Management Mastery

The first step in hiring the best candidate for a job is the screening process. This begins with a review of the resumes of interested candidates -- either by the HR Department and/or by the hiring manager. This process removes from consideration candidates who clearly do not meet the requirements for the position, based on their resume. This is followed by a "screening conversation" between remai...

Preparation for hiring top talent has to begin even before there is an opening to fill.

Many times new, and, even experienced managers, are overly focused on how much work is being done rather than what their team actually achieves.  This can sometimes get you wrapped up in some of the wrong directions.  A better approach is to focus on what is actually accomplished.  This requires establishing a performance-based climate that is based on strong team commitment.  We’ll discuss how to...

Once a decision’s made on the candidate that you want to hire, it now falls to you, the hiring manager, to close the deal.  Since this involves a number of skills and abilities this’ll be a challenging time for any manager, especially with candidates who may have other offers.  Among the skills needed, are the need to be totally prepared, a strong people orientation, knowing how to negotiate, and...

Dealing with intelligent but aggressive staff members, sometimes given the label “alpha” for “leader of the pack” is one of the challenges a manager often faces.  On the one hand, they can provide leadership and productivity for your team but on the other hand, they can be hard to manage and disruptive to building collegial staff relationships.  In this episode, we’ll discuss ways of dealing with...

Once you, the hiring manager and your team, have met the final candidates you need to make the best choice for your department.  Once you have received feedback from each member of your hiring team, both in a meeting and with their individual ratings, then you’ll be able to make your final decision.  Once that is accomplished, and the references verified, it will be time to move on to landing the...

The Gallup Organization has been measuring Employee Engagement among thousands of employees since 2000 using questions that measure 12 factors of engagement. The level of enthusiasm employees feel toward their work and workplace is a powerful predictor of numerous important  business outcomes, including the quality of the work, level of productivity, safety, and profitability, among other things. ...

In our last two episodes, we spoke with Vance Morris, a former senior executive with the Disney Organization, about the benefits to consumer-facing businesses of creating what he calls “Experiences” for their clients.  In this episode, we discuss how managers can apply those same techniques to the benefit of their in-house departments even if they don’t have outside customers.

Vance helps business owners get, serve and keep clients for life through creating experiences and response required marketing. He is a Former Birth Control Factory Security Guard turned Disney Leader, turned Bankrupt Out of Work Executive, turned Carpet Cleaner, turned Successful Entrepreneur. In this episode, Vance talks about the lessons he has learned to become a successful marketer -- in any b...

Vance helps business owners get, serve and keep clients for life through creating experiences and response required marketing. He is a Former Birth Control Factory Security Guard turned Disney Leader, turned Bankrupt Out of Work Executive, turned Carpet Cleaner, turned Successful Entrepreneur. In this, the first of two episodes, Vance shows how the lessons he learned as a Disney Leader can help an...

Every manager, at some time, has to fire or lay off 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 week’s episode of Management Mastery 

It is important that a new manager meet with their staff as a group as soon as possible. In this episode we discuss why and what to cover The first meeting can occur before or after you’ve begun having one-on-one meetings with your staff.  Today we’re going to talk about the parts of your first staff meeting: ·       Introductions ·       Department and Challenges ·       Your Management Style ·  ...

Preparation for hiring top talent has to begin even before there is an opening to fill.

It’s one thing to be able to attract desirable candidates to interview at your firm.  As we discussed in a previous episode, top candidates are looking for a successful company, a challenging job, an excellent boss and senior management, and teammates who are bright, stimulating and want them on the team, as well as a position where they can visualize a career path for themselves.  Once having att...

One of the most important tasks the manager faces is recruiting top talent.  When you have the opportunity to make a new hire, you should approach it as an excellent opportunity to strengthen your department by adding a new personality with unique skills, abilities, and energy.  And, increasing abilities of your team can make you more effective in your role.  In this episode, we’ll discuss what to...

As a manager, you’re probably past the time when others will watch out for your career growth.  A critical part of managing your personal career involves knowing your own strengths and weaknesses.  It’s this type of self-awareness that’ll allow you to further develop the skills you have as well as learn new ones.  This’ll put you in the best position to make your greatest contribution.  It’ll also...

For every manager, creating a great team is extremely important, but has become much more complicated with remote working, teams working across geographical boundaries, and greater diversity in the workforce. Under any conditions, creating a strong team is a critical problem for managers and those who do it well have the opportunity to surpass their colleagues, as well as their competitors. In thi...

There are a number of characteristics that organizational researchers have found distinguish high-performing teams.  The recent move to remote working and to virtual teams that can have members in different countries, makes some of these features of high-performance more difficult.  In this episode, we’ll explore how to employ the tactics of high-performing teams even when working virtually.

A good manager knows that it’s important to manage not only relationships with their subordinates, but also those with their bosses. Successful management of one’s boss is not always easy or intuitive.  In this episode, we’ll discuss some of the common problems in dealing with one’s boss and suggest ways for handling them. 

Promotion to management means taking charge and exerting power.  It also means you are vulnerable to a number of traps.  A common one is hubris, which can be defined as “the excessive pride and self-confidence that can come with power”.  For a new manager, hubris can lead to any number of problems.  The most effective way to counter hubris in yourself is by showing humility. In this episode, we wi...

Great managers lead by setting the appropriate context. That is,by explaining the business objectives, the competitive environment and the regulatory constraints in which the department and company operate, rather than by trying to control people simply through a set of rules and procedures. Once managers explain the context, staff are better able to understand the direction and strategy and the m...

At some point, you very likely will find yourself called upon to present to an audience larger than a small group.  If you’ve never done it – or even if you have – this can be a fear-inducing experience.  In this episode we give you some advice on how to get through it successfully.

:  The climate of a department involves how staff interact, engage, and exchange ideas to create a positive work environment.  It is important to build a healthy team climate to ensure that staff feel comfortable, confident, and supported when around one another.  Many managers don’t focus on climate but simply accept the way it is when they arrive. Thus, they possibly miss a major opportunity to...

In our November 13, 2023 episode we discussed the importance of empathy and defined it as “our social radar”; that is, our ability to understand what others feel, and why they do what they do.  We identified the characteristics of people who display empathy, why empathy is important to the functioning of a department, and how the manager can help the members of the team improve their empathy.  In...

The questions that get leaders and teams into trouble are often the ones they fail to ask.  In the process of planning and decision-making, a critical role of the Manager, is to uncover key information, insights, and alternatives, by asking critical questions others may have overlooked. Gaining new information can be difficult than it sounds for two reasons:  First, you may be blinded by your own...