Regular consumers of the Wily Manager website and podcasts will know we make the occasional Seinfeld reference when making our point.  In the spirit of the 1992 Emmy Award winning episode, “The Contest”, we submit our list of ways in which dealing with email is a lot like being the “Master of Your Domain”:

• The ridiculous amount of time you spend doing it, is something you really should keep to yourself.
• It’s something you know everyone else is doing, but you’re never really sure.
• If you don’t exercise caution and discretion, it can be really embarrassing.
• It’s all about you… and really has nothing to do with anyone else.
• It can make you go blind.

There are five more reasons that I chose not to publish, because many people visit our website from their workplace, and I’d rather not have it get caught up in a firewall.

For those that have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about, I’m hoping the video clip below helps, and if not, you should google:  “Seinfeld:  The Contest”.  It’s even on Wikipedia.

Are you master of your domain? Cause, “I’m out.  I’m out of the contest.”

I gotta go answer some email now.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Email is Evil.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Email is Evil.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

Join Jed and Bob as they discuss how you can get a grip on the email that gets sent to you, and how you can be a better at email etiquette to minimize the pain of those around you.

Watch the ‘Using Email as a Force for Good, not Evil’ Video (14 mins 41 sec):

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Building Trust in Teams.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Building Trust in Teams.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

This week the Wily Manager guys talk about building trust on teams.  If you’ve every been on a team that was a bit dysfunctional, then this week’s discussion will resonate with you.

Watch the ‘Building Trust in Teams’ Video (15 mins 32 sec):

There are certain things I trust.  I trust the sun to rise in the morning.  I trust the lady who does my dry cleaning to always wish me a “more-nice day”.  I trust that Justin Beiber is past his 15 minutes.  I also trust that the word “trust” is a loaded word.

Often, people think that the only way to lose or violate trust is to do something very clearly wrong or dishonest.  It is actually much easier than that to destroy trust.  Trust is quite simply, managing expectations in others, and then delivering on those expectations.

This is how it goes horribly wrong for politicians – large segments of the population demand that politicians lie to them during a campaign.  Any political candidate that dare speak an uncomfortable truth, will be marginalized immediately.  Then once elected, the disconnect between the expectations that have been set, and those that are delivered becomes patently obvious, and the public feels betrayed.

Just so you don’t end up being viewed like a politician, here are five ways to quickly destroy trust:

Say one thing and do another.  Much like the politician above, this is the fastest way to ensure that no one will trust you.

Try to please all the people all the time. Life is a series of trade-offs – particularly for people in positions of leadership.  As a leader, there should be some contingent of your followers that should be marginally pissed-off at all times – because it is impossible to keep everybody happy.

Pander to your audience. Targeting whomever you are communicating to is a good idea.  However, if you find yourself targeting to such a degree that your message is fundamentally different amongst different stakeholders, you’re going to alienate someone (if not everyone).

Fail to tackle difficult issues. Every leader bears the burden of dealing with difficult issues.  They will not magically disappear or solve themselves – in fact, an issue ignored is most often one that grows out of control.

Under-value giving credit, and over-value assigning blame.  Leaders need to be humble – give away credit when things go well, and step up and accept more than your share of blame when things go poorly.  You gain a whole bunch of trust by doing so.

When I first started researching the Elevator Pitch for publishing this week, I was amazed to find out it was a whole industry.  People take this stuff seriously – there are even whole companies dedicated to help people and organizations perfect their Elevator Speech.  Then I came across this one:

“We add value to our customers by maximizing the value of human capital to leverage their assets to change their paradigms in order to transform their business.”

Wow… that is just exquisite bullsh!t.  If I were playing Buzzword Bingo, I would have won the grand prize with that single sentence.

I suppose a certain amount of BS jargon is inevitable in a knowledge-based economy.  It not as easy to describe what we do, as when we were all making something tangible.  So, as a public service to Wily Manager readers, I’d like to deconstruct this sentence.  For the record, the irony of a having guy who makes a living chatting with his buddy about how managers should manage comment on this, is not lost on me.

We add value to our customers. This means you may or may not serve any useful purpose, so you have to make sure everyone thinks you “add value” by stating it explicitly.  It’s quite possible that no one is more amazed than you that you’re getting paid to do whatever it is you do to “add value”.

Maximizing the Value of Human Capital.  This necessarily means that most of the people you work with hate you.  You’re either involved in reducing headcount, or annoying the crap out of people to get them to do more with less resources.

To Change Their Paradigms. Really?  I didn’t know anyone still used the word “Paradigms” anymore.  What this probably means is that you stand up in front of groups of employees and rant at them like one of those ethically-challenged Sunday morning televangelists who asks for money to refuel his personal challenger jet.  You have about the same level of credibility, too.

To Transform Their Business.  A transformation is when a caterpillar becomes a butterfly.  In the business world transformation means that you’ll recommend and initiate a corporate reorganization that will result in the good people quitting to go work somewhere else, and the poor performers promoted three levels past their threshold of competence.  Then when it goes horribly wrong, you arrange to hire back the good people as consultants at three times what they were getting paid previously.

You should be able to describe what your business does in concise terms – just make sure it doesn’t set off the BS meter ever time you open your mouth.

If you’ve got 30 seconds to win someone over to an idea, a product, or your organization, are you ready to do so?  Thinking what you should have said after the fact won’t do you a lot of good.  Join the Wily Manager guys this week, as they discuss how to make your elevator pitch.

Watch the ‘Describing Your Business: The Elevator Speech’ Video (13 mins 12 sec):

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Describing Your Business.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Describing Your Business.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

There is so much stuff out there telling managers what they should do to be more effective, and how they can be better leaders of their people.  This week, I thought I’d take a different approach, and suggest to managers how they might make sure that none of their people care.

It seems that many leaders will read an article or attend a seminar and them come back to the office and do the same thing they were doing before.  They then find themselves stressed-out and miserable, as they can never seem to get a grip on their jobs or on leading their people.  It seems something is lost in the transfer between reading or hearing something, and applying it to our own circumstances.

As for the people those managers are leading: they all start out with a different level of giving a crap, and they are then pushed towards the mean (or average) of “giving-a-crap-edness” of the culture around them.  The great managers push that average line up, and inspire people to come along for the ride.  Bad leaders, push the line down, and tacitly encourage people to give a crap about far fewer things, and at far lower a level.

So here are some things bad leaders do to ensure no one cares:

1. Enable unnecessary bureaucracy. This is why many public sector organizations suffer with poor morale.
2. Not dealing with performance issues.  I’m not going to work all that hard for you if I know my peer is doing nothing, and not getting called on it.
3. Not administering consequences.  People need to know that both good and poor performance will be recognized and “rewarded” as such.
4. Micro-managing.  If you are going to redo all my work anyway, I’m not going to put much effort into it.
5. Playing favorites.  OK… maybe a meritocracy only exists in a University Professor’s textbook, but you’ve got to at least try to give the appearance of fairness.
6. Reinforce a blame culture. People’s best work comes from taking risks, which they will not do, if they get crucified every time a small error is made.

There are lots of other ones, too, but leaders should start with these ones, and determine to what degree they do these things.  The further away you are from these things, the more likely you are to be pushing that mean line of discretionary effort upwards.

It seems to me that Command and Control as a management style has gotten a bum rap.  You’ve heard the disparaging remarks, “She’s a complete command and control style manager” – implying there is something wrong with that.

I think such comments display a startling lack of understanding of what leaders are required to do in organizations.  Command and control is a very useful managerial tool for certain situations.

People love to use fire-fighting as an analogy to describe modern management practice.  I would challenge anyone to go find himself a Fire Chief and ask him/her if command and control is a bad idea.

When a building is burning and lives are at stake, the Fire Chief very much relies on command and control as the appropriate management tool for that situation.  Can you imagine the fire department showing up at an emergency, and the Fire Chief requesting that everyone break up in study groups, to hold hands and sing camp songs?

“OK – everyone brainstorm ideas for how we should tackle this, and I’ll give a special prize to the group that comes up with the best idea.  Make sure everyone participates equally, and remember that everyone’s feedback is valuable.  This is an excellent opportunity to reinforce how much we value each other, and I’ll float between the groups to help facilitate.”

Glad it’s not my house on fire.  I want the Fire Chief standing on top of chair barking out orders as fast as she can to get the situation under control.  I also want the Firefighters to listen carefully to the orders being dispatched, and execute as they’re being instructed to do.

When they are back at the Firehall, and practicing for such emergencies, or doing community outreach, then the Fire Chief would be well advised to pull a different tool out of his box, and to engage his people in a more collaborative style.

The problem for people that disparage command and control is that they confuse this very important managerial style with a lack of respect.  Lack of respect is never appropriate, but many times it is a leaders job to tell her direct reports in no uncertain terms what they are required to do.  Setting clear expectations, holding people to account for those expectations, and administering the appropriate consequences are what we pay managers to do.

Command and control is one legitimate tool to get this done.

One of the hazards of living in a society that doesn’t value anything remotely old, or any person over 25, is writing about people who lived in different centuries.  I’m taking a bit of a risk here… by way of this first sentence, 50% of the reading audience has already ADD’d onto another subject.

You see, Socrates and Lincoln were masters of the art of asking questions.  A key part of each of their distinct repertoires was to ask questions to guide and persuade people to their way of thinking.  Undoubtedly, it was a special skill in their respective times.  Now, it is probably an extinct form of communication.

The benefits of guiding conversation by questions are well documented and obvious.  What is not as evident is why people don’t bother to use this powerful method of communication.

I’ll go out on the limb here, and suggest it’s because we don’t think we have time.

We live in an instant gratification culture with an overwhelming societal case of Attention Deficit Disorder – communal ADD.

In the course of investigating this phenomena, I turned to the ultimate authority on all things cultural:  the TV.  I watched a few unscripted TV shows (I won’t call them “Reality TV”, because Star Trek is closer to reality than any of these shows).

It seems effective communication requires us to:

a)    Have all the answers, right away.  If you don’t know the answer, make something up, and stick to your guns, lest you look weak.

b)   If you don’t know the answer, shout louder than the other person to make your (incoherent) point.  It doesn’t really matter what they are saying, or even if they are right.  What is most important is that you win.

c)    You are entitled to an opinion, even if you have absolutely no clue what is being discussed.  You are not only entitled, you are obligated to weigh-in with your clueless drivel.

d)   Everybody is exceptionally good looking.  Ugly people make for bad TV, and are thus completely ignored even if they do have something intelligent to say.

I wonder what questions Socrates would ask about this?

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about The Art of Asking Questions.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about The Art of Asking Questions.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

Join Jed & Bob as they discuss the power of asking great questions for individual leaders.  They also talk about how managers can ask better questions, and use “empowering questions” to their advantage.

Watch the ‘Leading With Questions’ Video (15 mins 00 sec):

Join Jed and Bob as they discuss how this generation has been shaped, the expectations of Gen X at work, and most importantly, how to effectively lead this group.

Watch the ‘Generation Gap: Managing Gen X’ Video (14 mins 41 sec):

Download the  ”Generation X in the Workplace” Cheat Sheet, Video, Audio, and Slides

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Generation X in the Workplace.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Generation X in the Workplace.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

I worked with a client, who confided in me that he was about to quit his job in a senior leadership role within the organization.  Mike was really smart, and hard working, but had a bit of a blind-spot when it came to political considerations within the workplace.  He always insisted that he didn’t play politics.  What he failed to realize is that you can’t choose whether to play workplace politics or not.  You play, or you get played.

Mike and I role-played his resignation conversation a bit, and it became clear to me very early that this was going to be a disaster of epic proportions.  Mike was determined to teach his boss, and the organization a lesson on his way out.  No one was safe – his boss, his peers, and his direct reports were all targets of his wrath.

In completely unrelated news, Mike was a smoker.  Putting the addictive nature of tobacco use aside, people smoke because the short-term consequences of smoking are immediate, certain and generally positive.  How else can you look cool, get a nicotine high and relax yourself?  It feels good.  The longer-term death and illness are problems for another day.

Mike’s choice in how he chose to leave the organization was parallel reasoning, and equally as stupid.  He had watched too many crap-TV shows that erroneously illustrate people quitting their jobs by sticking it to their boss and the organization, feeling a huge sense of relief and a temporary euphoria before moving on to bigger and better things.

The reality of a grand-mal resignation is more like the eventual cancer and emphysema that smokers get.  It feels good for a few minutes, but ultimately sabotages the quitter’s longer-term career prospects.

Before Mike chose to light his future with the glow of the bridges he’d burned behind him, he may have wanted to consider how and when he might run into some of these people again.

Mike didn’t know which one of the peers he burned on his way out might be a hiring manager at another organization five years from now.  He also had no way to know that the boss he called everything short of illegitimate would also be submitting his notice shortly because he was taking on a new role at the same firm Mike was moving to.

Oh, that’s going to be awkward.  But they never talk about that on the sitcoms.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about The Best Way to Quit Your Job.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about The Best Way to Quit Your Job.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

Learn how to quit your job without completely derailing your career.

Watch the ‘How To Quit Your Job Gracefully’ Video (14 mins 34 sec):

Download ‘The Best Way to Quit Your Job’ Cheat Sheet, Video, Audio, and Slides

How did this happen?  When you were a teenager, you were very clearly smarter than your parents.  Then you went on, and got yourself a whole bunch of education, worked hard, and are now leading a team of people.  Half of them are old enough to be your parents.

Managing your mom?  You didn’t sign up for this.

Oh to be a Baby Boomer — The single most important demographic cohort in the history of the planet.  The baby boomers have absolutely dominated the workplace since the 1960s, and are only slowly giving up their grip now.  If you were born after about 1965, then it is a good news/bad news story for you.

The bad news is the Boomers racked up your “societal credit card debt”, that will take several generations to pay off.  The good news is they’ve already cured erectile dysfunction, and they are bound and determined to stay youthful forever, which bodes well for all those that follow.

In the workplace, this has a number of ramifications.  If you’ve got a boomer working for you, you might have to put up with the occasional tardy arrival, if you are to believe the Cialis commercials.  It also means when you start talking about ISPs, ASPs and HTML, their eyes will glaze over faster than Paris Hilton’s would on Jeopardy.

Keep in mind that there is something to be learned from this generation.  Yes they were financially reckless with your future, and made the planet into an environmental disaster, but that doesn’t mean they don’t know a thing or two about whatever business you are in.

The Boomers have seen several business cycles come and go, and will tell you (with certain credibility) that they’ve seen it all previously.  Everything in business comes full circle – just the details are marginally different.  If you listen carefully to the Boomers working for you, you just might get a jump on whatever is going to happen next.

They can’t manage email to save their life, and they think microwaves and fax machines are high tech, but if you discount their input and feedback, it is at your peril.

Learn how to lead and manage the balding and grey.

Watch the ‘Baby Boomers in the Workforce’ Video (13 mins 46 sec):

Download the ‘Managing Baby Boomers in the Workforce’ Cheat Sheet, Video, Audio, and Slides

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Managing Baby Boomers in the Workforce.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Baby Boomers in the Workforce.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

If you’re from a different generation, how do you lead and motivate Millennials?

Watch the ‘Generation Gap: Millennials in the Workplace’ Video (14 mins 22 sec):

Download the ‘Millennials in the Workplace’ Cheat Sheet, Video, Audio, and Slides

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Millennials in the Workplace.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Millennials in the Workplace.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

OK… so I know I’m supposed to treat these ones differently.  They’ve never received anything but continually positive feedback, and their Mum’s and Dad’s loved them so much, they got a cake and a parade every time they didn’t wet the bed.

Unfortunately, some one has to break the news to the more entitled of this generation that:

Life is Just Not Fair.

If you are living and working in a society of more than one, sooner or later someone who is not as smart as you, not as hardworking as you, and maybe not even as good looking as you, is going to get something that you feel entitled to.  It’s horribly unfair.

It’s called “life”.

Prince Charles got himself into trouble a few years ago because he suggested that maybe it wasn’t the best idea to tell everyone they could do or be anything they wanted to.  On the surface, it is highly offensive to have a guy that was born into fame and riches lecturing people to accept their lot in life and make the best of it.  On reflection however, he is the perfect person to say so:  he never had a choice as to his vocation or ambition.  It was pre-determined for him, and few sane people would want to trade places with him.

In reality, people of all generations should try to reach beyond their grasp.  The folly is when achieving things beyond your humble origins becomes an entitlement, rather than a bonus.  There are lots of smart people out there who have worked very hard to exceed their natural circumstances, who only do marginally better than their parents or peers did.  Those that have risen above tremendous adversity go on to get their own television networks (good for you, Oprah), or have movies of the week made about their story are the exception, not the rule.

The rest of us need to be content with what fate conspires to deliver to us for our efforts.

I have a creepy feeling about a whole generation of trophy-kids entering the workplace, when their parents and society have failed to expose them to unbridled competition or at least some understanding of the harsh reality of life.  Far too many parents would storm into the principal’s office when Susie didn’t get an “A” in chemistry.

What’s going to happen when Susie’s dad wants to storm into the boss’s office when Susie gets fired?

Well, that’s kind of harsh – even if it is true for many leaders.  How did it come to this?  How did you manage your career so you could end up mediating between two employees who are applying death-threats to each other because one used the other’s Arthur Fonzarelli commemorative coffee mug, and never washed it?

None of us stood up in the first grade and announced to the world that we wanted to be a middle manager.  Yet, there are far more middle managers than there are police officers, fire-fighters and ballerinas combined.  And here you are a generation later with the title, “Manager” which entitles you to:

• 10% more pay than the two idiots arguing over the coffee mug
• longer working hours
• hypertension.

I remember being the manager of a supermarket, where I’d have to mediate such disputes as who had to check through the groceries.  Yep, that’s right – we had hired over 100 people into the job description, “cashier”, and I was constantly involved in battles over who had to check.  Weren’t we paying all of you to perform that function?

Or another employee who made a career out of torturing other people with comments such as:

• “I think you’ve put on weight”
• “You’ll probably be bald in another couple of years”
• “Why do you think it is that people don’t like you”

Of course, he always phrased these in such a way that he couldn’t be taken to task for harassment, but that didn’t stop the line-up of complaints about his behaviour.

I finally developed a coping strategy for these petty complaints that made me tremendously unpopular with everyone, but I enjoyed my job much more, and had way more time on my hands.  Unless I deemed the complaint to be something that would effect the viability of the business, or lead to an unacceptable amount of risk, I would tell people, “You need to sort this out on your own, because if you try to involve me, I guarantee no one is going to like the result”.

A threat?  Probably.

A survival strategy?  Definitely.

I’ve spoken in this space before about “the burden of leadership” that some managers have thought is a bit harsh.  I won’t back away from those comments, but I will say that petty complaints and conflicts are not part of any manager’s job – it’s a baby-sitter’s job.

The Manager’s job is often a thankless one, but it doesn’t have to be trivial, unless you allow it to be so.  This aspect of the manager’s job is timeless.

Part of my job is to read the latest management books, and scan the media for important literature that could be of some use to managers.  Some stuff is certainly better written than others, but lately I’m getting downright cranky with some of the “wisdom” the alleged management gurus and pumping out to maintain their publishing revenue.  As a result, this week we’ll address some of these guru-myths.

Myth #1:  You need to treat everybody the same.

Treating everybody the same is a management slogan that gets trotted out as good leadership behaviour when exactly the opposite is true.  People are individuals and need to be treated as such.  Here’s something else the management gurus won’t tell you – sometimes, some of your people will desperately need a kick in the ass.

The reason management gurus won’t tell you this, is because they don’t know.  They don’t know, because they’ve never actually been a manager.  Yes, they may have sold enough books to own their very own Caribbean island, but many of them have never actually had direct reports.

I won’t disagree that people should be always treated with equal amounts of respect.  But respect necessarily means that a good leader will deal with a poor performing team member (sometimes via that kick in the ass, mentioned above) out of respect for the higher performing team members.

Myth #2:  Managers need to delegate everything

Another guru-myth is that every manager needs to, “delegate, delegate, delegate!” There is no doubt that effective delegation can help a leader push some teams to outstanding performance.  But there are other teams, where relentless delegation can be a catastrophic mistake.

In teams with members that are lower skilled for the tasks they are performing, the last thing you want to do is delegate.  These people need to be carefully directed and managed – some people might even call it micro-managing.  Delegating too much, too soon is probably a larger management issue than failing to delegate.

Myth #3:  Training solves all performance problems

More than once we’ve gotten a call from someone who asks us to come in and do some change management training with his people.  Our very first question is, “why do you think they need training?”

Sometimes, they do.  In other cases, people are fully capable of making the change being asked of them, they just don’t want to do so.  (See:  ass-kicking, above)

Myth #4:  People don’t resist change.  You just need to give them all the information

This myth is particularly offensive.  People DO resist change even when they know the benefits, and have all the information required.  Case in point:  the metric system.  It’s vastly superior, and far easier to understand.  Nearly 7 billion people use it every day, yet the few who still choose not to use it hang on to the old imperial system like Linus protects his blanket.

I could go on and on, but I’m working on a change-management training course for managers who want to better delegate to the people they want to treat all the same.

The first day on a new job is a harrowing experience.  It creates impressions on all those you work with, and sets the stage for your success (or failure) with that employer.

Probably my most memorable first day on the job was literally my first day on the job – any job.  I was fifteen years old, and I got a job bagging groceries at the local supermarket.  Ron Grant was the manager on duty, and he met me at the door.  Ron was never one to smile much, but he was a good guy, and he knew his job very well.

What he didn’t do as well, was to remember people’s names.  From my first day onwards, my name was always “Brad” – the curse of having a last name that is many others’ first name.  In the months to come, I’d hear him paging Brad time after time, and then wonder why Brad (whoever that was) never answered.

Ron toured me through the whole store, stopping along the way to introduce me to everyone on staff that we met, and to point out the things I might need to know for my new career wrapping groceries.  He also doled out advice that was very useful and well intentioned, but easily could have been included in the best-seller, “Sh*t My Dad Says.”  Needless to say, I learned some new words and expressions that day, that came in very handy when I recycled them back at high school.

I learned in the months and years to come, that Ron oriented me to my new workplace completely of his own initiative.  The organization really had no process for bringing people on besides the requisite signing of the official paperwork.

At the end of this orientation, he returned me to the front of the store, where I’d spend the next several years bagging groceries.

“Any questions?” asked Ron.

“Nope… I’m ready to go.” I replied.

“Great”, he said, as I turned to get started.  “Hey Brad,”

“Yep?”

“Your fly’s open”, he said without cracking a smile.

Presumably, he’d noticed this before he’d toured me through the whole place, but had waited until now to share this news with me.  It’s been a while since I’ve been teenage boy, but I’m assuming at the time I would have had checklist of basic hygiene items – such as making sure one’s zipper was properly secured.  Apparently, first day job jitters successfully eclipsed basic personal maintenance items.

Walking around in a public place with your fly open — I suppose that’s one way to make a first impression on when starting a new job.

I know it may be hard to believe (because I seem so delightful in these pages), but I can sometimes be difficult to get along with.  I get particularly cranky when I’m working with a group that loves to have meetings.  They have no idea why they have meetings, there are no outcomes, and no decisions are made, so it must be that there is some addictive quality in the coffee served at meetings.

Humourist Dave Barry once said that organizations have meetings because they are unable to masterbate.  I prefer to look at it this way: there is an inverse correlation between the number and quality of meetings in an organization, and their overall success.  In other words, I am suggesting that the fewer meetings that occur, the more successful the organization will be.

I know this is an argument I will lose in most companies, so as a service to Wily Manager readers, I’ll suggest ways to pass the time in one of your infinite number of meetings:

• Buzzword Bingo – this is where you try to stay awake by identifying business catch phrases.  You need to be discrete, though.  You don’t want to carry in a BINGO marker, or jump out of your chair, screaming “BINGO” when the Director of IT utters the words “low-hanging fruit”.  Download the Wily Manager Buzzword Bingo card here.
• Meeting value calculator – it’s kind of like a telethon, where you keep adding up the total amount of shareholder value that is being sucked away.  You can run the calculations privately, or put up a display board with changeable numbers that can be updated as the meeting goes on.  It’s a bit like the national debt clock in Times Square.
• Count the Meetings. Often you may be in a room and witnessing 12 individual meetings happening in rapid succession, as each person updates the boss with information that is completely irrelevant to everyone else in the room.
• Count the Meetings (variation). In particularly undisciplined organizations, meetings will degenerate into multiple and simultaneous conversations.  In this case there can be several separate meetings occurring at once, but they are much harder to count that the first variation of this game.
• Spot the Participant Type: In this game, you tag each participant with the label most appropriate to them.  Here are some thought starters:
  • The Jeopardy game show contestant:  this is a person constantly asking rhetorical questions, and communicates through Socratic code:  “Do I like the idea of being in this meeting room for 8 hours?  No, I don’t”
  • Caffeine-Deprived: Spot the people in the room struggling just to maintain a minimum level of consciousness, so as not to appear asleep.  Often identified by periodic head-bobbing, however the really good ones have perfected sleeping with the eyes open, while nodding every few moments to give the illusion of awareness
  • The Rambler – A solution to this problem is like Book III of Gulliver’s Travels where an empty sheep’s bladder tied to stick is used to gently hit the Rambler in the head to keep him on track.
  • The Evangelist – everything is a matter of life or death.  If the colour of the toilet-paper is changed, it will negatively impact our very way of life.
  • The thinker – they doodle, don’t look they’re paying attention, and then once per meeting the amaze everyone with their ability to put the entire issue into context.  Be nice to them, they could be your next boss.

Finally, it seems that meetings and death are closely related.  Even before Patrick Lencioni wrote Death By Meeting, I had a dream that I had died, and arrived in purgatory, and it was a meeting that never ended.  I was desperate that someone would pray for my soul, until I realized all of them were too busy in meetings as well.  I woke up realizing a violent death wasn’t as bad as it sounded – at least after a grizzly death, someone would pray for me.

If you’re a regular visitor to this site, you’ll know we like The Office, Seinfeld, Saturday Night Live, and 30 Rock.  With only a few other exceptions, broadcast television is an incredible waste of time, and like other recreational drugs, should be used only occasionally and sparingly.

Interestingly, life on the corporate food-chain is not unlike a poorly written sitcom.  Perhaps that is why so many of them are set in the workplace.  Both the workplace and the crappy sitcoms have protagonists, antagonists, and usually some version of the mentally unbalanced.  Bad writing and poor acting are part of both as well.  Perhaps the only significant difference is that on a sitcom, big problems can neatly be wrapped up in 22 minutes, so there’s time to sell soap and give you a preview to next week’s silliness.

I decided to do some research for this post, so I sat for an evening to watch some sitcoms to make sure I hadn’t misplaced my contempt, and to bring myself up to date on some of the blubber being offered up on TV.

Apparently prime-time comedy is getting worse.  It is also apparent that one doesn’t need an abundance of talent to write this stuff, so Wily Manager proudly presents:

Manager in the Middle

Manager in the Middle is an innovative new sitcom from the people who bring you the Wily Manager weekly podcasts.  The primary character (yet to be named, pending focus group results) is a smart, but cheeky manager constantly being offset by his sadistic immediate supervisor.

The supervisor, Cruela (played by Jane Lynch) loves to pit one manager off against another believing this “healthy” competition will better help her run her business.  Our protagonist is also matrix-managed by a kind, cautious human-resource manager who always knows the right thing to do, but is unwilling to make a decision, and is incredibly conflict-adverse.

Our hero (played by Frankie Muniz (he’s all grown up now)) has four peer managers who all report to Cruella.  Rounding out the cast is:

• Vlad: The hard-working, smart, reliable foreigner who is easily pushed around for fear of losing his work visa (played by Fez from That 70s Show)
• Dianne: The single mom who is just trying to make it through the day, but is in constant conflict with Cruela, as she struggles to make it to the daycare on time to pick up her two kids.  Cruela would like to fire her for not working insane hours, but unfortunately (for Cruela) the work she does is outstanding.
• Don: The smarmy, but oddly likeable young single guy who doesn’t know near as much as he thinks he does.  He also loves to take credit for other people’s work.
• Vera: The jaded, cynical, sharp-tongued middle aged woman who has over ten years until retirement, but can tell you how many days are left in her working career.

Join us in the first episode when Cruela asks her team to stay late to meet a useless last minute request that everyone knows will go nowhere… and hilarity ensues.

Think we could get Fox to air it after Glee?

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Managing Conflict.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

1. Firing people
2. Disciplining people
3. Showdown with the boss
4. Being caught in the middle
5. Peer conflicts
6. Constant Change
7. Baby-sitting
8. Overload
9. Red Tape – Needless Administration
10. Personal fulfillment

• Only the perverse enjoy this part of the job
• Have a solid paper trail.  If you don’t have one – postpone the firing until you do*
• Get good advice – HR or legal
• Make the meeting short and to the point
• Never fire someone in anger or on the spot
• Do not put this off because it’s uncomfortable

Employee Discipline:

• Have a process
• Document every meeting
  • Formal or informal
  • Written or verbal
• Make consequences clear in advance of disciplinary action
• Have all the information at your disposal
• Have a witness – preferably someone from HR or legal

Showdown with the Boss:

• Insist on dealing with it in private
• Never bad-mouth the boss
• Consider whether s/he has a point
• Don’t make idle threats
• Reinforce that s/he is the boss, and you will ultimately do as they ask*
• Choose your battles carefully
• Move to resolution, not to perpetuate conflict

Being Caught in the Middle:

• Tow the party line – even when you don’t agree
• Explain the rationale as best you understand it
• Do not blame by pointing up the hierarchy
• Where appropriate act as a facilitator for a more favourable outcome
• Be very clear with your people as to what is negotiable and what is not

Peer Conflicts:

• Determine how important a peer relationship is to you, your department and your ability to be successful
• Figure out what they need/want from you
• Help them understand what you need/want from them, and why it is important
• Escalate the problem only as a last resort

Learn Even More About ‘Managing Conflict’

Wily Manager members, click here to access the members-only area for this topic (you must be logged in).  In the members-only area, you can:

• Watch the full length ‘Managing Conflict’ Video (15 minutes)
• Download the ‘Managing Conflict’ Video (mp4)
• Download the ‘Managing Conflict’ Audio (mp3)
• Download the ‘Managing Conflict’ Slides (ppt)
• Print or save the ‘Managing Conflict’ Cheat Sheet (pdf)
• Click through to Related Topics:
  • Difficult Conversations: You Smell and People Don’t Like You
  • Handling Emotional Behavior
  • Dealing With Difficult Employees
  • You’re Fired! How to Fire an Employee
  • Effective Interpersonal Communication
  • Top 10 Manager Challenges: Part B (Managing Stress)
  • How to Manage Conflict

Not a member yet? Join us now and get instant access! For more information about the advantages of becoming a Wily Manager member, visit Become a Member.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Managing Conflict.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

Of the top 10 things that make managers crazy, the first five all involve some kind of conflict.

Watch the ‘Top 10 Manager Challenges (Part A)’ video (21 mins 9 sec):

Download the ‘Top 10 Manager Challenges (Part A) Video (m4v)

Download the ‘Top 10 Manager Challenges (Part A) Audio (mp3)

Top10ChallengesPartA.ppt

Take a look at the ‘Top 10 Manager Challenges Part A’ Cheat Sheet

What are YOUR Conflict ‘Hot Buttons’? Take the online Conflict Dynamics Profile and get personalized feedback and a development guide.

OK… we’ll start this week by talking in code.  Even though the inappropriate word above is now widely used on network television, and even Bill Cosby has uttered it from his lips, I’m pretty sure if I repeat the word several times in one post, a number of firewalls will catch it, and I won’t be able to spread the gospel this week.

For our purposes, the code word will be “O-ring”.

I was once told that in this world there are two types of people:  Idiots and O-rings.  Your label is determined by your behaviour, and everyone has acted as both an idiot and an O-ring at various points in their lives.  Some particularly talented people have managed to be both simultaneously, earning the title “idiot-hole”.

When asked if I thought I was an idiot or an O-ring, I struggled for which term I found less offensive, and more importantly what sort of behaviour qualifies one for membership in each category.  The definition of “idiot” is reasonably clear.  Anytime you’ve made an unbelievably stupid choice, you qualify as an idiot.  In my case, I was clearly an idiot when I agreed to sit through a “short video presentation”  (with a complementary cocktail) when I was on vacation in Mexico many years ago.

The definition of O-ring is somewhat more illusive.  I canvassed a number of people to try to determine exactly what would qualify someone to be labeled an O-ring.  As it turns out whenever someone else does something we don’t like, they are an O-ring.  Case in point: traffic.  Of all the people driving within a 100km radius of your vehicle, there is you, and all the other O-rings on the road.

This revelation naturally led me to examine my own behaviour when I was an Operations Manager with many direct reports.  I arrived at the unmistakable conclusion that I was a tremendous O-ring.  I’m not talking about an occasional O-ring maneuver, but rather a full-time job of simply being an O-ring.  My entire work world was an infinite series of actions and decisions that at other people didn’t like.  If I could go back in time, I’d change my title to AC (O-ring in charge).

So, is it possible to be a manager without being an O-ring?  Probably not.  Would you want to be a manager that’s not an O-ring?  Only if you want to be an idiot.

This week we talk about how improving your ability to communicate constructively, you might avoid being labeled an O-ring.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Effective Interpersonal Communication.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

• Rarely will you be successful without the ability to “relate” effectively.
• Those who leave positive impressions get more done through and with others than those who leave negative impressions.

Listening

• Do you offer answers before the question has even been asked?
• Do you offer conclusions or solutions before hearing the whole story?
• Manage the first 3 minutes
  • Take in information
  • Ask questions
  • Active listening
  • Don’t interrupt

Body Language

Body language that will not help you relate well with others:

• Washboard brow
• The blank stare
• Looking at your watch or the I’m busy look
• Finger or pencil drumming

Body language that will help:

• Eye contact
• Smile
• Nodding while the person is talking
• Open body posture

Language

When you do start talking the key to leaving a positive impression is to replace conflict provoking language with language that sounds like you want to cooperate and work with the other person.

Blame

Assigning Blame or figuring our who’s at fault is rarely helpful

• Eliminate blaming statements
  • You aren’t listening.
  • If you had taken more care …
• Focus on figuring out a solution and moving forward
  • Let me try and explain this better …
  • What might we do differently in order to …

Commands

• In most situations people don’t like being told what to do.
• Be careful with direct or implied commands.
  • You should …
  • You ought to  …
  • You have to …
  • You need to …
• Instead try statements of options or choice.
  • Have you considered …
  • What if we were to …
• Making a request often lands better than a command.
  • Would you mind …
  • Could I ask you to …

Absolutes

Never use absolutes like “never” or “always” because they always:

• Result in the other person getting defensive.
• Are inaccurate.
• Examples:
  • This work is never finished on time.
  • This happens every time we talk.
  • You always …

Other Tips

• When you are frustrated your “gut” response will often cause problems.
  • Reflect, Restate and Respond.
• Check your Ego.
  • Don’t come across like you couldn’t possibly be wrong or the other persons idea couldn’t possibly work.
• Show you Care.
  • Take the time to get to know the other person.

Learn Even More About ‘Effective Interpersonal Communication’

Wily Manager members, click here to access the members-only area for this topic (you must be logged in).  In the members-only area, you can:

• Watch the full length ‘Effective Interpersonal Communication’ Video (15 minutes)
• Download the ‘Effective Interpersonal Communication’ Video (mp4)
• Download the ‘Effective Interpersonal Communication’ Audio (mp3)
• Download the ‘Effective Interpersonal Communication’ Slides (ppt)
• Print or save the ‘Effective Interpersonal Communication’ Cheat Sheet (pdf)
• Click through to Related Topics:
  • Difficult Conversations: You Smell and People Don’t Like You
  • Improve Your Public Speaking and Presentation Skills
  • Giving Quality Feedback
  • The Power of Persuasion: Selling Your Ideas

Not a member yet? Join us now and get instant access! For more information about the advantages of becoming a Wily Manager member, visit Become a Member.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Effective Interpersonal Communication.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

Learn how to communicate most effectively through listening, word choice, and body language.

Watch the ‘So What If I’m an Asshole?’ video (23 mins 28 sec):

Download the ‘Effective Interpersonal Communication: So What If I’m an Asshole?’ Video (m4v)

Download the ‘Effective Interpersonal Communication: So What If I’m an Asshole?’ Audio (mp3)

Effective Interpersonal Communication Podcast Slides

Take a look at the ‘Effective Interpersonal Communication’ Cheat Sheet

In January of 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded on take-off killing all seven crew, and grounding the American space program for two years.  Of the exhaustive investigations that took place (that led to a significant number of changes for NASA, and how they conducted their business), perhaps the most important change was that for the first time, talking about changing corporate culture was fair game.

The engineers and investigators determined the technical causes of the explosion, but when they dug deeper to understand why those technical issues were not addressed in advance, they ended up in the uncomfortable place of changing corporate culture.  It turns out NASA had a culture whereby many qualified people knew there was a significant risk of disaster, but none chose to voice those concerns, even if they would have been listened to.

I call this an “uncomfortable” conclusion because highly technical people in any organization want to discuss things they can see, touch and/or count.  Changing corporate culture is something that nebulous and messy.  It’s difficult to define, impossible to measure, and probably the most important element of performance in an organization — as NASA found out the hard way.

So how do you go about changing corporate culture?

You don’t.

Much like Jerry Seinfeld dominated television with a show about nothing, organizations need to get about doing what they do.  I was recently in the NBC store in New York, more than a decade after Seinfeld left the air, and discovered that a significant portion of the wares were dedicated to Seinfeld’s “nothing”.  The Soup Nazi, Vandalay Industries, and Kramer’s hair all testify to the enduring quality of Seinfeld’s “nothing”.

Changing corporate culture is a lot like the show about nothing.  What people do, how they interact with each other, how they manage conflict, what gets rewarded, who gets promoted, how success is measured and a score of other things all add up to your corporate culture.

The silliest thing you can do is to declare a change in corporate culture to some virtue you read about at some other company.  The culture you have now is a product of the things above.  If you want to change your corporate culture, you need to address those things.

And don’t think it will happen in a hurry.  It will be a decade more before Seinfeld is replaced at the NBC store.

What can you do if you’re looking to change or strengthen your corporate culture?

Listen to the ‘Corporate Culture’ podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

Corporate Culture Podcast Slides

Take a look at the ‘Corporate Culture’ Cheat Sheet

Larry was my boss back when I had a real job – the kind of job where you show up every day (in body, at least), work as part of a cog in a huge corporate wheel, and try to attach meaning to mundane tasks.

The world was black and white for Larry:  if he thought you were a hard worker, he could be charming and funny.  If he didn’t like the way you worked, your life at work quickly descended into a living hell.  In the core skills and talents of the business we were in, there was probably no one stronger than Larry.

Larry did many things right as a leader;  he was not burdened by the need to have people like him, he got lots done, he was an excellent teacher, and he consistently produced the desired results.

As you can imagine, he also did a number of things wrong.  His treatment of people he didn’t like would clearly fall under the definition of harassment if it happened today.  I still remember the day when he repeatedly shouted at one of his direct reports (in front of many others), “You’re stupid!  You’re a stupid, stupid man!”

No one knows how many potentially good people he chased out of the business because his first impression of them wasn’t good.  And his volatile demeanor often took a minor incident and exaggerated it into a major crisis that required more time and energy by all involved to finally get resolved.

The company did invest in Larry by sending him off to corporate charm school, where he learned to soften his feedback:

“Not to criticize, but you’re stupid”

When I went on to leadership roles, Larry was a role model for me – both for what he did well, and by serving as a warning beacon for things he didn’t get right.  Here are some lessons I learned from Larry, that still guide me today:

• If you want a lot of friends, or have a high need for the approval of others, you need to stay in an individual contributor’s role.
• You always need to treat people with respect.  It doesn’t mean, however, that you don’t hold them accountable.
• You need to be absolutely clear about your expectations, and then dole out both positive and negative consequences when things go right/wrong.  Leaders who think they can over-acknowledge good performance, and not deal with poor performance, are weak and will fail.
• What you do is far more powerful than what you say.
• Leadership is hard work

Larry retired many years ago, yet his impact on me (and a great many others) is still felt.  I’m sure if I asked Larry, he would have absolutely no idea how profound his influence was on me or anyone else.

So one final lesson from Larry: As a leader, you have a significant impact on people’s lives… perhaps for decades to come.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about The Power of Persuasion.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

• Your projects, programs, and career turn on the difference between “no” and “yes.”  Part emotional intelligence, part politics, and part psychology, selling ideas is not like tricking someone out of his money.   It’s about helping others to see things your way— engaging their minds and imaginations.  (Richard Shell, author of “The Art of WOO – Using Strategic persuasion to Sell Your Ideas”)
• On today’s knowledge based workforce – “In our world, the right to give orders has largely been replaced by the need to facilitate, lead, and exercise influence.” (Klatt, Murphy, Irvine)

Influence Pre-Work

1. Establish Credibility

• Authentic professional relationships
• Expertise
• Trust

2. Plan

• Know how you are perceived by others.
• Know your audience - what do they value?
• Inside an organization selling your idea is likely to be a series of interactions rather than one single “pitch”

The Pitch

1. Context

• Frame Your Idea
• State the opportunity

2. Clarify

• Explain the details
• Why should they act?  (in their frame of reference)
• Supplement numerical evidence with stories, metaphors, analogies that will speak to the heart as well as the head

3. Create

• Deal with concerns or objections
• Seek and share ideas

4. Commit

• Determine Who will do What by When

5. Close

• You’ve already closed the “selling of your idea” and have commitment.  This is more about ending the conversation appropriately, saying Thanks.  Don’t keep selling at this point …. Get out of the conversation and move on.

Learn Even More About ‘The Power of Persuasion’

Wily Manager members, click here to access the members-only area for this topic (you must be logged in).  In the members-only area, you can:

• Listen to the ‘The Power of Persuasion’ Podcast (15 minutes)
• Download the ‘The Power of Persuasion’ Audio (mp3)
• Download the ‘The Power of Persuasion’ Slides (ppt)
• Print or save the ‘The Power of Persuasion’ Cheat Sheet (pdf)
• Click through to Related Topics:
  • Improve Your Public Speaking and Presentation Skills
  • How to Build a Communication Plan
  • Getting Ahead
  • How to Manage Up Without Brown Nosing
  • Effective Interpersonal Communication

Not a member yet? Join us now and get instant access! For more information about the advantages of becoming a Wily Manager member, visit Become a Member.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about The Power of Persuasion.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Being a Better Boss.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

Why care about Leadership?

• Retention – Unwanted turnover = 1.5 – 2.5 annual salary
• Capturing Discretionary Effort  – What the value of 10% more productivity?  How about 100% more?
• Less stress

Realities of being the Boss

• You are under a microscope
• The blame you get, and the credit you get are both exaggerated
• Most people land in leadership roles because they were good technicians or practicioners of their work
• Leaders underestimate the impact they have on others

5 Things you can do right now to be a better Boss

1. Be a better listener

• Take the time
• Don’t multitask (especially PDAs)
• Seek to understand… not to plan your response
• Paraphrase without being a parrot

2. Be a Teacher

• It may take more time in the short-run
• Don’t micro-manage
• Tell people why
• Connect them to something bigger

3. Give and receive feedback in abundance

• Look for opportunities to offer feedback on a daily basis
• Ask your direct reports for feedback frequently – and act on it
• Offer both positive feedback, and corrective feedback

4. Be crystal-clear in your expectations

• Write important expectations down formally at least once per year
• Constantly reinforce expectations
• Use several different media to describe important expectations
• Practice what you preach at all times

5. Provide consequences for both good and poor performance

• People will do what gets reinforced
• You are currently getting the performance you are asking for
• Be absolutely consistent with consequences
• Apply consequences to reinforce both good and poor performance

Learn Even More About ‘Good Boss, Bad Boss: Be a Better Boss’

Wily Manager members, click here to access the members-only area for this topic (you must be logged in).  In the members-only area, you can:

• Listen to the ‘Good Boss, Bad Boss: Be a Better Boss’ Podcast (15 minutes)
• Download the ‘Good Boss, Bad Boss: Be a Better Boss’ Audio (mp3)
• Download the ‘Good Boss, Bad Boss: Be a Better Boss’ Slides (ppt)
• Print or save the ‘Good Boss, Bad Boss: Be a Better Boss’ Cheat Sheet (pdf)
• Click through to Related Topics:
  • Conducting Effective Meetings
  • How to Coach When You’re Not the Expert
  • The One on One Meeting
  • Dealing With Difficult Employees
  • Delegation
  • High Impact Development
  • ABC’s of Performance Management
  • The Situational Leadership Model
  • Giving Quality Feedback
  • Help! I’m a Micro Manager
  • Millennials in the Workplace: How to Lead and Motivate Generation Y
  • Retention of Employees

Not a member yet? Join us now and get instant access! For more information about the advantages of becoming a Wily Manager member, visit Become a Member.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Being a Better Boss.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

5 things you can do right now to be a better boss.

Listen to the ‘Good Boss, Bad Boss’ podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

Good Boss, Bad Boss Podcast Slides

Take a look at the ‘Good Boss, Bad Boss: Be a Better Boss’ Cheat Sheet

“Selling” is not a bad word – it is an essential business skill.  It’s easy to see how some people would think that influencing others is somehow underhanded or unethical:

“Yep… this one’s got really low miles.  Only driven to church on Sunday by a little old lady from Pasadena”

In reality, many great ideas die an agonizing death because they have not been properly sold.  There also seems to be an inverse correlation between our technical ability, and our willingness to sell.  In other words, probably the more technically skilled you are in your area, the less likely you are to want to sell your idea.  (With all due respect to the Engineers out there.)

Here’s an ugly truth:  marketing is everything.  Think of the examples in consumer goods:

• 8-tracks were far superior in quality to cassettes or records.
• BetaMax was most certainly better than VHS
• Apple’s Mac has long been superior to any PC.

So if these are any indication, great products and great ideas require great marketing if they are to be adopted.

So what do you do?

First – you have to value the idea of selling your ideas.  You need to tell a story about how your idea is going to enhance pleasure, or reduce pain.

Second – Put together a marketing plan.  Depending on what you’re doing, it might only be half a page long, but have some idea about what story you are going to tell, to whom, and via what media.

Third – Check out our podcast this week to hear more about Influencing Others

Finally – remember that we are all “in sales”.  If you live in a society of more than one person, you will be constantly trying to lobby people to your way of thinking about one thing or another.  The sooner we all get comfortable with this reality, the sooner the good ideas will at least seem to “sell themselves”.

Find out how different people react to different methods of persuasion, and then effectively target those you may be trying to influence.  Also learn the three killer mistakes many managers make when attempting to influence others.

Listen to the ‘Power of Persuasion’ Podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

The Power of Persuasion Podcast Slides

Take a look at the ‘Power of Persuasion’ Cheat Sheet

Find out all about the Wily Manager Leadership Boot Camp:

• Why bother?
• What it’s about
• Who should participate
• How it works
• What’s covered

Listen to the ‘Leadership Boot Camp’ Podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

Leadership Boot Camp Podcast Slides

Download the Leadership Boot Camp Brochure:

Wily Manager Leadership Boot Camp Brochure

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Office Design.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

Office Types:

• Enclosed Offices
• Open Space Concept
• Cubicle Farms
• Alternative

Why Getting Out of Offices is Great:

• More and better communication amongst team members
• More direct contact – you end up knowing people better
• Space can be modified quickly and easily
• Usually people have more access to natural light
• Some companies have found it reduces cost because you can put more cubes per floor than offices. (Cisco reduced costs by 37%)
• It’s harder for employees to slack off

Why it Sucks:

• Over communicate any office-space change.  This is a very big deal to people
• Be very clear about your reasons for making a change, and make sure you consider the pro’s and con’s
• You need much more meeting space in an open concept than with offices
• Hire someone to help you through the transition
• Ensure white-noise
• If you go open – everyone must go, from the CEO on down
• Research it well – there is no shortage of information arguing both for and against open office space

One Solution:

• If employees spend the majority of their time working individually, put them in offices
• If employees spend a great deal of time collaborating, put them in an open office configuration.  Perhaps in offices of four to eight people.
• If you want you employees to spend most of their time reading Dilbert, put them in cubicles.

Last Word from Robert Probst:

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Office Design.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREEManagement Cheat Sheet Collection

What’s the best type of office design?  Enclosed offices?  Open space concept?  Cube farms?

Listen to the ‘Office Design’ podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

'Open Office Concepts' Podcast Slides

Take a look at the Office Design Cheat Sheet

How do you tell someone they smell? Or that they need to stop handing out religious pamphlets at work?  Maybe an employee dresses inappropriately at work.  Perhaps an employee’s spouse calls the workplace several times per day.  What about your assistant’s drinking problem?

You could do what some managers do:  ignore the behaviour and hope it goes away.  Now, hope rarely works as a strategy to solve a problem, but let’s give it a try and see what happens:

They Smell:  If you don’t act they’ll keep smelling.  If you’re in a retail business, you’ll almost certainly lose customers.  If the aroma is only affecting co-workers who have brought the problem to your attention, they will know for sure that you don’t care and/or that you lack the courage to deal with a relatively simple problem.

An employee is pushing an opinion or unwanted material on co-workers.  This one is a bit more tricky  — you need to balance an individual’s right to speak freely with his coworker’s right to not be harassed at work.  This one is a level of degrees, but suffice it to say that if you’ve received complaints, the behaviour is probably already perceived as being too aggressive.

An employee is dressed inappropriately.  When I was in university, I worked for a retailer who had a strict dress code.  This included a ban on earrings for male employees.  This was fine until one of the senior executive’s sons showed up with an earring, and the facility manager would not address it for fear of reprisal.  Now, there are a whole bunch of things wrong with this scenario, but needless to say, when the manager displayed his cowardice in this regard, he had a facility full of male employees wearing earrings out of protest within a month.  Rightly or wrongly, the dress code fell apart, and the manager lost all credibility.

In these, and in perhaps most cases, it can look (at least at the outset) that it is easier to NOT engage in these difficult conversations.  In the short term, it probably is easier.  Longer term, you create all kinds of problems for yourself as a manager if you don’t tackle difficult conversations.  You erode trust, you lose credibility, and frankly you’re not doing your job as a leader.  Consider this one of the “burdens of leadership”.

If you want help with this difficult part of the job, listen to our podcast, and visit our page on Difficult Conversations.

How do you tell someone that they have bad breath or that they didn’t get the promotion?

Listen to the ‘Difficult Conversations’ podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

Tough Talks Podcast Slides

Take a look at the ‘Difficult Conversations’ Cheat Sheet

“If a bulletin came out from head office saying that all managers had to wear a dress, he’d be the first guy in line down at the ladies-wear store” — Rick

Rick was a facility manager I interacted with many years ago who was an excellent upward manager.  He also disdained boot-licking as is evidenced in the quote above.  Most managers understand the importance of leading and managing well the people that report to them.  Unlike Rick however, these same managers have a huge blind spot when it comes to managing their bosses.

Rick was a good manager.  He knew his business very well, and he was very even-handed in how he managed people.  In some cases, he knew the business better than his bosses, and didn’t hesitate to tell them so:

“I’m not sure who came up with this idea, but they’ve never actually worked in this industry before.  I guess I’ll have to read them their fortune, and let them know it will never fly”.

Rick had no problem saying “no” to his bosses.  In many cases his boss would thank him for pointing out some of the ridiculous things that somehow made their way out of head office.  So how did he do this, and not get himself fired?

First – he picked his battles well.  The bigger the organization, the more people there are far away from the perverbial coal-face to think up stupid ideas.  You can’t possibly fight all the stupidity, so you need to choose wisely.

Second – he knew what he was talking about.  He didn’t offer platitudes and opinions when he opposed his boss.  He brought data and evidence.  It’s hard to argue with someone who has done his homework

Third – he offered good feedback to his boss as much or more as he offered constructive criticism.  He nurtured a “no BS” relationship with his boss, and constantly improved his credibility.  When it came time to challenge his boss, his credibility account was built up enough that even when his boss disagreed, he would still listen.

Give it a try – or you could just be an unbelievable brown noser.  Apparently that can work too:

Why is it important to manage your boss?  What are 4 key strategies for managing up?

Listen to the ‘How to Manage Up Without Brown Nosing’ podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

Managing Up Podcast Slides

Take a look at the ‘How to Manage Up Without Brown Nosing’ Cheat Sheet

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Managing Up.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

If you want to get ahead, then you need to manage up.  But how do you do this without brown nosing?

Learn to manage up the right way:

This is important because….

• Your boss is probably your most important stakeholder
• Problems often arise from style differences that are easily managed
• It’s costly in time, effort and credibility if you get it wrong

Figure out what your boss cares about:

• Ask to see your boss’s goals and ask about his/her top priorities
• Link them to your own
• Set up a recurring meeting if one is not currently in place
• Assess your boss’s world-view

Create and manage two-way expectations:

• Know what is expected of you – preferably in writing
• Communicate what your expectations of your boss are
• Ask your boss about his/her style
• Never surprise your boss
• Make your boss look like a star

Ask for feedback:

• Actively seek out feedback from your boss and others
• Listen and act on feedback that you get
• Give feedback generously to your boss and others

Adjust your style:

• You can only control your own behaviour
• You are accountable for your relationship with your boss
• Communicate in a way that is most meaningful to your boss
  • Media
  • Level of detail
  • Frequency
• Look to complement how your boss operates

Learn Even More About ‘How to Manage Up Without Brown Nosing’

Wily Manager members, click here to access the members-only area for this topic (you must be logged in).  In the members-only area, you can:

• Listen to the ‘Managing Up’ Podcast (15 minutes)
• Download the ‘Managing Up’ Audio (mp3)
• Download the ‘Managing Up’ Slides (ppt)
• Print or save the ‘Managing Up’ Cheat Sheet (pdf)
• Click through to Related Topics:
  • My Boss is a Micro Manager
  • Getting Ahead

Not a member yet? Join us now and get instant access! For more information about the advantages of becoming a Wily Manager member, visit Become a Member.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about How to Manage Up Without Brown Nosing.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

If the last meeting you went to sucked badly, you are in good company.  A survey of over 1000 North American managers indicated that on average they spend about 17 hours per week in meetings.  Of that considerable portion of their work-week, they deemed that one-third of that time was wasted.

The economic implications of this are staggering.  If you multiply 6 hours times the hourly rate of those managers times the number of managers in the economy, you begin to see a number with a whole bunch of zeros behind it.  Even in your own organization this calculation could easily total in the millions of dollars every year.

More selfishly, ask yourself what you would do if you had an extra six hours every week.  Could you work more reasonable hours?  Perhaps you could get to those things you know are important but are constantly displaced by the urgent.

This got us to ask the question, “if meetings are systemically bad, and they cost that much what can be done?”

First of all, do not accept that meetings have to be bad.  We all seem resigned that we have to write-off a significant portion of our week to something we know is useless.  Demand more of yourself, and of your organization.

Second – be part of the solution.  This is your problem to solve.  Even if you do not chair the meeting, you can raise questions as to how effective they are.  Your complacency will get you into more pointless meetings.

Third – insist on a structure.  The engineers and accountants always get a bad rap for being anal retentive.  While you may want to avoid such people at cocktail parties, invite them to help fix your meetings.  A bit of discipline will exponentially improve the value of your meetings.

Finally – figure out what meetings are costing you.  What is the cost to the organization by the time they pay a fully burdened labour cost.  What is the cost to you if meetings are causing you to work longer hours and give up your leisure time.  Profit-driven organizations are usually good a containing costs when they have to.  Get them to contain the cost of their meetings.

Then you’ll have more time to read our blog, and download YouTube clips.  Here’s one from John Cleese – for those who love British humour.

Get our Management Cheat Sheet Collection.  Of course, it’s FREE.

Vision helps to define where the organization is headed.   The vision should paint a clear and compelling view of the future that helps everyone understand where the organization is headed and perhaps what it will be like once you’ve reached your desired state.   It must motivate, be ambitious and should stretch people to achieve more than they thought possible.

A clear vision is one that answers the question …Where are we headed?

Once you have your vision in place, then you can proceed with the strategies, plans and budgets to map out exactly how you will move ahead to realize the vision.

A clear vision has the potential to break through all the forces that support the status quo and encourage a true commitment by:

1.     CLARIFYING the general DIRECTION for the organization;

2.     MOTIVATING people to take ACTION in the right direction;

What Makes a Vision Great?

Clearly, some visions are better than others. Who can question the success of Bill Gates’ “A computer on every desktop” at Microsoft? This vision was successful because it possessed a set of characteristics shared by all great visions. Great visions are:

• Imaginable – they convey a picture of what the future should look like.
• Desirable – they appeal to the long-term interests of employees, customers, stockholders, and others who have a stake in the enterprise.
• Flexible – they accommodate individual initiative and allow alternative responses in light of changing conditions.
• Memorable – they communicate a message easily and are somehow ‘catchy’ or hard to forget?

What Works and What Doesn’t Work

What Works

• Trying to see – literally – possible futures
• Visions that are so clear they can be articulated in one minute or less
• Vision statements that are creative and memorable.  It needs to be simple, yet catchy to make it stand out.  Think short, fun and to the point.

What Doesn’t

• Assuming linear or logical plans and budgets alone adequately guide behavior when you’re trying to leap into the future
• Overly analytic, financially based vision exercises
• Giving fifty-four logical reasons why our future needs to look different than our past

Get the Complete ‘Strategy Starter Kit’ Topic Bundle

Get ‘The Strategy Starter Kit’ files here

The Strategy Starter Kit topic bundle includes:

• Strategy Starter Kit Workbook (pdf, 40 pages) – A series of questions and fill-in-the-blanks that result in your completed Business Planning Document, containing aligned Mission, Vision, Strategies, Goals & Objectives, as well as a Sustainment Plan to ensure success.
• ‘Aligning Vision, Mission & Goals’ Full-Length Video (approx. 15 minutes) – Audio (mp3) and Visual Slides (ppt) can be downloaded separately
• ‘Aligning Vision, Mission & Goals’ Cheat Sheet (pdf, 1 page)
• ‘Mission Statements’ Podcast + Podcast Slides (mp3, ppt)
• ‘Mission Statements’ Cheat Sheet (pdf, 1 page)
• ‘The Vision Statement’ Podcast & Podcast Slides (mp3, ppt)
• ‘The Vision Statement’ Cheat Sheet (pdf, 1 page)
• ‘SMART Goals and HARD Goals’ Podcast & Podcast Slides (mp3, ppt)
• ‘SMART Goals and HARD Goals’ Cheat Sheet (pdf, 1 page)

Get the complete ‘Strategy Starter Kit’ topic bundle now – IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD!

I’m not really sure when it happened.  Sometime over the last few years it has become socially acceptable to have a potty-mouth at the office.  Most often I am invited into workplaces for short periods of time – usually a few months – so I normally don’t know anyone when I first show up, and have to take some time to get to know people.

I find it incredible that people who don’t know me are quite willing to use exceptionally foul language in our very first meeting.  I should clarify two things:

1)   I’m not there to fire them, or otherwise torture them… which may be construed as just-cause for an expletive or two.

2)   I’m not offended by any of this, and use my own fair-share of foul words in more familiar company.

I just find it curious that people think words your mother always told you she didn’t want to hear are now common-place in work settings.  In my experience, this transcends just about all demographic groups.  It is not just younger people, nor is it just men.  I have witnessed this in large cities, and small ones, in a wide variety of industries.  I think it’s safe to say this has become a societal thing.

So… what is to be done?  Probably nothing.  But I would caution anyone who cares that first impressions are very powerful, and if you litter your first impression with language that would make a lumberjack blush, then you will inevitably come across as insensitive and less intelligent.

As a general rule of thumb, it might be good to know someone’s last name, before asking them (in so many words) if they like sex and travel.  Likewise, don’t assume that you’re not offending anyone, just because everyone else seems to be swearing.  It’s amazing that many offices insist on no fragrances or smelly foods for fear of upsetting someone, but have no similar guidelines for certain forms of noise pollution.

Until you know who you’re talking to, you might want to channel Bill Cosby more so than Eddie Murphy.  In the mean time… check out this clip for how one office handled it.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about My Boss is a Micro-Manager.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

Symptoms of Micro-Managers:

• Highly Controlling – wants to oversee every aspect of the work
• Power-Hungry – enjoys “flexing muscles” to ensure everyone knows s/he is the boss
• Makes all the decisions – no matter how minor

Why are They Like This?

• Insecurity – may be unsure of their own ability in the job
• Power-crazed – may use their position to feel self-important
• Perfectionist – may need every aspect of the job to be as close to perfect as possible
• Not a Leader – may have been a great individual contributor, but has moved to a leadership role without requisite training

What Can I Do About It?

1. Upward Manage

• Schedule and structure one on one meeting times with your boss
• Determine what is most important to him/her, and contribute to those priorities
• Talk about what you plan to do in the coming week, and get feedback in advance
• Don’t ever surprise your boss

2. Get a Performance Agreement

• Define boundaries of authority.
• Agree on a work plan that defines outcomes and methods
• Agree on the top 3 – 7 priorities
• Link your performance goals clearly to your bosses goals

3. Learn to Say “No”

• Always say “Yes” before saying “No”
• Acknowledge their position as the boss
• Refer to your Performance Agreement
• If you think a request is unreasonable, try to negotiate.  Educate him/her as to the nature of the request
• Describe the impact a request may have on you without complaining
• Carefully manage your tone

Learn Even More About ‘My Boss is a Micro Manager’

Wily Manager members, click here to access the members-only area for this topic (you must be logged in).  In the members-only area, you can:

• Listen to the ‘My Boss is a Micro-Manager’ Podcast (15 minutes)
• Download the ‘My Boss is a Micro-Manager’ Audio (mp3)
• Download the ‘My Boss is a Micro-Manager’ Slides (ppt)
• Print or save the ‘My Boss is a Micro-Manager’ Cheat Sheet (pdf)
• Click through to Related Topics:
  • Help! I’m a Micro Manager
  • How to Manage Up Without Brown Nosing
  • Top 10 Manager Challenges: Part A (Managing Conflict)

Not a member yet? Join us now and get instant access! For more information about the advantages of becoming a Wily Manager member, visit Become a Member.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about My Boss is a Micro-Manager.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

What do you do if you work for a micromanager?

Listen to the ‘My Boss is a Micro-Manager’ Podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

'My Boss is a Micro-Manager' Podcast Slides

Take a look at the My Boss is a Micro-Manager Cheat Sheet

At the risk of coming across like The Cranky Middle-Manager, I have a couple of grievances to air on how people interact with each other in the workplace.  It seems that people claiming that they work in a “toxic environment” is all the rage as of late.  In a minimum of cases, this may be truth, but in far more circumstances, it seems as though anytime someone doesn’t smile at you at the water cooler, you’re entitled to claim a horrible work situation.

The truth is that anytime you are in a workplace of more than one person, there are going to be disagreements and compromises.  And contrary to much of the hype you read in the popular media, sometimes work will be a drag.  To quote Jed’s dad, “If it was supposed to be fun, they wouldn’t call it work.”

I believe the root cause of this problem, is most people’s incompetence in dealing with conflict.  Many people believe that conflict is bad, when in fact it is neither good nor bad, but merely exists.  People’s response to conflict can make the situation bad.

Some people respond to conflict by becoming aggressive and overbearing.  Others choose to avoid conflict like it was a toilet seat at the bus station.  Both responses are destructive and will not improve or resolve whatever situation has caused the conflict to emerge.

Interestingly, in my experience I see the most common response to conflict to be one of either avoiding or yielding.  Both are poor responses to conflict in almost all cases.  If you are inclined to respond to conflict in this way, it is time to grow a pair and act like an adult.  Issues need to be confronted and dealt with.

It doesn’t mean you are always going to get your way, but at the very least you will have some confidence that you have attempted to constructively resolve workplace conflict, rather than letting it get pushed underground to fester.

I found this clip on YouTube that is a hilarious/sad commentary on many workplaces.  Happy Viewing.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about You’re Fired! How to Fire an Employee.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

Before You Fire

• Have you done everything reasonably possible to have the employee succeed?
• Has the employee been warned that their poor behavior or performance will lead to termination if not corrected?  Are these warnings in writing?
• Consult with your legal council and HR to determine whether the termination is ‘with just cause’ or ‘without just cause’
• In cases of ‘with cause’ have you completed an investigation and got the employees side of the story?
• With the help of Legal or HR prepare the letter or ‘separation agreement’

Be Respectful

• Have the conversation as soon as possible after making the decision to terminate
• Select neutral territory, preferably where you can be as discreet as possible
• Plan to allow the employee to depart with as much dignity as possible
• Provide appropriate transitional support

Doing the Deed

• Have someone with you to witness the conversation, preferably HR or another manager
• Keep the discussion quick and to the point
• Don’t defend or debate the decision

Learn Even More About ‘You’re Fired! How to Fire an Employee’

Wily Manager members, click here to access the members-only area for this topic (you must be logged in).  In the members-only area, you can:

• Listen to the ‘You’re Fired’ Podcast (15 minutes)
• Download the ‘You’re Fired’ Audio (mp3)
• Download the ‘You’re Fired’ Slides (ppt)
• Print or save the ‘You’re Fired’ Cheat Sheet (pdf)
• Click through to Related Topics:
  • Dealing With Difficult Employees
  • Difficult Conversations: You Smell and People Don’t Like You
  • ABC’s of Performance Management
  • Handling Emotional Behavior
  • Top 10 Manager Challenges: Part A (Managing Conflict)
  • How to Manage Conflict

Not a member yet? Join us now and get instant access! For more information about the advantages of becoming a Wily Manager member, visit Become a Member.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about You’re Fired! How to Fire an Employee.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

Learn how to fire an employee in a way that preserves the dignity of everyone involved.  Find out what to do to get ready, and exactly how to do the deed.

Listen to the ‘You’re Fired!’ Podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

You're Fired Podcast Slides

Take a look at the ‘You’re Fired‘ Cheat Sheet

Other than questioning someone’s parentage, is there a faster way to insult someone than calling him an introvert?  Isn’t introversion something that we need to cure people of by sending them to the Dale Carnegie Course?

Many organizations have invested in some form of psychometric instrument that indicates whether people have a preference for introverted or extroverted behaviour, but that hasn’t stopped the vast majority of people from throwing around these terms without actually having a clue as to what they mean.

People hear “extrovert”, and they think: outgoing, friendly, social, capable, productive, normal.

People hear “introvert”, and they think: shy, withdrawn, anti-social, illusive, dysfunctional, wall-flower.

The problem with these descriptions is that neither is particularly accurate, and it infers that people are capable of only one set of behaviours exclusively.  There is also a connotation that Extroverts will excel in business to a much higher degree than Introverts.

In Good to Great, Jim Collins reveals the qualities that his research has shown as effective in running great organizations.  Interestingly, many of the qualities of “Level Five Leadership”, are found more naturally in people with Introverted preferences.

You might also be surprised who may be a closet-introvert:  High-profile leaders, television personalities, sports stars, maybe even one of your friends, neighbours, or family are introverted.  They’re everywhere, so beware – you never know when they’ll want to slink into the back corner of a meeting room, and silently wish everyone would stop talking at once.  Or perhaps pray that someone will listen to them for 20 seconds before interrupting them.  Worse yet, they may think about something before responding to a question creating that awkward few seconds silence.

So you may be wondering where I fit on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Grid.

As someone who spends a lot of time talking to groups of people, and a person who worked in television (for a short and spectacularly unsuccessful period of time), I am rarely accused of being an Introvert.

I prefer to label myself as a Recovering-Extrovert.  We might need to create a new scale for measurement.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Performance Management.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

People do what gets reinforced (this is both a good news and a bad news story)!  Here’s how you can use consequences to manage performance.

The ABC’s of Performance Management

For more information, take a look at ‘Bringing Out the Best in People: How to Apply the Astonishing Power of Positive Reinforcement’, by Aubrey C. Daniels

Activator (or antecedent)

• Something that comes before a behaviour or activity which sets the occasion for that behaviour
• Most often over-used by managers
• Have only short-term effects
• Cause a behaviour to happen a limited number of times
• Must be paired with a consequence to be effective

Behavior

• What a person does
• Performance
• Action
• Event
• Decision

Consequences

• The result of a behavior
• A response to an action
• What is said or done about someone’s work or an activity
• An event that occurs after a given behavior
• What happens to the performer as a result of the given behavior

Leaders often overuse activators and underuse consequences.

Types of Consequences

There are four types of consequences:

• Positive reinforcement – Makes me feel good about something I’ve done
• Negative reinforcement – I do something because it will allow me to avoid something negative
• Punishment – Makes me feel bad about something I’ve done
• Extinction – Being ignored for something I’ve done

Positive and negative reinforcement are consequences that will increase behavior, while punishment and extinction are consequences that will decrease behavior.

Consequences That Drive Performance

Consequences can be:

• Positive  OR Negative
• Immediate  OR Future
• Certain  OR Uncertain

The consequences that will drive performance are positive, immediate, and certain.

Learn Even More About ‘ABC’s of Performance Management’

Wily Manager members, click here to access the members-only area for this topic (you must be logged in).  In the members-only area, you can:

• Listen to the ‘ABC’s of Performance Management’ Podcast (15 minutes)
• Download the ‘ABC’s of Performance Management’ Audio (mp3)
• Download the ‘ABC’s of Performance Management’ Slides (ppt)
• Print or save the ‘ABC’s of Performance Management’ Cheat Sheet (pdf)
• Click through to Related Topics:
  • How to Coach When You’re Not the Expert
  • Good Boss, Bad Boss: Be a Better Boss
  • Difficult Conversations: You Smell and People Don’t Like You
  • The One on One Meeting
  • Dealing With Difficult Employees
  • The Performance Pie
  • Giving Quality Feedback
  • You’re Fired! How to Fire an Employee
  • The Situational Leadership Model

Not a member yet? Join us now and get instant access! For more information about the advantages of becoming a Wily Manager member, visit Become a Member.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Performance Management.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

Learn 4 easy ways to improve your presentations…and why friends don’t let friends use Powerpoint.

Listen to the ‘Presentation Skills’ Podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

'Presentation Skills' Podcast Slides

Take a look at the ‘Improve Your Public Speaking and Presentation Skills‘ Cheat Sheet

Learn the 5 steps to delivering quality feedback.

Listen to the ‘Giving Quality Feedback’ podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

'Giving Quality Feedback' Podcast Slides

Take a look at the ‘Giving Quality Feedback‘ Cheat Sheet

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Giving Quality Feedback.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

Why should you give feedback?

• To confirm a course of action, performance or behavior
• To correct specific behavior or performance
• To have a behavior or performance carry on
• Use as a performance management tool to enhance performance

There are 5 steps for giving quality feedback:

Step 1: Context Tell them what you’re going to tell them

• Tell them what’s coming – don’t leave them guessing
• Don’t just start talking, and leave them to figure it out on their own
• “I’d like to offer some feedback on…”

Step 2: Clarify Describe in specific, measurable and observable terms and tell them why it’s important

• Generalities don’t work
• Have your facts straight
• Describe observable behaviors
• Use measures wherever possible
• Tell them why this is important
• What is the impact on you and on others?
• How does it relate to high level goals and objectives

Step 3: Create Ask for feedback on the feedback and brainstorm actions to improve or do better

• Ask lots of questions
• Guide them through the feedback
• Give an opportunity to respond
• Brainstorm actions to improve or do better

Step 4: Confirm Agree on action steps forward, and determine exactly what will happen next

• Make sure you agree on what will happen next, even if it is to maintain the status quo
• Reinforce continued good performance
• Describe what future outcomes you’d like to see

Step 5: Close Express confidence and support

• Everyone should leave the meeting with a clear idea of what they need to do next
• Reinforce your confidence in the recipients ability to be successful
• Describe how you will support them in their efforts to improve

Learn Even More About ‘Giving Quality Feedback’

Wily Manager members, click here to access the members-only area for this topic (you must be logged in).  In the members-only area, you can:

• Listen to the ‘Giving Quality Feedback’ Podcast (15 minutes)
• Download the ‘Giving Quality Feedback’ Audio (mp3)
• Download the ‘Giving Quality Feedback’ Slides (ppt)
• Print or save the ‘Giving Quality Feedback’ Cheat Sheet (pdf)
• Click through to Related Topics:
  • How to Coach When You’re Not the Expert
  • Dealing With Difficult Employees
  • Difficult Conversations: You Smell and People Don’t Like You
  • ABC’s of Performance Management
  • Good Boss, Bad Boss: Be a Better Boss
  • Effective Interpersonal Communication

Not a member yet? Join us now and get instant access! For more information about the advantages of becoming a Wily Manager member, visit Become a Member.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Giving Quality Feedback.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

Learn the 5 critical steps you need to follow when confronted with emotional behavior at work.

Listen to the ‘Handling Emotional’ Behavior podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

'Handling Emotional Behavior' Podcast Slides

Take a look at the ‘Handling Emotional Behavior‘ Cheat Sheet

What is a Vision Statement? How does a Vision Statement fit into the bigger picture (vision/mission/strategy)? What is an example of a great vision statement versus one that is not so great?

Listen to the ‘Vision Statement’ podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

Vision Statements Podcast Slides

Take a look at the ‘Vision Statement‘ Cheat Sheet

In the ‘One with One Meetings’ podcast we talk about:

• Why conduct one on one meetings?
• Ground rules for one on one meetings
• How to prepare for a one on one meeting
• Sample agenda for a one on one meeting

Listen to the ‘One with One Meetings’ podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

One with One Meetings Podcast Slides

Take a look at ‘The One on One Meeting’ Cheat Sheet

Why do people act the way they do?  What are the consequences that drive performance?

Listen to the ‘ABC’s of Performance Management’ Podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

ABC's of Performance Management Podcast Slides

Take a look at the ‘ABC’s of Performance Management‘ Cheat Sheet

Get our Management Cheat Sheet Collection. Of course, it’s FREE.

Want to spend less time in meetings?  Then try meeting regularly with your direct reports one on one.  Believe it or not, these are not conflicting statements!

Managers who invest in regular, well structured one on one meetings report spending less overall time in meetings on a weekly basis.  These meetings save a manager time in the long run, as they cut back on the amount of re-work, and also on the number of ‘drive-by’ meetings.  In addition, one on one meetings are a key method by which managers can deliver results through others.

Why Have a One on One Meeting?

A well structured one on one meeting effectively addresses two critical types of needs:

• Personal needs (the basic human needs of those reporting to you, including the need to be treated with respect, and the need to trust those they work for).  To address the personal needs of your direct reports, you must build professional but authentic relationships with them, and you must establish credibility.
• Organizational needs (the actions required to advance the practical goals of the organization).  To address organizational needs, you need to do things like develop action plans to get work done; set expectations; follow up and hold others accountable.

A One on One Meeting: The Basics

• Conduct a one on one meeting weekly with each of your direct reports
• A one on one meeting should be highly focused.  Try not to exceed 30 minutes
• These must be the meetings you never miss; set them up as recurring appointments, and reschedule if necessary
• Document each one on one meeting - take notes, and track agreed upon action items
• There should be two way dialogue in a one on one meeting; as a manager, you should try to listen at least as much as you speak

How to Prepare for a One on One Meeting

Prepare for a one on one meeting by considering the following:

• Have I completed any actions that I agreed to at the previous one on one meeting?
• Review results.  Are the key objectives on track to being met?  What help or support is required to meet the objectives?  What coaching can be provided?
• What positive feedback can I give?
• What feedback for improvement should I be delivering?
• What can I delegate?

Get the Complete ‘One on One Meeting’ Topic Bundle

Get the One on One Meeting files here

The One on One Meeting topic bundle includes:

• One on One Meeting Cheat Sheet (pdf)
• One on One Meeting Booklet (pdf) containing:
  • In-Depth Topic Overview
  • How to Prepare for a One on One Meeting
  • Conducting a One on One Meeting
  • Suggested One on One Meeting Agenda
  • One on One Meeting Tracking Sheet
  • Recommended Resources – where to find out even more about One on One Meetings

• Easy-print versions of the tools contained in the One on One Meeting Booklet (pdf)
• One on One Meeting Podcast (mp3)
• One on One Meeting Podcast Slides (Powerpoint)

Get the complete ‘One on One Meeting’ topic bundle now – IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD!

What is a skip level meeting? Find out why Skip Level Meetings are important, and exactly how to conduct one.

Listen to the Skip Level Meetings podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

Skip Level Meetings Podcast Slides

Take a look at ‘The Skip Level Meeting’ Cheat Sheet

There hasn’t been a fall from grace like this since the OJ trial.  Ok… maybe this recent Tiger Woods thing, or the fact that people set the expectations for Barack Obama way too high could be close seconds, but the fact that Toyota isn’t absolutely perfect seems to be disturbing a lot of people.

Toyota is a well run company – despite their recent setbacks.  What separates well run organizations from those not so well run is the ability to respond to challenges, not the absence of any troubles.

I have no doubt the marketing people at Toyota are freaking out, but they do have some credibility they can spend on this issue.  What they shouldn’t do, is announce to the world there isn’t really a problem, and carry on with business as usual.  This is the corporate equivalent of OJ going out on his own to look for the “real” killer.

Toyota needs to step-up, acknowledge what went wrong, tell everyone how they intend to fix it, and then get back to completely dominating the global automobile industry.  Too much spin, and they’ll lose even more credibility.

And while we’re talking about supposedly world class companies, can we have a reality check?  I have studied and held up organizations like Southwest Airlines, General Electric, and Disney myself as examples for managers to look to.  In many cases I would stand by this advice.  However, we need to realize that even the best run entities are not going to do everything right all the time.  In fact, it is probably closer to the truth that these companies really only do things right marginally more than every other organization out there.

Don’t get me wrong… much like I find President Obama to be an impressive guy, watching people’s unrealistic expectations of him be constantly deflated, people need to look to the Toyotas of the world in the proper context.  They are not perfect, and they will make mistakes.  They also can’t be all things to all people.

I bought Southwest Airlines stock about 8 years ago, because they were such an impressive company.  So impressive, that I would lose my shirt if I sold those same stocks today.  I also bought Southwest stock before ever flying with them.  I have no doubt they serve their niche well – I’m just clearly not one of their target customers: “What do you mean you won’t assign me a seat?”

Leaders in big organizations and small should watch Toyota very carefully in the coming weeks and months.  They will either come through this stronger than ever, or crash and burn horribly.  Either way it will be instructive.

How do you think this will end?  Will Toyota recover like Tylenol did after the poisonings, or will Mr. Toyota end up driving down an LA freeway with a gun to his head?

Stop wasting time in meetings. Learn the four key points to effective meetings.

Watch the ‘Meeting Effectiveness’ video (26 mins 38 sec):

Download the ‘Meeting Effectiveness’ Video (mp4)

Download the ‘Meeting Effectiveness’ Audio (mp3)

Meeting Effectiveness Podcast Slides

Take a look at the ‘Effective Meetings’ Cheat Sheet

Learn how to deal with ANY type of diffult behavior…as well as 6 specific types of bad behavior you are likely to encounter.

Listen to the ‘Dealing With Difficult Behavior’ podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

Dealing with Difficult Behavior Podcast Slides

Take a look at the ‘Dealing With Difficult Employees’ Cheat Sheet

How do you create an effective communications plan?

Listen to the ‘Communications Planning’ podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

Communication Planning Podcast Slides

Take a look at the ‘How to Build a Communication Plan’ Cheat Sheet

Get our Management Cheat Sheet Collection. Of course, it’s FREE.

For most managers, ‘people issues’ consume the largest portion of time and effort.  No employee is more time consuming than one exhibiting difficult behaviour.  For this reason, building skills to cope with difficult people has an immediate and measureable return.

Everyone displays difficult behaviour at one time or another.  People often engage in difficult behavior because such action has worked for them in the past.  There are very specific techniques that managers can use to address difficult behaviour.  Some specific behaviours require certain responses, but for all difficult behaviours:

• Focus on the specific behaviour, not the person or personalities
• Identify the type of behaviour, and strategize a response before reacting
• Attempt to understand the root cause of the behavior
• Avoid public showdowns
• Determine if the conversation can continue at that time, and postpone it if emotions are running high
• Be aware of the impact of the behavior is having on you
• Don’t make excuses for the person
• Choose to do something about the behavior

Not all the Turtles make it to the Sea

In some cases a difficult person will not respond to reasonable attempts to assist them in correcting their behavior, and organizational health can be at stake.  In such a case, high integrity leaders must make the unpleasant choice to part company with that person.

Get the Complete ‘Dealing with Difficult Employees’ Topic Bundle

Get the Dealing with Difficult Employees files here

The Dealing with Difficult Employees topic bundle includes:

• Dealing with Difficult Employees Cheat Sheet (pdf)
• Dealing with Difficult Employees Booklet (pdf) containing:
  • In-Depth Topic Overview
  • How to Deal with People Who Love to ARGUE
  • How to Deal with People Who Feel Unreasonably ENTITLED
  • How to Deal with People Who Think They KNOW IT ALL
  • How to Deal with Chronic PESSIMISTS or BLAMERS
  • How to Deal with People Who DON’T WANT TO WORK
  • How to Deal with the UNMOTIVATED
  • How to Deal with a BULLY
  • How to Deal with People Who ALWAYS ARGUE and people Who Can NEVER MAKE A DECISION
  • Recommended Resources – where to find out even more about Dealing with Difficult Employees

• Dealing with Difficult Employees Podcast (mp3)
• Dealing with Difficult Employees Podcast slides (Powerpoint)

Get the complete ‘Dealing with Difficult Employees’ topic bundle now – IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD!

Get our Management Cheat Sheet Collection. Of course, it’s FREE.

You should never hesitate to initiate a communication plan even if you are a lower-level manager.  Think about it – if your organization is undergoing a significant change but has not communicated it well, you can still create a communication plan for your direct reports so that they have a better idea of what is going on.

The techniques of effective communication are not difficult, but require discipline to execute.  A written communication plan will assist in establishing and maintaining the required discipline.  In some cases, a communications plan can be written on one sheet of paper.  In other circumstances, the plan may be significantly longer.

This topic bundle is intended to assist managers when they have a specific event or decision to communicate.  Ongoing communication between organizations and employees is better covered in the Communicating for Results Cheat Sheet (coming soon).

Elements of a Good Communication Plan:

1. Guiding Principles – What are the parameters under which this communication will take place?
2. Context – What events or conditions staged the necessity for this communication?  What definitions and terms of reference are there?
3. Purpose or Objectives – What is the communication intended to achieve?
4. Risk Analysis – What could go wrong with this communication?  What happens if you don’t do it?
5. Stakeholders Analysis – Who are all concerned parties, and what is the importance of each of them?
6. Targeting – How will you most effectively reach each stakeholder?
7. Media – What is the most effective method of communication for each stakeholder?
8. Budget – What budgetary and other resources will be required to effectively roll out the message?
9. Assessment – How will you know if the communicationsplan has been successful?

Tips to build an effective communication plan:

• Consider an effective communication campaign to be very similar to a marketing initiative.
• Use electronic media such as email and website.  These are usually inexpensive, and can be highly effective
• Always target your audience properly, and remember that the same message can be communicated differently to different target groups
• Only ask people for their opinions or feedback if you are prepared to consider their input
• Prepare an ‘elevator speech’ for what you are communicating.  Be prepared to condense your message into small, easy to understand segments
• When soliciting feedback or two-way communication, ensure there is media available to support this.  It is not enough to say, “We’d like to hear from you”; there must be infrastructure in place to gather opinions
• Be very clear on exactly what action, or change in behaviors the communication is intended to address

Get the Complete ‘How to Build a Communication Plan’ Topic Bundle

Get the How to Build a Communication Plan files here

The How to Build a Communication Plan topic bundle includes:

• How to Build a Communication Plan Cheat Sheet (pdf)
• How to Build a Communication Plan Booklet (pdf) containing:
  • In-Depth Topic Overview
  • When to Create a Communication Plan
  • 9 Critical Elements of a Communication Plan
  • Communication Plan Template
  • Example of a Communication Plan for an Organizational Change
  • Media Decision Worksheet
  • Recommended Resources – where to find out even more about How to Build a Communication Plan

• Easy-print versions of the tools contained in the How to Build a Communication Plan Booklet (pdf)
• How to Build a Communication Plan Podcast (mp3)
• How to Build a Communication Plan Podcast Slides (Powerpoint)

Get the complete ‘How to Build a Communication Plan’ topic bundle now – IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD!

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Public Speaking and Presentation Skills.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

The ability to deliver great presentations is a core business skill that very few people ever try to improve.  By following a few simple guidelines, most people can significantly boost their presentation performance.  There are four key things you can do to improve your presentations:

Prepare

• Know your subject matter.  If this element is missing, you are destined for failure
• Organize your thoughts in advance.  For some, this will mean writing a presentation or speech out long hand; for others it will be in point form
• Try to keep the tone conversational
• Recognize the difference between written and spoken language.  The use of run-on sentences and contractions is not permitted in written language.  It is commonplace in spoken language, so beware of writing a ‘script’ in proper written English.
• Use visual language and images – a picture paints a thousand words
• Contain your presentation to a few key concepts

Target your audience

• Who will be in your audience, and what is their level of understanding of your subject?
• How many people will be there?
• Which media will be most effective.  Is it Powerpoint?  Is it audio-visual?  Is it just you talking?
• What is an appropriate presentation length for the audience?  Just because you’ve been allocated an hour, doesn’t mean you have to use it!
• What questions will the audience likely have? Anticipate and be prepared

Practise

• Visualize: repeatedly imagine yourself giving an outstanding presentation.
• Practice in front of a mirror.  This is extremely uncomfortable for some people but if you can move past the discomfort, it can be very helpful. Rehearse language and actions
• Some people attempt to memorize their presentation or speech.  This usually doesn’t work, and makes the tone less conversational.  However, you may want to memorize a few key concepts to which you will speak

Manage the room

• Try to visit the room a day or two before your presentation so you know what to expect and can incorporate it into your visualization process
• Ensure the all equipment and audio-visual aids are functioning in advance.  Nothing ruins a presentation faster than asking 200 people to wait for a powerpoint presentation to load!
• How to manage your nervousness:
  • Remember to breathe
  • Follow all of the steps above to minimize the unknowns
  • Remember that your audience wants you to succeed

Learn Even More About ‘Improve Your Public Speaking and Presentation Skills’

Wily Manager members, click here to access the members-only area for this topic (you must be logged in).  In the members-only area, you can:

• Listen to the ‘Improve Your Public Speaking and Presentation Skills’ Podcast (15 minutes)
• Download the ‘Improve Your Public Speaking and Presentation Skills’ Audio (mp3)
• Download the ‘Improve Your Public Speaking and Presentation Skills’ Slides (ppt)
• Print or save the ‘Improve Your Public Speaking and Presentation Skills’ Cheat Sheet (pdf)
• Click through to Related Topics:
  • Getting Ahead
  • Effective Interpersonal Communication

Not a member yet? Join us now and get instant access! For more information about the advantages of becoming a Wily Manager member, visit Become a Member.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Public Speaking and Presentation Skills.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Handling Emotional Behavior.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

Nothing changes your day so quickly as unexpected emotional behaviour.  It is primal in its delivery, and a manager’s response is also often primal.  By identifying it for what it is, and developing coping strategies in advance, a leader is less likely to blindsided by emotional behavior, and can salvage the situation at hand.

When you are confronted by emotional behavior there are 3 things to manage simultaneously:

• The behavior itself
• The content or root cause of the behavior which may be a serious issue requiring attention
• The impact the negative behavior is having on you

Different types of emotional behavior require different responses, but here are some universal rules to help cope with highly emotive situations:

Determine if the conversation can proceed in a constructive way. In cases where emotions are running extremely high, the very best course of action, may be to adjourn the conversation until cooler heads prevail.

Be aware of the impact the behavior is having on you. It is important to quickly analyze your own state of mind before reacting.  If you find yourself extremely agitated or otherwise emotionally compromised, you need to quickly determine how that will impact the quality and outcome of the conversation.

Articulate to the other person how you are being affected by the behavior. Often people become angry or otherwise emotional, and do not realize the impact they are having upon others.  Many times the situation can be partially diffused by describing the impact of the behavior.  For example, “I have to be honest and let you know that this conversation is making me feel quite defensive, and I don’t like feeling that way.”  Note that you should not say, “YOU are making me defensive”, but rather focus on the situation.

Ensure the other person knows s/he has been heard. It is not necessary to agree with the other person, but it is important to let them know that you have heard and understand their message.  Again, just by acknowledging their viewpoint, the situation may be largely defused.

Propose a path to resolution. It is important to redirect the energy of the emotional behavior into some form of resolution.  If the other person is just venting, then you need to decide to what degree you will indulge this before terminating the conversation.  Otherwise, you should engage the other person in determining a path forward and moving towards resolution of their issue.

Dealing with emotional behavior is something every manager will face at one point or other.  It is never easy, but by keeping in mind the things above, a tense situation can be made easier.

Learn Even More About ‘Handling Emotional Behavior’

Wily Manager members, click here to access the members-only area for this topic (you must be logged in).  In the members-only area, you can:

• Listen to the ‘Handling Emotional Behavior’ Podcast (15 minutes)
• Download the ‘Handling Emotional Behavior’ Audio (mp3)
• Download the ‘Handling Emotional Behavior’ Slides (ppt)
• Print or save the ‘Handling Emotional Behavior’ Cheat Sheet (pdf)
• Click through to Related Topics:
  • Top 10 Manager Challenges: Part A (Managing Conflict)
  • Giving Quality Feedback
  • Dealing with Difficult Employees
  • Difficult Conversations
  • How to Manage Conflict

Not a member yet? Join us now and get instant access! For more information about the advantages of becoming a Wily Manager member, visit Become a Member.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Handling Emotional Behavior.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Difficult Conversations.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection.

Unless you’ve been living alone in a cave most of your life, you will have had to conduct a difficult conversation with someone. If you’re a leader of people, tough talks are a job requirement. You can avoid them, but it will be at your own peril. Sooner or later you’ll need to address that difficult situation.

How to conduct a Difficult Conversation:

Step 1 – Prepare and Anticipate

• Prepare in advance – anticipate responses. Make sure you are dealing with complete information
• Explain but don’t defend
• Make sure any issue you are dealing with does not have legal ramifications (termination, harassment, violence in the workplace etc.)
• Don’t think it’s not going to be uncomfortable. Mentally prepare for the discomfort the situation may cause you.

Step 2 – Focus on Facts and Observable Behaviors

• Focus on observable behaviors and facts, not the person. “People don’t like you”, is much different than “People don’t like it when talk loud on the phone.”
• Focus on the issue at hand – don’t get dragged into irrelevant parallel issues.

Step 3 – Showtime: Manage the Confrontation

• Get to the point – eliminate the small talk, and move to your point quickly. Often the best course of action is to make it clear in your first sentence what the other person should expect.
• Do not engage in any tough talk if you are emotionally compromised at the moment. Adjourning the conversation is a legitimate course of action if either party is excessively emotional, but keep in mind that by deferring the conversation you are prolonging an unpleasant event.
• Stick to your guns unless emergent facts cause you to want to reconsider. If the recipient is feeling badly, that does not count as an emergent fact.
• If there are specific behaviors required of the other person, ensure those are well understood.

Learn Even More About ‘Difficult Conversations’

Wily Manager members, click here to access the members-only area for this topic (you must be logged in).  In the members-only area, you can:

• Listen to the ‘Difficult Conversations’ Podcast (15 minutes)
• Download the ‘Difficult Conversations’ Audio (mp3)
• Download the ‘Difficult Conversations’ Slides (ppt)
• Print or save the ‘Difficult Conversations’ Cheat Sheet (pdf)
• Click through to Related Topics:
  • The One on One Meeting
  • Handling Emotional Behavior
  • Dealing With Difficult Employees
  • Top 10 Manager Challenges: Part A (Managing Conflict)
  • Giving Quality Feedback
  • Good Boss, Bad Boss: Be a Better Boss
  • How to Manage Conflict

Not a member yet? Join us now and get instant access! For more information about the advantages of becoming a Wily Manager member, visit Become a Member.

Become a Wily Manager member and get instant access to even more information about Difficult Conversations.  And don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Management Cheat Sheet Collection

Get our Management Cheat Sheet Collection. Of course, it’s FREE.  Become a member and learn even more about the Skip Level Meeting!

A Skip-Level Meeting is a meeting between managers and team members who are one or more levels below them. The purpose of a skip-level meeting is for managers to get to know their team members, build trust with them, and understand their problems. Skip-level meetings can never take the place of direct communications within teams, but it can be a powerful adjunct to these efforts.

Skip Level Meeting Key Concepts:

• Group round-table meetings are more efficient than one-on-one meetings for skip-level meetings.
• Leading organizations plan a skip-level meeting with every team or workgroup at least once per year.
• Don’t wait for your boss or the HR department to arrange skip-level meetings for your direct reports.
• There are five key steps to conducting an effective skip-level meeting:

1. Plan the skip level meeting
2. Conduct the skip level meeting and record the feedback
3. Analyze the information collected at the skip level meeting
4. Create an action plan based on the feedback
5. Follow up and report progress

Skip Level Meeting Planning Questions:

• When is the last time a skip-level meeting was conducted with this group?
• Has the feedback from last skip level meeting been acted upon?
• Have skip-level meetings been conducted in parallel business areas?
• Will the skip level meeting be used to ‘build a file’ for disciplinary action on the leader of the group?
• Have I followed the five-point planning process for skip-level meetings?
• Do I need to improve my skills in any of the related areas, for which information is available?

Skip Level Meeting Potential Pitfalls:

• Do not use skip-level meetings to ‘build a file’ on a leader you want to fire.
• Tell all managers what you are doing and why.
• Don’t include the manager in the skip level meeting if your goal is to get back honest feedback.
• Don’t ask about topics about which you are unable or unwilling to do anything.
• Provide some level of feedback to the manager about the feedback received from his/her direct reports during the skip level meeting.
• It is more damaging to do a skip-level meeting poorly than it is to not do it at all.

Get the Complete ‘Skip-Level Meeting’ Topic Bundle

Get the Skip Level Meeting files here

The Skip Level Meeting topic bundle includes:

• Skip Level Meeting Cheat Sheet (pdf)
• Skip Level Meeting Booklet (pdf) containing:
  • In-Depth Topic Overview
  • Skip-Level Meeting Readiness Self-Assessment
  • Skip-Level Meeting Communication Timeline
  • Sample Skip-Level Meeting Invitation Letter
  • Sample Skip-Level Meeting Follow-up Letters
  • Skip-Level Meeting Discussion Guide
  • Suggested Skip-Level Meeting Questions
  • Recommended Resources – where to find out even more about skip-level meetings

• Easy-print versions of the tools contained in the Skip Level Meeting Booklet (pdf)
• Skip Level Meeting Podcast (mp3)
• Skip Level Meeting Podcast slides (Powerpoint)

Get the complete ‘Skip Level Meeting’ topic bundle now – IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD!

Get our Management Cheat Sheet Collection. Of course, it’s FREE.

How much time do you waste…I mean spend…in meetings every week? Meeting effectiveness is a critical leadership issue that needs improvement in just about all organizations.

• Have a defined purpose and clear objectives with a written agenda
• Members have prepared in advance and are engaged
• Balance of discipline, flexibility, diplomacy and determination
• Members have defined roles and respect established ground rules
• Efficient, result focused, and ultimately save time and effort
• Result in a series of tangible action items
• Capture insights and enthusiasm
• Motivate people to specific action
• Efficient and result focused
• Are documented and summarized with commitments well understood

On the other hand, ineffective meetings look like this:

• Lack participation
• Dominating leader or member, unbalanced involvement
• People don’t listen to each other
• Stays off track too long
• Inefficient, results unclear
• Ideas and different views are criticized or squelched
• Action assignments and outcomes are not clear

There are four steps you need to follow to make sure that your next meeting is effective. Here’s a brief introduction to the four steps:

Step 1 – Prepare

• Ensure the purpose of the meeting is well understood. Ask what would happen if this meeting did not take place.
• Prepare the agenda in advance.
• Ensure that the desired outcomes of the meeting are articulated in advance.
• Make sure all the participants are prepared in advance.

Step 2 – Communicate

• Inform all participants well in advance of the details of the meeting; the purpose and outcomes; and, preparation required.
• Circulate agenda in advance, as well as any other reading material

Step 3 – Control

• Start on time
• Review ground rules and assign roles
• Use a “Parking Lot” to keep on the agenda

Step 4 – Document and Follow-up

 
• Record main discussion points and decisions for future reference. This list becomes your meeting minutes.
• Clarify actions and assign names and deadlines to them.

Get the Complete ‘Effective Meetings’ Topic Bundle

Get the Effective Meetings files here

The Effective Meetings topic bundle includes:

• Effective Meetings Cheat Sheet (pdf)
• Effective Meetings Booklet (pdf) containing:
  • In-Depth Topic Overview
  • How to Get a Meeting Back on Track
  • Role Definitions for Effective Meetings
  • Effective Meeting Preparation Checklist
  • Worksheet for Effective Meetings
  • Meeting Rating Form
  • Types of Meetings and Tips for Success
  • Recommended Resources – where to find out even more about Effective Meetings

• Easy-print versions of the tools contained in the Effective Meetings Booklet (pdf)
• Effective Meetings Podcast (mp3)
• Effective Meetings Podcast Slides (Powerpoint)

Get the complete ‘Effective Meetings’ topic bundle now – IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD!