Posts tagged with 'manager'
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Managers Gain More By Asking Questions
Read the rest of this entry »To be a better manager, ask don't tell. More specifically, ask questions of your team.
If that seems inconsistent with projecting strong, decisive leadership, it can be, if your questions suggest a lack of homework or are manipulative. But managers whose questions are honest attempts at understanding or express curiosity were considered more trustworthy and more credible as leaders.
Research soon to be published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision …
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Do You Really Want to Be a Manager?
Read the rest of this entry »It's flattering to be offered a management promotion. It shows the confidence your boss has in you, and the bump in your paycheck would certainly be welcome.
But before you say yes, take a deep breath and think about what it means. Not everyone wants to be a manager. Not everyone who is a manager should be one.
Being a manager comes with dramatically different responsibilities. Instead of being responsible …
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Where Do Managers Fit In An Agile Workplace?
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Workplace agility, once mostly just discussed in articles in business journals, is becoming a reality in all kinds of industries. While just 4% of respondents to a McKinsey survey this year said their companies have completely transformed, 37% reported being in the midst of becoming more agile.
In an agile workplace the bureaucracy is flattened, decisions are made more quickly in response to customer demands and market opportunities. Employees assemble …
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Technology to the Rescue for Middle Managers
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If you hire people, but only after you get permission. If you have to enforce policies you didn't make, and when you go to discipline those who ignore those policies you're told you can't. If you spend more time in meetings with other managers than in meetings with your staff, you are a middle manager and among the unhappiest of workers in the company.Who says? Studies, research, and surveys …
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2 Simple Steps to Building Trust With Your Team
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One of the most important ingredients of a healthy relationship between managers and their direct reports is trust. Trust means being psychologically safe, allowing team members to share without fear of of embarrassment or rejection; it also means trusting your people to do what is expected.Why is trust so important? Google found that trust, in the form of providing psychological safety for team members to be themselves, …
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How to Turn "Difficult Conversations" Into a Win
Sooner or later every manager is going to have "one of those" conversations with a worker. It's human nature to want to put those conversations off as long as possible, which is, as you might expect, the worst thing you can do. It only makes things worse when you finally must have that sit down.Read the rest of this entry »
Experts tell us that having regular one-on-one check-ins with each member of your team allows … -
To Avoid Being Bossy, Are You Being Unclear?
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You're the type of manager who doesn't want to come across as "bossy." That's good, but the way you do it may be leaving your team members confused about just what it is you want.When you use phrases like "I kind of suspect" or "I'm not sure, but" and when you toss in qualifiers such as "hopefully" and "possibly" simply to avoid sounding controlling, you create doubt about your …
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Your College Hires Are Already Looking
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If you're hiring recent college grads or have some already on staff, you'll want to take a look at these stats. They offer an interesting look at the Class of 2016, a year out from graduation.And there's no reason to think they don't apply to the 2017 college grads you just hired.
Here's one that caught our attention: 20% of the 2016 grads who have jobs are already looking …
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Check Your Ego When Holding Performance Conversations
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With the annual performance review under attack as ineffective and even detrimental, managers are being encouraged to hold regular performance conversations with their direct reports.
The reasoning is sound: Regular one-on-ones encourage more mentoring and make it possible to take corrective action sooner, before productivity and quality suffer. Giving feedback, especially positive feedback, on a regular basis helps keep the team on track and improves morale.
But when the focus … -
You One-on-Ones Should Be Awkward
Read the rest of this entry »For your next one-on-one meeting, make it awkward.
Sounds crazy doesn't it? Most of us -- boss, employee, colleague -- make an effort to avoid awkward topics, which is exactly the point, says Mark Rabin, a VP at Facebook. When we do that, we waste the potential of the face-to-face meeting. Instead of talking about the tough stuff, we skirt around it or don't discuss it at all.
"You’re not …
