Al-the-Business-Coach's Page


  

Tips on How to be an Effective Manager

§    Decoding the soft management skills into 

hard business results.

 

§    Challenging mind viruses such as fads, myths and assumptions that hamper managerial effectiveness.

 

The book is: $9.99

http://www.managersdontreadthis.com
 

 

Welcome!

I'm Al Gates, and, as you can see from the photo, I've been around for a few years!  My book will introduce you to the world of fads, myths, and assumptions disguised as unquestionable facts and strategies that toss conventional common sense out the window. I will share secrets I have discovered from more than 45 years of  hands-on management, leadership, and training experience.


In the past 40 years, I've looked at and trained on many different management models, methods and techniques. No, this small book is not based on comprehensive research, rather, it is experience based.  As a manager, you've really got your work cut out for you sorting through all the endless heaps of lofty management theories and inflated fads and myths claiming to be the ‘holy grail’.

I never discovered the ‘holy grail’ of management or managing…only nebulous theories that eventually , like cotton candy, melted away.

 I did discover a secret.   And a contradiction.

The secret: Most any management model, method, or technique will work if given adequate attention and focus, individually and organizationally. 

Simple.  Period.

The contradiction: because Company 'A' was successful in utilizing a specific management model, method, or technique, it does not follow that Company 'B' will be successful utilizing the same specific management model, method, or technique.  Go figure!


There are many different paths toward success as there are toward failure.  What works for Company 'A' may not be appropriate for Company 'B'.

In today's fast and wired world, nothing is as it seems.  And most effective, enlightened managers know it.  If you are looking for guidance on how to be more effective, I hope you will find this small book a source of inspiration and implementation.


What’s in it for me? (WIIFM):

√ You will become aware of the type of organizations to avoid.

√ Does an effective manager need an MBA to be successful?  What do you think?

√ How to make participative management work for you.

√ Performance Appraisals: The good, the bad, and the ugly.

√ The truth about feedback.

√ The powerful influence of trust and how to achieve trust with your people.

√ The pitfalls of micro-managing.

√ Why one-day training programs are wonderful for socializing, but not learning.

√ Management’s obsession with assessments, instruments and tests… trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.  

√ The secret of the 3Rs in Conflict Management.

√ Where customer service is hiding and how outsourcing is good for shareholders and a disaster for customers.


There are more management topics in the book ….. so grab a cup of coffee and have some fun!

  

 

 Here's a chapter from the book:

  

STRENGTHS   VS.  WEAKNESSES


One area in organizations I have noticed over the years is their inability  to   adequately utilize their employee's strengths. Yet most managers during the recruitment and hiring process spend considerable time and effort exploring the potential employee's strengths.

 

 It would be more appropriate for an organization, after hiring the employee,  to focus on their strengths rather than spend tons and tons of money on training to turn an employee's weaknesses into strengths. This very seldom happens and has always puzzled me about organizations. Maybe it's a cultural disposition to identify our weaknesses. True, some training may be needed in some of the soft skills such as listening and interpersonal communications for some employees. However, in terms of their employees, an organization will get what they focus on. If a lot of focus is on an employee's weaknesses rather than their strengths, it could have consequences on the bottom-line.

 

 As far as I know, winning baseball teams only draft players for positions in which they excel. They certainly do not draft a star pitcher and put him on third base.  Please.

 

 Performance appraisals are good examples of good intentions gone sour. First, the manager tells the employee how great he is and then the focus changes to the area that the employee is weak in. What a waste of time and energy. Yet, this kind of scenario is happening everyday in some organizations.

 

 I will say again, I think some training on some weaknesses may be appropriate for an organization as long as the focus remains on the strengths. Employees are turned on with what they do well. I assure you that their weaknesses are a turn-off, not a turn-on. Therefore, it seems to follow that it makes little sense for an organization to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to shore up an employee's weaknesses. I am sure most CEOs utilized their strengths in arriving at their position, not on their weaknesses.

 

 Why should their employees be any different?

 

 CEOs open your minds.  Read the research on this.

 

 Gallup's research (based on 1.5 million interviews) suggests that only 20 per cent of employees feel they regularly get a chance to use their greatest strengths  


( http://www.gallup.com/poll/1894/Focus-Your-Strengths-Fix-Your-Weaknesses.aspx/)

 

 For example, the authors of "Now, Discover Your Strengths", Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton, say "Most organizations are built on two flawed assumptions about people."

 

 1. Each person can learn to be competent in almost anything. (This confuses weaknesses and limitations)

 

 2. Each person's greatest room for growth is in his or her areas of greatest weakness.

I know this is a generalization, but I believe that effective managers would never make those assumptions about their people. The best managers surely believe that their people can only be their best by utilizing their strengths. They make sure their employees are doing what they do best.  

Every time.  

All the time.

 

                               ------------End------------

 

http://www.loadedweb.com/