18,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
The manager's must-have guide to excelling in all aspects of the job
Mind Tools for Managers helps new and experienced leaders develop the skills they need to be more effective in everything they do. It brings together the 100 most important leadership skills—as voted for by 15,000 managers and professionals worldwide—into a single volume, providing an easy-access solutions manual for people wanting to be the best manager they can be. Each chapter details a related group of skills, providing links to additional resources as needed, plus the tools you need to put ideas into practice. Read beginning-to-end, this guide provides a crash course on the essential skills of any effective manager; used as a reference, its clear organization allows you to find the solution you need quickly and easily.
Success in a leadership position comes from results, and results come from the effective coordination of often competing needs: your organization, your client, your team, and your projects. These all demand time, attention, and energy, and keeping everything running smoothly while making the important decisions is a lot to handle. This book shows you how to manage it all, and manage it well, with practical wisdom and expert guidance.
- Build your ideal team and keep them motivated
- Make better decisions and boost your strategy game
- Manage both time and stress to get more done with less
- Master effective communication, facilitate innovation, and much more
Managers wear many hats and often operate under a tremendously diverse set of job duties. Delegation, prioritization, strategy, decision making, communication, problem solving, creativity, time management, project management and stress management are all part of your domain. Mind Tools for Managers helps you take control and get the best out of your team, your time, and yourself.
Sie lesen das E-Book in den Legimi-Apps auf:
Seitenzahl: 368
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018
Ähnliche
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Acknowledgments
Author Biographies
Introduction
Helping People Be Better Bosses
Why This Book Is Different
The Structure of the Book
Cross-Cutting Themes
Part I: Know and Manage Yourself
Chapter 1: Know Yourself
1. Understand Your Own Personality and Manage Accordingly (The Big Five Personality Model)
2. Understand and Make Better Use of Your Personal Strengths (Personal SWOT Analysis)
3. Set Clear Personal Goals, and Show a Strong Sense of Direction (Personal Goal Setting)
4. Build Your Self-Confidence
5. Be Aware of How Your Actions Impact Others (Journaling for Self-Development)
6. Think Positively and Manage Negative Thoughts (Cognitive Restructuring)
7. Adopt a Self-Development Mindset (Dweck's Fixed and Growth Mindsets)
Other Techniques for Knowing Yourself
Chapter 2: Plan and Manage Your Time
8. Find More Time in Your Day by Eliminating Low-Yield Activities (Activity Logs)
9. Prioritize Tasks Effectively for Yourself and Your Team (Action Priority Matrix)
10. Use a Structured Approach for Tracking and Prioritizing Many Tasks (Action Programs)
11. Schedule Your Time Effectively
12. Keep Yourself Focused: Managing Distractions, Improving Flow
13. Beat Procrastination
Other Techniques for Planning and Managing Your Time
Chapter 3: Cope with Change and Stress
14. Develop Personal Resiliency, and Grow from Setbacks
15. Analyze and Manage Sources of Stress (Stress Diaries)
16. Manage Negative Emotions at Work (The STOP Method for Anger Management)
17. Manage the Impact of Pressure on Performance (The Inverted-U Model)
18. Overcome Fears of Failure or Success
19. Learn from Your Experience in a Systematic Way (Gibbs's Reflective Cycle)
Other Techniques for Coping with Change and Stress
Chapter 4: Manage Your Career over Time
20. Find a Career That Suits Who You Are (Ibarra's Identify Transition Process)
21. Find a Role That Provides Meaning and Pleasure and Fully Uses Your Strengths (The MPS Process)
22. Shape Your Role to Suit Your Strengths and Aspirations (Job Crafting)
23. Thrive at Work (The GREAT DREAM Model)
24. Find the Work–Life Balance That's Best for You (The Wheel of Life®)
25. Understand the Types of Behavior That Can Derail Your Career (Hogan Management Derailment)
Other Techniques for Managing Your Career
Part II: Manage Tasks, and Get Things Done
Chapter 5: Get Work Done in an Efficient and Focused Way
26. Translate the Organization's Mission into Goals That People Understand (OGSM)
27. Align People's Objectives with Corporate Goals (OKRs)
28. Systematically Analyze and Optimize the Work Team Members Do (DILO)
29. Use a Structured Approach to Continuous Improvement (PDSA)
30. Systematically Identify What Needs to Be Done – Gap Analysis
31. Conduct Post-Completion Project Reviews (Retrospectives)
32. Manage Projects Using Agile Methodologies (Agile Project Management)
Chapter 6: Solve Problems Effectively
33. Get Systematically to the Root of a Problem (Root Cause Analysis)
34. Identify the Many Possible Causes of a Problem (Cause and Effect Analysis)
35. Map Business Processes Clearly (Swim Lane Diagrams)
36. Solve Problems by Capitalizing on What's Going Well (The 5-D Approach to Appreciative Inquiry)
37. Bring People Together to Solve Problems (Manage Group Dynamics)
Other Useful Problem-Solving Techniques
Chapter 7: Make Smart Decisions
38. Decide Whether a Decision Makes Financial Sense (Net Present Value Analysis)
39. Choose Between Options and Considering Multiple Factors (Decision Matrix Analysis)
40. Consider Many Factors, Such as Opportunities, Risks, Reactions, and Ethics in Decision Making (ORAPAPA)
41. Analyze Systematically What Could Go Wrong (Risk Analysis and Risk Management)
42. Prioritize Risks by Impact and Probability of Occurrence (The Risk Impact/Probability Chart)
43. Avoid Psychological Bias in Decision Making
Other Useful Decision-Making Techniques
Chapter 8: Foster Creativity and Innovation
44. Develop New Ideas by Understanding User Needs (Design Thinking)
45. Innovate by Studying People's Day-to-Day Use of Products and Services in Depth (Ethnographic Research)
46. Innovate by Making Sense of How the Business World Is Changing (Scenario Planning)
47. Innovate in All Areas of Your Business, Not Just with Products and Services (Doblin's 10 Types of Innovation)
48. Generate Many Ideas Using Free Association (Brainstorming)
Other Techniques for Fostering Creativity and Innovation
Part III: Work with and Manage Other People
Chapter 9: Understand and Motivate Other People
49. Lead by Example (Being a Good Role Model)
50. Listen Carefully and Intensely to Other People (Mindful Listening)
51. Understand How to Motivate People (Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory)
52. Work Effectively with People from Different Generations (Understand Different Generational Characteristics)
53. Develop Emotional Intelligence
54. Motivate People to Go above and beyond (Transformational Leadership)
Other Techniques for Understanding and Motivating Other People
Chapter 10: Get the Best from Members of Your Team
55. Delegate Effectively
56. Be Clear About Who Is Accountable for What (The RACI Matrix)
57. Give Effective Praise and Recognition
58. Build Team Members' Self-Confidence
59. Support Your People Effectively (Heron's Six Categories of Intervention)
Other Ways to Get the Best from Members of Your Team
Chapter 11: Communicate Effectively
60. Understand the Key Principles of Good Communication (The Seven Cs of Communication)
61. Speak Well in Public
62. Write Effective E-Mails
63. Build Good Working Relationships with People at All Levels (Create “High-Quality Connections”)
64. Communicate Effectively Across Cultures (Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions)
Other Techniques for Communicating Effectively
Chapter 12: Hire and Develop Good People
65. Design Jobs Effectively (Motivation-Centered Job Descriptions)
66. Recruit Effectively (Competency-Based Interviewing)
67. Assess Individual Development Needs (Skills Matrices)
68. Give Effective Feedback (The SBI Feedback Model)
69. Coach People Effectively (The GROW Model)
Chapter 13: Build a Great Team
70. Formally Define the Team's Mission, Authority, Resources, and Boundaries (Team Charters)
71. Brief Your Team Clearly
72. Build Trust in Your Team
73. Build Openness and Self-Knowledge within a Team (The Johari Window)
74. Find the Specific Motivators That Work Best with Your Team (Understand Team-Specific Motivation)
75. Manage Negative Behaviors and Resolve Conflict (Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team)
Chapter 14: Deal with Difficult Management Situations Effectively
76. Resolve Conflict Effectively (Fisher and Ury's Principled Negotiation)
77. Deal with Bad Behavior at Work
78. Deal with Office Politics, and Protect Your Team from Them
79. Handle Poor Performance
80. Be Tactful
Part IV: General Commercial Awareness
Chapter 15: Develop Situational Awareness
81. Understand Your Organization's Mission and Values (Mission Statements)
82. Scan for External Changes That May Impact Your Organization (PESTLIED Analysis)
83. Understand How Companies Compete in Your Market (Value Curves)
84. Understand Your Organization's Core Competencies
85. Organizational Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT Analysis)
Chapter 16: Get Ahead in the Wider Organization
86. Understand and Shape How Others in Your Organization See You (The PVI Model)
87. Ask for Feedback (The SKS Technique)
88. Build Honest Rapport with Others
89. Develop Effective Networking Skills
90. Influence Your Peers to Get Things Done (Yukl and Tracey's Influencers)
Chapter 17: Make Change Happen in Your Organization
91. Understand Stakeholder Needs, and Bring Stakeholders Along with You (Stakeholder Management and Power/Interest Grids)
92. Understand the Key Steps Needed to Succeed with a Change Process (Kotter's Eight-Step Change Model)
93. Anticipate and Manage People's Emotional Reactions to Change (The Change Curve)
94. Persuade and Influence People Effectively (The Influence Model)
95. Lead Change Without Formal Authority (“Stealth Innovation”)
Chapter 18: Work Effectively with Customers and External Stakeholders
96. Understand Your Customer's Worldview (Develop Customer Personas)
97. Understand and Develop Your Relationship with Your Customer (Customer Experience Mapping)
98. Understand How Decisions Are Made in Another Organization (Influence Mapping)
99. Decide the Best Approach to a Negotiation (Lewicki and Hiam's Negotiation Matrix)
100. Collaborate to Create Mutually Beneficial Outcomes (Win-Win Negotiation)
Appendix: Survey Methodology
References
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Appendix
Table A.1 Survey Respondents
List of Illustrations
Introduction
Figure I.1 Your Role as a Boss
Chapter 2
Figure 2.1 The Action Priority Matrix
Chapter 3
Figure 3.1 The Inverted-U Model
Figure 3.2 Gibbs's Reflective Cycle
Chapter 4
Figure 4.1 Ibarra's Identity Transition Process
Figure 4.2 Example Wheel of Life
Chapter 5
Figure 5.1 Part of an Example DILO Analysis for an Airport Worker
Figure 5.2 The PDSA Cycle
Chapter 6
Figure 6.1 A Cause and Effect Diagram Highlighting a Problem within a Service Center
Figure 6.2 The Head and Spine of the Example in Figure 6.1
Figure 6.3 Major Bones Filled out for the Example in Figure 6.1
Figure 6.4 An Example of a Swim Lane Diagram
Chapter 7
Figure 7.1 Column Headings Showing Decision Factors
Figure 7.2 Applying a Weighting to Each Decision Factor
Figure 7.3 Adding Options and Scoring These by Each Factor
Figure 7.4 Weighting Each Score and Calculating the Total
Figure 7.5 Risk Impact/Probability Chart
Chapter 8
Figure 8.1 A Simplified Version of the Design Thinking Process
Figure 8.2 The Scenario Planning Process
Chapter 9
Figure 9.1 Frederick Herzberg's Factors for Dissatisfaction and Satisfaction
Chapter 10
Figure 10.1 Example RACI Matrix for a Marketing Campaign
Chapter 12
Figure 12.1 Example Skills Matrix
Chapter 13
Figure 13.1 The Johari Window
Chapter 15
Figure 15.1 Value Curves for a Budget and Traditional Airline
Chapter 17
Figure 17.1 Possible Stakeholders in Your Change Project
Figure 17.2 Example Change Project Power/Interest Grid
Figure 17.3 The Change Curve
Chapter 18
Figure 18.1 A Sample Customer Experience Map
Figure 18.2 An Example Influence Map for a Customer Service Systems Purchase Decision
Figure 18.3 Lewicki and Hiam's Negotiation Matrix
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Pages
C1
iii
iv
v
xv
xvii
xviii
xix
xx
xxi
xxii
xxiii
xxiv
xxv
xxvi
1
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
53
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
E1
JAMES MANKTELOW
JULIAN BIRKINSHAW
100 WAYS TO BE A BETTER BOSS MIND TOOLS FOR MANAGERS
Copyright © 2018 by Wiley. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with the respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom.
For general information about our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.
Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Manktelow, James, author. | Birkinshaw, Julian M., author.
Title: Mind tools for managers : 100 ways to be a better boss / James Manktelow, Julian Birkinshaw.
Description: Hoboken : Wiley, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2017060281 (print) | LCCN 2018008034 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119374404 (pdf) | ISBN 9781119374374 (epub) | ISBN 9781119374473 (hardback)
Subjects: LCSH: Leadership. | Success in business. | Personnel management. | BISAC: BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Management. | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Leadership. | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Careers / General.
Classification: LCC HD57.7 (ebook) | LCC HD57.7 .M3556 2018 (print) | DDC 658.4/09—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017060281
Cover Design: Wiley
Mind Tools is a registered trademark of Mind Tools Ltd. International Registration No. 1193379, U.S. No. 4566696, EU No. 012473377, Canada No. TMA914089, Australia No. 1608561, and New Zealand No. 993356.
This book is dedicated to Rachel Thompson Manktelow and Laura Birkinshaw for their help and support, and for their professional insights.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Alex Cook, Charlie Swift, Emily Watson, Geoff Drummond, Jason Byers, Jo Malone, Keith Jackson, Loran Douglas, Martin Reeves, Melanie Dowding, Natalie Benfell, Natalie McLeod, Nick Adams, Nick Payne, Ollie Craddock, Peter Longton, Rachel Salaman, Rosie Robinson, Serena Chana, Sharon Utting, Simon Nevitt, Stephen Rochester, Tim Armstrong, Tim Hart, Yolandé Conradie, and Zoe Cornish at MindTools.com for their help on different aspects of the book.
Thank you to Jeanenne Ray, Heather Brosius, Danielle Serpica, Peter Knox and Jayalakshmi Erkathil Thevarkandi at John Wiley & Sons for commissioning this book and for working with us to deliver it.
Finally, thank you to the 15,000 wonderful managers and professionals who shared their thoughts with us on what it takes to be a better boss. (Space doesn't allow us to show their names here, but you can see these online at http://mnd.tools/thankyou.)
Author Biographies
James Manktelow is founder and CEO of MindTools.com, an award-winning online learning and development company that helps tens of millions of people each year improve their management, leadership, and personal effectiveness skills.
His first career was in software development, during which time he served in a variety of development, business analysis, project management, and leadership roles, culminating with serving on the board of CQ Systems Ltd. He earned his executive MBA at London Business School in 1999 and 2000.
In 1996, his passion for excellence in the workplace led him to establish a blog he called MindTools.com, where he shared the management and personal effectiveness skills he was learning as he developed his career. By 2003, MindTools.com was receiving a million visitors per year, forming the basis of the thriving company it is today.
Mind Tools now reaches more than 20 million users each year in 160 countries, providing high-quality management, leadership, and career skills training to individual and corporate clients worldwide.
In recognition of this success, Mind Tools has won Queen's Awards for Enterprise twice – in 2012 and 2017. The company also received the prestigious Investors in People Gold standard in 2017, reflecting its commitment to developing and supporting its people.
In his time at Mind Tools, James has written, edited, or contributed to more than 1,000 articles, more than 60 workbooks, and 7 books and e-books on management and leadership, published through MindTools.com, Dorling Kindersley, and now John Wiley & Sons.
Julian Birkinshaw is professor of strategy and entrepreneurship, deputy dean for programs, and academic director of the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the London Business School.
After a brief career in the IT world, Julian went back to school, gaining MBA and PhD degrees from the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University in Canada. He worked briefly at the Stockholm School of Economics before moving to London Business School in 1999, where he has been ever since. He is a fellow of the British Academy, the Academy of Social Scientists, and the Academy of International Business.
He has researched and consulted extensively in the areas of business strategy, corporate change, organization design, management, and leadership. He is the author of 14 books, including Fast/Forward (2017), Becoming a Better Boss (2013), Reinventing Management (2010), Giant Steps in Management (2007), Inventuring: Why Big Companies Must Think Small (2003), and Entrepreneurship in the Global Firm (2001), and more than 90 articles in journals such as Harvard Business Review. He was ranked forty-third in the 2015 “Thinkers 50” list of the top global thinkers in the field of management and is regularly quoted in international media outlets, including CNN, BBC, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, the Huffington Post, Bloomberg Business Week, and The Times.
Introduction
It can be hard to be a good boss.
Many of us are promoted into our first management position because we've been highly effective individual performers. But when we start to manage others, we find that the new skills we need to succeed are completely different from the ones we needed beforehand.
If we're lucky, we get a few days of management training before we start. But for many, it's straight into the deep end. There are new areas of work to get up to speed in and deadlines to meet. There are poorly performing team members who need help, and there are people to hire. With all these new calls on our time, from above and below, it's hard to know where to start.
And it isn't just when we're first promoted that we need to learn new skills. With each promotion, the work becomes more complex, the criteria for success become more subtle, and our time is increasingly spent on people-related issues. Our ability to develop and learn as an individual becomes central to our further success.
Helping People Be Better Bosses
Unfortunately, although some people learn these new management skills, many do not. For example, in the US in 2016, Gallup found that only 32% of employees were fully engaged in their work – a key measure of manager performance. And in a study by tinypulse.com, only 49% of employees were “fully satisfied” with their supervisor.
These are disconcerting statistics. No manager goes to work in the morning saying, “I'm going to make my team members' lives hell today,” yet the evidence shows that there are at least as many bad bosses in the workplace as there are good bosses. Why is there such a disconnect here? We suggest there are three major factors:
The leadership mystique
– We are all fascinated by the larger-than-life leaders in business and politics. Sometimes we are in awe of their ambition and their achievements; sometimes we are appalled at their narcissism. But whatever our reaction, it is these leaders who make the headlines. And this can seduce us into a view that being a leader is somehow more important than being a manager. Leaders, apparently, are the people who shake things up and make change happen, whereas managers sweep up in their wake, implementing a chosen course of action and tying up the loose ends.
This is a flawed and dangerous view. It is flawed because leadership and management aren't two distinct ways of operating; they are more like two horses pulling the same cart. Leadership is a process of social influence; management is getting work done through others. Anyone who wants to succeed in the business world needs both sets of capabilities. By privileging leadership, we allow people to take the hard work of management less seriously.
Quick-fix solutions
– Glance through the shelves in a large bookstore, and you will see hundreds of business and self-help books. Although there are many different genres, a popular approach is for the author to hone in on one important skill, such as coaching, time management, or mindfulness. “Here is the hidden factor behind business success,” the book title declares. “This is the one thing you need to do differently to succeed at work.”
These quick-fix solutions aren't entirely wrong – the skills or attributes they focus on are always important. But they aren't the whole solution. Being effective in the workplace requires a breadth of capabilities, and it requires sufficient experience to know when to use different skills and approaches. The risk of focusing on one skill is that it gets overused and misapplied. When the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
The knowing – doing gap
– Despite the vast number of books that claim to unlock the secrets of success, the essence of effective management is actually no great mystery. Here is our quick summary of how to get the best out of your employees: Give them worthwhile and meaningful work to do, give them space to find their own way, provide support when it is needed, and offer recognition and praise for a job well done. These are intuitively sound pieces of advice, and there are plenty of theories and practical experience to support each one.
But even though most managers would nod in agreement when faced with this list, the behavior of many tells a different story: They often fail to convey clear messages, they micromanage, they hoard important information, and they don't offer feedback or praise. There is, in other words, a knowing – doing gap – people know, intellectually, what is required of them, but for some reason, they just don't do it on a day-to-day basis. Management is a somewhat unnatural act – it requires us to behave in a way that goes against our innate desire to be in control and the center of attention. And, like many other activities – golf, for example – you don't get better just by reading a book. You get better at managing by working on it and by seeking feedback and advice.
Why This Book Is Different
So what can we do to close the gap between the rhetoric and the reality of good management? This book helps you by identifying the key skills you need to be a good boss and giving you the essential information you need to start practicing them.
It is based on a body of expertise and evidence that we believe is unrivaled. Both authors have been working in the management field for more than 20 years. One of us (James) is the founder of MindTools.com, one of the most widely used sources of online advice for people in the workplace. The other (Julian) is a leading academic and writer and author of Becoming a Better Boss and Reinventing Management. And both of us practice what we preach – James as the CEO of the Mind Tools organization, Julian as deputy dean at the London Business School. Between us, we have reviewed and evaluated many thousands of tools and techniques, and we have seen how they work in a wide variety of circumstances.
And we haven't just relied on our own experience in choosing the techniques described in the book. We have tapped into the views of more than 15000 businesspeople from around the world. These people filled in a detailed survey with their views on the most important techniques in different areas. We used their ratings to help us choose the top 100 tools featured in this book. The appendix details how we did this research.
So what are the key themes in this book? What is the distinctive point of view that we offer?
First, we take a deliberately nonheroic view of the boss. Indeed, we explicitly use the word boss here to avoid the leader versus manager debate we talked about earlier. For us, a boss is simply someone who has people reporting to her and who is seeking to get things done by working through those people. She doesn't need charisma nor does she have to offer a grand vision. Instead, she is a pragmatic individual who understands the opportunities and constraints in her role and wants to get the best from the people working for her. She is thoughtful about the context in which she is working and adapts her style to the circumstances and to the needs of specific individuals.
To be clear, we have nothing against visionaries like Steve Jobs or Elon Musk. The world needs these one-off genius types, but they are dangerous to use as role models. You are much better off aspiring to the nonheroic approach described here because it doesn't rely on you being a genius!
Second, we avoid the quick-fix approach favored by most management books. As we have said, there are many different things good bosses do, so making the right choice involves breadth and perspective. To use a well-known analogy, we aren't giving you a hammer; we are providing the entire toolkit – a set of “mind tools.” And we want you to be able to figure out when to use the hammer and when to favor the screwdriver or the staple gun.
One hundred techniques might sound like a lot, but the point here is that becoming a great boss is hard work and requires a diverse set of skills. It's also worth noting that they cluster naturally into sets of complementary techniques, and the structure of the book makes it easy to navigate through these clusters.
Third, our emphasis throughout the book is on tools – ideas that you can actually put into practice. We acknowledge the academic theories that support these tools, and we provide references for those who want to know more on the background concepts, but we focus the text on practical advice and how-to steps. As you read the book, you will find some sections that seem obvious, and this should be reassuring. Every manager is familiar with some of these techniques. The challenge is to become familiar with all of them so you can use the right ones at the right time.
The Structure of the Book
The boss's job is complex and multifaceted. One useful way to make sense of it is to think in terms of three concentric sets of activities (see Figure I.1).The first (in the center) is to manage yourself – to understand your own personal needs and capabilities, use your time wisely, cope with the challenges of the job, and develop your skills over time.
Figure I.1Your Role as a Boss
The second is to manage your work and people. Recall that management is getting work done through other people, not doing it all yourself, so you should be devoting most of your time and effort to the activities in this circle. It is useful to split this circle into two halves. One half is task-focused: This is about getting work done efficiently, solving problems, making decisions, and fostering creativity and innovation. The other half is relationship-focused: This involves understanding what motivates others, getting the best out of them, communicating effectively, hiring and developing people, building strong teams, and dealing with difficult situations. Obviously, most situations have task and relational components, so you need to learn how to blend techniques from both halves.
The third activity is to manage your wider context. This involves developing situational awareness – an understanding of the organization you work in and the competitive business environment in which it is operating. Then it requires you to figure out how to work effectively within that context, using honest tactics for getting ahead in your organization, making change happen, and working effectively with external stakeholders, especially customers.
Cross-Cutting Themes
Although each of these circles addresses a different set of people (yourself, your immediate team, and the rest of the organization and beyond), there are some important themes that cut across them. We would like to highlight four.
Meaning
– Research has shown that meaning, or purpose, is one of the key intrinsic motivators in the workplace. In other words, if you want to do a good job, and if you want people around you to do likewise, you need to be clear about the fundamental reason why a piece of work needs doing in the first place. For example, the best pharmaceutical firms don't just “make drugs” – they cure diseases and make people healthy.
The search for meaning cuts across many of the techniques in the book – for example, knowing yourself better, managing your career over time, getting work done in a focused way, understanding and motivating others, and making change happen in your organization.
Transparency
– One of the pathologies of traditional bureaucracies is the “knowledge is power” syndrome. The boss had privileged access to information, and this helped her maintain control over lower-level employees who were often kept in the dark.
In today's business world, it is no longer possible or desirable to withhold information from frontline employees. Increased transparency helps people make better decisions, and it reduces the office politics that plague large firms. Many of the techniques in this book are about communicating more openly, encouraging people to talk more freely to each other, and building greater alignment between the top and bottom of the firm.
Simplicity
– There is a tendency for large firms to build complex structures, with multiple reporting lines and large numbers of formalized procedures. In theory, these structures help them deal with complex business challenges. In practice, they often make the firm slow and unresponsive, and they make management work tedious and repetitive.
One of the themes sprinkled through the book, therefore, is the value of simplicity. The most effective bosses provide simple and clear guidelines to their employees, then they get out of the way. And the best structures are often the least encumbering ones – for example, the agile methodologies and the translation of the organization's mission into simple goals.
Perspective
– Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the hallmark of a good boss is the ability to see things from different perspectives. If you can see the world through the eyes of your employees and do things that help them get the most out of their work, you will already be on the path to success. And if you have the capacity to understand how your boss, your customers, and other stakeholders see things, then you have the potential to be a great boss. It is a fascinating little paradox: The more you emphasize helping others succeed – by enabling them to do their best work – the more you will actually succeed yourself.
The bottom line is that there is no shortcut to success. This book provides the full breadth of tools you need, but you need to be prepared to work at them. So try a few of them out, then set aside time to reflect on your own behavior, find a neutral friend or colleague to bounce your ideas off of, and seek feedback on how you are doing. Then go through the cycle again – practice makes perfect. That is the real secret to becoming a great boss.
Enjoy using this book!
Part IKnow and Manage Yourself
Chapter 1Know Yourself
Leadership is about influencing people, and a leader is someone who attracts others to follow them. So, if you want to become a more effective leader, you should start by putting yourself in the shoes of those people who work for you. What makes you worth following? Why would they want to be led by you?
Some leaders do this by formulating and communicating an inspiring vision to give people a sense of purpose in their work. It's great if you can do this, but the reality is that many leaders are not bold, charismatic visionaries. If you think about leaders you have worked for, some may have been like this, but others were probably quietly efficient people who got things done without a lot of fuss.
A more universal characteristic of effective leaders is that they are authentic: They bring a human touch to their work, they play to their strengths, and they are highly self-aware. To make the same point in reverse, we can all spot a boss who is faking it – someone who is trying to be the larger-than-life, charismatic leader that they have read about in business magazines. These types of people are a big turn-off, not just because they seem phony but also because they are unpredictable and hard to read, which makes our jobs more difficult. We would much prefer a boss whom we can relate to, who struggles with difficult decisions, who isn't always perfect.
This notion of authenticity is central to our current understanding of effective business leadership. It provides a good starting point for the book because it reminds us that, even though being a good boss is ultimately about understanding and enabling others so they can do their best work, the ability to do this rests on a deep understanding of ourselves. Simply stated, good bosses have high levels of self-awareness, and as a result, they are able to reflect on and develop their own personal skill sets, which makes them more effective over time.
This chapter describes seven ways to help you know yourself better, to help you become more self-aware, and to help you become an authentic leader. We first describe a well-known framework for understanding your personality in the workplace (#1), then we develop two techniques for assessing your personal strengths (#2) and setting goals (#3). Next, we describe ways of improving self-confidence (#4) and self-awareness (#5). Finally, we propose two techniques for self-development – the notions of cognitive restructuring (#6) and growth mindset (#7).
1. Understand Your Own Personality and Manage Accordingly (The Big Five Personality Model)
Have you ever worked in a role that didn't suit your personality? And have you ever managed people who put in a huge amount of effort but just didn't have the right mindset for the work they did? This can be an unhappy, low performance situation for all involved, and it's why it's so important to understand your own personality – and to shape the way you manage accordingly.
One way of avoiding these situations is to be aware of and use the big five personality model, which addresses what researchers call the big five dimensions of personality:
Openness
– your desire for new knowledge and experience, your appreciation of art and beauty, and your creativity.
Conscientiousness
– how much care you take with things and how hard you work. This brings together factors such as industriousness, self-discipline, competence, dutifulness, orderliness, and your sense of duty.
Extraversion
– how sociable you are. Are you warm, enthusiastic, and gregarious in social situations, and does being in a crowd fill you with energy? Or do you find yourself drained by social contact with new people?
Agreeableness
– your friendliness and kindness to others. This includes factors such as compassion, altruism, trust, politeness, modesty, and straightforwardness.
Neuroticism
– how volatile you are and how far you are in control of your emotions. It also takes into account factors such as hostility, impulsiveness, anxiety, self-consciousness, and depression.
The big five model is useful because it's actionable and because there are plenty of online tests available for it – use the second URL below to try one. So how should you use the results?
If you find that your conscientiousness is low, you need to take firm action – if you don't change this, you are not going to get far in your career because people won't be able to trust you to get things done.
Similarly, low levels of agreeableness and high levels of neuroticism are going to make you unsettling to work with, particularly in high-stress workplaces. There are strategies you can learn to manage these things (for example, see #4).
Introverts can often bring deep thinking and calm reflection to situations, but many twenty-first-century workplaces favor a faster, team-oriented, extroverted approach. Introverts need to adapt to this or find situations and roles that better suit the way they prefer to work.
Finally, greater openness is generally a good thing in the workplace. There are situations where a low level of openness may be useful: For example, we sometimes need people to make sure that rules are followed. However, if you have a low score on this dimension, you will probably want to work on trying out new experiences and ways of thinking.
Once you've used the test, think about what you have learned from it, and make appropriate plans to address these learning points.
Find out more about the big five model, and discover strategies for addressing disadvantageous scores:
http://mnd.tools/1-1
Take an online big five personality test (free):
http://mnd.tools/1-2
Source: Adapted from Judge et al. 2013. Reproduced with permission of the American Psychological Association.
2. Understand and Make Better Use of Your Personal Strengths (Personal SWOT Analysis)
We are most likely to succeed in life if we use our talents to their fullest extent and if we understand and address our weaknesses. SWOT analysis is a popular tool for looking at an organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (#85). It works just as well on a personal level.
To use it, start by looking at your strengths. What skills, certifications, or connections do you have that other people don't have? What do you do particularly well, and what resources can you access that other people can't? What achievements are you proudest of, and what strengths contributed to these? And what do other people, particularly your boss and your coworkers, think you are uniquely good at?
Tip
If you're struggling to identify strengths, consider using the online StrengthsFinder and VIA assessments. You can access these using the URLs on the next page.
Next, look at weaknesses. What tasks do you struggle to do well, and why is that? What do the people around you see as your weaknesses? Where are they likely to think you need more education or training? What poor work habits do you have, and what weaknesses do these point to? What areas of development have been highlighted in past performance reviews? And what internal factors do you think are holding you back from being fully successful at work?
Then, explore opportunities. Brainstorm emerging trends that excite you in your market or things that customers complain about that you can address. And identify opportunities that come from your strengths.
Finally, look at the threats you face. What could undermine you or cause problems at work? Is your job or technology changing in a way that could be worrisome? And could any of your weaknesses lead to threats?
By this stage, you'll likely have long lists in each of these categories, and this can make your analysis unfocused and difficult to use. Prioritize these lists, and then cut them down so that they show the top three to five strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats – these are the ones you should focus on. We'll look at how you can start to act on these things next.
Find out more about personal SWOT analysis, including a SWOT analysis template:
http://mnd.tools/2-1
Take the StrengthsFinder assessment ($):
http://mnd.tools/2-2
Take the VIA character strengths assessment (free):
http://mnd.tools/2-3
3. Set Clear Personal Goals, and Show a Strong Sense of Direction (Personal Goal Setting)
Just as you need to understand your own personality and your strengths and weaknesses, it is important to have a clear idea of where you want to go with your life and what you want to achieve.
Personal goal setting is a popular and well-validated approach for thinking about your ideal future and for creating the plans that will bring it to fruition. It's used by businesspeople, athletes, and high achievers to give themselves the focus and motivation to succeed at the highest level.
Setting personal goals takes only a few hours. These can be some of the most valuable hours of your life!
Start by thinking about what you would love to be doing in 10 years' time, and write down your dreams of what your ideal future will look like then. Think about the obvious areas such as personal meaning, career, family, and athletic achievement, as well as areas such as education, relationships, personal finances, personal enjoyment, and so on. You'll end up with a very long list, so choose three to five dreams that excite you most and that best suit your personality and your strengths.
Now turn these dreams into hard goals. Write them as specific statements of what you want to achieve. This is where the SMART mnemonic is
