about your organization and its goals to your employees in terms that they can understand and appreciate. And certainly get their ideas and, where appropriate, their buy-in for even more success! Before you know it, your employees will be as excited about the organization as you are, and you can simply allow their energy to carry you forward.

A picture is worth a thousand words. This statement is as true for the pictures that you paint in the minds of others as for the pictures that people paint on canvas or print on the pages of magazines and books. Imagine taking a vacation with your family or friends. As the big day draws near, you keep the goal exciting and fresh in the minds of your family or friends by creating a vision of the journey that awaits you. Vivid descriptions of white-sand beaches, towering redwoods, glittering skylines, secluded lakes, hot food, and indoor plumbing paint pictures in the minds of each of your fellow travelers. With this vision in mind, everyone works toward a common goal of a successful vacation.

Successful managers create compelling visions — pictures of a future organization that inspire and compel employees to bring out their best performance.

Empower

Have you ever worked for someone who didn’t let you do your job without questioning your every decision? Maybe you spent all weekend working on a special project, only to have your boss casually discard it. “What were you thinking when you did this, Elizabeth? Our customers will never buy into that approach!” Or maybe you went out of your way to help a customer, accepting a return shipment of an item against company policy. “Why do you think we have policies — because we enjoy killing trees? No! If we made exceptions for everyone, we’d go out of business!” How did it feel to have your sincere efforts at doing a great job disparaged? What was your reaction? Chances are, you won’t bother making the extra effort again.

Despite rumors to the contrary, when you empower your employees, you don’t stop managing. What changes is the way you manage. Managers still provide vision, establish organizational goals, and determine shared values. However, managers must establish a corporate infrastructure — skills training, teams, and so on — that supports empowerment. And although all your employees may not want to be empowered, you still have to provide an environment that supports employees who are eager for a taste of the freedom to apply their personal creativity and expertise to your organization.

What managers really do

With tongue planted firmly in cheek, we universally agree that all managers perform five functions in an organization:

Eat: Management clearly has its rewards, one of which is an expense account and all the company-paid lunches and dinners you can get away with. And if those yo-yos in accounting dare to question the business purpose of your meals, you can always threaten to leave them off your list of invitees.

Meet: Meetings are truly a perk of management. The higher you rise in an organization, the more time you spend in meetings. Instead of doing productive work, you spend more time than ever listening to presentations that have no relevance to your department, drinking three-day-old coffee, and keeping close tabs on your watch as your meeting drags on well past its scheduled ending time.

Punish: With so many wayward employees, the best managers learn to punish early and punish often. What better way to show your employees that you care? Punishment also sends a welcome signal to upper management that you don’t put up with any nonsense from your underlings.

Obstruct: When you ask managers what single achievement makes them proudest, they are likely to bring out policies as thick as the Yellow Pages that were carefully drafted over many years. A close look at the policy may reveal a package of deftly written red tape that does more to prevent good customer service than it does to support it.

Obscure: Managers are masters of the art of miscommunication. No one knows better than a manager that information is power: The people who have it wield the power, and the people who don’t are lost. With potential enemies all around, why give anyone else a chance to get an advantage over you? “Hey! That information is on a need-to-know basis only!” And for heaven’s sake, why let your employees in on the inner workings of the organization? They wouldn’t appreciate or understand it anyway, right?

Actually, this isn’t the list of the functions of management. Although the list may ring true in many cases, we’re just pulling your leg.

Great managers allow their employees to do great work. This role is a vital function of management, for even the greatest managers in the world can’t succeed all by themselves. To achieve the organizations’ goals, managers depend on their employees’ skills. Effective management means leveraging the efforts of every member of a work unit to focus on a common purpose. If you’re constantly doing your employees’ work for them, not only have you lost the advantage of the leverage your employees can provide you, but you’re also putting yourself on the path to stress, ulcers, and worse.

However, far worse than the personal loss that you suffer when you don’t empower employees is that everyone in your organization loses. Your employees lose because you aren’t allowing them to stretch themselves or to show creativity or initiative. Your organization loses the insights that its creative workforce brings with it. Finally, your customers lose because your employees are afraid to provide them with exceptional service. Why should they, if they’re constantly worried that you will punish them for taking initiative or for pushing the limits of the organization to better serve your customers?

As William McKnight, former CEO of manufacturing giant 3M, put it, “The mistakes people make are of much less importance than the mistakes management makes if it tells people exactly what to do.”

Support

A manager’s job is no longer that of a watchdog, police officer, or executioner. Increasingly, managers must be coaches, colleagues, and cheerleaders for the employees they support. The main concern of today’s managers needs to be shaping a more supportive work environment that enables each employee to feel valued and be more productive.

When the going gets tough, managers support their employees. Now, this doesn’t mean that you do everything for your employees or make their decisions for them. It does mean that you give your employees the training, resources, and authority to do their jobs, and then you get out of the way. You’re always there for your employees to help pick up the pieces if they fall, but fall they must if they’re going to learn. The idea is the same as in learning to skate: If you’re not falling, you’re not learning.

The key to creating a supportive environment is establishing trust or openness throughout an organization. In an open environment, employees can bring up questions and concerns. In fact, they’re encouraged to do so. When the environment is truly open, an individual can express concerns without fear of retribution. Hidden agendas don’t exist, and people feel free to make the same remarks in business meetings that they’d say after work. When employees see that their managers are receptive to new ideas, they’re more likely to feel invested in the organization and to think of more and better ways to improve systems, solve problems, save money, and better serve customers.

Managers also support each other. Guarding personal fiefdoms, fighting between departments, and withholding information have no place in the modern organization; companies cannot afford to support these dysfunctional behaviors. All members of the organization, from top to bottom, must realize that they play on the same team. To win, team members must support each other and keep their co-workers apprised of the latest information. Which team are youon?

Communicate

Without a doubt, communication is the lifeblood of any organization, and managers are the common element that connects different levels of employees. We have seen firsthand the positive effects on a business and its employees when managers communicate, and the negative effects when managers don’t.

Managers who don’t communicate effectively are missing out on a vital role of management.

Communication is a key function for managers today. Information is power, and as the speed of business accelerates, information must be communicated to employees faster than ever. Constant change and increasing turbulence in the business environment necessitate more communication, not less. Who’s going to be around in five years? The manager who has mastered this function or the one who has not?

With the proliferation of e-mail, voice mail, text messages, tweets, and the other new means of communication in modern business, managers simply have no excuse not to communicate with their employees. You can even use the telephone or try a little old-fashioned face-to-face talk with your employees and co-workers.