Management Mastery

What is one of the biggest weaknesses of poor managers? The inability to build strong relationships at work. It is one of the most important skill sets that any Manager can have. In this episode, we will talk about the valuable steps you can take to develop this skill.

Delivering superior results doesn’t happen by chance. It happens through conscious choice, discipline, and consistency of behavior.

Making a decision is only half the battle for a good manager. The second half is getting the decision implemented. In this episode, we cover how the good manager gets and keeps their staff on board with their decisions.

The manager’s job is to make decisions. Effective decision-making is critical to effective management. In this episode we discuss the process of good decision-making. We cover the important steps in decision-making from identifying the problem through gathering the necessary information and deciding on the best option if more than one are available. We also discuss the role of intuition in making...

Everyone has clients. It is critical, no matter what your function, that you clearly understand who your clients are, what your clients need from your department and how to best meet those client needs. Clients can be in the company (e.g., other departments, company employees, etc.) or outside (i.e., those who buy your company's products or services). What is important is that you have a clear...

One of the first, and very important, tasks of a new manager is to begin to evaluate the staffing and structure of their department to ensure it is aligned so as to be most effective in meeting the goals and objectives of their new department. Initially, this consists largely of systematically observing and listening to clients, management, and high-performing staff to identify the department'...

Understanding the underlying emotional and other, often unspoken, attitudes and beliefs that may motivate staff is critical to good management.  The successful manager needs to be aware of and deal with those critical factors.  This is what we mean by “empathy”.  In this episode, we discuss how the good manager can build empathy both in their staffs and in themselves.

The signs of an unmotivated employee are not hard for a manager to spot and we will go into those.  What is sometimes less obvious is the negative impact such employees can have on a department.  While it isn’t always “contagious”, a lack of motivation can spread to others in the group.  In any case, an unmotivated employee is not contributing their full effort to the department and is thus a liab...

Self-awareness is the ability to recognize and understand one’s own emotions, strengths, weaknesses, values and motives and how they affect one’s interactions with people in the workplace and their own job performance. Self-control is the ability to control one’s thoughts, feelings and actions. One of the things that makes lack of self-awareness a problem is that, when asked whether they are self-...

Effective communication is one of the most important skills a good manager must have. In this episode, we review not only what makes one a good communicator, but also things that many do that get in the way of effective communication including blaming the audience for not understanding what is being communicated, and not following up to make sure one's communication was accurately received and...

It is critical that your staff feel comfortable with giving you bad news or telling you about problems when they occur. This involves establishing a level of trust with your staff where they can feel that giving you such news will not result in negative consequences for them. This episode centers on how to build that level of trust with one's staff and maintain it.

It's never pleasant to get negative feedback from one's boss. But how a manager deals with the bad news can sometimes be more important than the news itself. The same can be true for positive feedback. Responding appropriately in both types of situations is often critical to a manager's success. This episode covers how to anticipate and respond to both positive and negative feedback fr...

It is important for a manager to be proactive in developing relationships with their clients (and every manager has them) where the client feels they can communicate openly and freely with the manager -- even when that involves communicating negative news. It is important that managers learn of issues before they become major problems and that involves having an open, trusting relationship with th...

It takes patience and effort to develop and keep talented staff. In this episode we cover many of the things that keep talented staff motivated and happy -- and reduce their likelihood of being poached by a competitor or another department in your company.

Your most talented staff can be your greatest asset. But they can also need a lot of attention. It is also important that you not overlook talented staff who may be introverted and not immediately stand out. Identifying and developing these members can greatly benefit your department. At the same time, you can't ignore the less-talented staff and how to motivate them and head off feelings of j...

Nothing can be more nerve-wracking than being told, "The Boss wants to see you." In this episode, we discuss how to prepare for such a meeting in order to maximize the potential for a positive outcome (no matter the topic) and minimize the chances of a negative one. The secret comes down to a single word: Preparation. We'll tell you how to prepare for such a meeting.

Listening is probably one of the most important skills a manager can have and most people feel they are good listeners. However, many are not. In this episode we discuss techniques for good listening and why they are important.

Preparation is critical for any meeting with your boss -- especially one you asked for. Of course, you want to be prepared on the specific reason you asked for the meeting -- but your preparation needs to go far beyond that to maximize the positive impact any meeting can potentially have on your relationship with your boss. It will also reduce the potential for a negative response from the boss.

This is an encore of an episode on your first meeting with a (new) client.

Everybody makes mistakes -- it is a part of learning and growing in any job -- especially management. What is important is how one handles the mistake -- how they get out ahead of it and what actions they take to prevent the mistake from happening again. It is important to own responsibility for the mistake -- even if it was by one of your staff and not you directly. You are responsible.

This is a repeat episode: Building and Maintaining a Network

It is estimated that 30% to 50 % of any department staff are "introverts". They can be extremely talented members of your team, but can easily fade into the background and their potential contributions lost if not identified and handled correctly. In this episode, we talk about how to fully utilize the introverted members of your staff.

A successful relationship with your new boss is entirely your responsibility. We discuss the importance of understanding how your boss interacts with staff (are they a hands-on or hands-off manager?); makes and communicates decisions; how they like to communicate, and other key dimensions of their management style. In addition, we talk about how to deal with the different management styles.

We all do it from time to time -- and are often annoyed when others do it. In a new position, we talk about "how it was done (better) where I was before". DON'T DO IT. Until you are well established and understand WHY things are done the way they are in your new position, don't talk about the way it was done in your previous position. People don't see it as helpful. At best t...

Having an effective network only becomes increasingly important as a manager advances in their career. Knowing how to build and maintain a strong and effective network is a key management skill. It is also important to encourage one's staff to also have strong networks as such networks can also benefit the manager.