Management Mastery

Every manager, at some time, has to fire an employee.  It is one of the most difficult tasks a manager has, but it must be done caringly and professionally.  Layoffs are a special subset of termination. We’ll discuss the process for both in this Encore episode.

There are a number of honest mistakes new managers often make.  In this Encore episode, we discuss three of the most common and often some of the hardest to totally avoid making. 

There are a number of ways you can stand out as a performer in your company or department.  All of them require you to have mastered all aspects of your current role first, and then to have your head up so that you’re listening, observing, and understanding the goals of your department and company.  In this way you’ll be able to be productive for your department and yourself.  We’ll talk about tha...

Major changes can be upsetting in any organization, no matter what kind of change it is. The manager’s responsibility in such cases is to communicate clearly and effectively about the change as much as possible in order to keep rumors and unnecessary anxieties at a minimum. We’ll discuss several of the pitfalls in this kind of situation and how managers can avoid falling into them in this episode...

Power dynamics are essentially the ways in which influence and control are manifested among individuals or groups and how they impact or controls relationships and interactions.  Power Dynamics include both formal authority as well as informal influence, They exist in both the workplace as well as in social settings.  We will examine power dynamics over the next few episodes as they are a critical...

Do you know your boss’s goals and specific objectives? If you answered “Yes” to that question you’re ahead of a number of your colleagues. If you answered “No” then you have an opportunity to make up ground. We’ll discuss some ways to do that in this episode.

The minute you get promoted, you will no longer be the same person to your boss, your colleagues or your new staff.  In this encore episode of Management Mastery, we cover these changes and how to deal with them.

When overseeing a project in their department, the manager must continuously evaluate progress and make the decision when to wind down the project.  We covered, in a previous episode of Management Mastery, the manager’s role in monitoring the progress of a project.  In this episode, we cover the steps important to the successful winding down and conclusion of any project. 

We’ve discussed defining the problem a project is meant to address, selecting the team for the project and conducting the initial team meeting.  Ideally, once the project is underway, the manager’s role becomes one of monitoring the team’s progress to ensuring its success.  The project needs to be managed through a clear, efficient, operational structure if it’s to be successful..  That’s the topi...

After understanding the project and choosing the best staff to achieve success, we now move to the important initial meeting with staff.  This meeting, if handled well, will dramatically increase your odds of having a successful project.

While it’s easy to say, “A project is only as successful as the people behind it,” it also requires time and attention to get the process of selecting the team right.  Finding the right balance between technical skills, social skills, and interpersonal fit are all important considerations.  Selecting the best team for a project is the subject of this week’s episode

Managing a project is a complex process influenced by a range of factors that can make it challenging, both on a personal and an organizational level.  We’ll look at managing and overseeing a project in this episode beginning with defining the problem.  In future episodes we’ll examine setting up a project team, monitoring team progress, making course corrections as a project progresses, ongoing e...

The ability to make decisions Is one of a manager’s most important skills.  Making a good decision involves having a clear focus on your priorities and then choosing between two or more options.  Doing it well shows business acumen, confidence, leadership and, sometimes, even courage.  Doing it poorly creates doubt in the minds of your management, as well as your staff, about your leadership skill...

Whether you’re a new, or experienced, manager you’ll face problems at work.  The way that you approach solving them will prove to be an important aspect of your success.  In this week's episode of Management Mastery, we’ll discuss a good process to follow.

As a manager you’re constantly being pulled away from your strategic objectives by everyday tasks that may be important, but aren’t helping you to achieve your primary objectives.  As the manager, you should continuously seek ways you can maximize your group’s overall performance.  In this podcast we’ll discuss how to keep your focus on productivity while, at the same time, managing key relationsh...

Most of us believe that we are good listeners.  Research has shown that’s not true.  Listening is demanding both cognitively and emotionally.  It takes focused attention and effort to do it well.  We’ll discuss mistakes that manager’s make and how to avoid them in this episode.

The damage that a bad boss can inflict upon their staff and their organization is substantial.  Multiple studies have found that somewhere between 30-50% of both managers and workers leave their jobs because of a bad boss and a negative work culture.  We’ll look at how to avoid being a bad boss in this episode

Every manager needs the ability to persuade internal and external constituencies to reach consensus to move issues forward.  Sometimes it’s a major issue that needs to be decided on, like an issue with a client, or a change of direction, and other times it’ll be smaller, day-to-day operating decisions, such as moving a product out faster.  As the manager, you’ll be called upon to use your skills o...

In the last episode we discussed the importance of understanding your leadership style and how it’ll be important to your success.  Your style was developed over a series of events during your lifetime.  In this episode we’ll discuss how you can use your leadership style to be a more effective leader.

Understanding and improving your leadership style is important to your success as a manager.  They’re a number of ways you can approach this task.  In this podcast we’ll discuss a simple, straightforward way to think about and develop an effective leadership style.

Almost everyone has had the experience of working with a toxic coworker.  How to deal with that situation can be difficult and emotional.  It is not something that most people want to deal with, but it is in your interest, and the other persons, to work out the problem.  We will deal with ways that you can do that in this episode.

Former sales executive Jake Kilrain discusses his experience in dealing with a colleague who felt they should have his position and tried to undermine him at every opportunity.

Executive presence is a critical component of being a successful senior manager. It’s the ability to project an image of confidence, competence, and leadership, inspiring trust and respect in others.  As you continue to grow your career, developing and exhibiting the behaviors that define executive presence will be important for your growth as a manager.  In a previous episode, we discussed the im...

Executive Presence is the ability to project an image of confidence, competence, and leadership that inspires trust and respect in others. Executive presence is a critical component of being a successful senior manager.  As you grow your career, understanding and displaying the behaviors and demeanor that define executive presence will be important for your development.  In this episode, we discus...

In our episode entitled “The Basics of Speechmaking” from February 18, we said that half of the world’s population was terrified of making a speech and we discussed the basics of making a speech.  In this episode we’ll discuss how to think about your presentation and how to share what you’re passionate about with others.