, CONTENTS
1. Cover
2. Title Page
3. Copyright
4. Dedication
5. Introduction Who This Book Is for, What It's about, and Why
1. About Manager Tools
2. A Note about Data
3. A Note about Gender
6. Chapter 1: What Is an Effective Manager?
1. Your First Responsibility as a Manager Is to Achieve Results
2. Your Second Responsibility as a Manager Is to Retain Your People
3. The Definition of an Effective Manager Is One Who Gets Results and Keeps Her People
7. Chapter 2: The Four Critical Behaviors
1. The First Critical Behavior: Get to Know Your People
2. The Second Critical Behavior: Communicate about Performance
3. The Third Critical Behavior: Ask for More
4. The Fourth Critical Behavior: Push Work Down
8. Chapter 3: Teachable and Sustainable Tools
9. Chapter 4: Know Your People—One On Ones
1. Scheduled
2. Weekly
3. 30-Minute Meeting
4. With Each of Your Directs
5. The Manager Takes Notes
6. Where to Conduct One On Ones
10. Chapter 5: Common Questions and Resistance to One On Ones
1. The Most Common Forms of One-On-One Pushback
2. Talking Too Much and Talking Too Little
3. Pushback on Note Taking
4. Can I Do One On Ones over the Phone?
5. Can I Be Friends with My Directs?
6. Can I Do One On Ones as a Project Manager?
11. Chapter 6: How to Start Doing One On Ones
1. Choose Times from Your Calendar
2. Send Out a One-On-One E-mail Invitation
3. Allow for Possible Changes in the Near Future
4. Review Intent, Ground Rules, and O3 Agenda in Your Staff Meeting
5. Answer Questions
6. Conduct One On Ones Only for 12 Weeks
7. Don't Rush to Get to Feedback!
8. Don't Rush to Get to Negative Feedback
12. Chapter 7: Talk about Performance—Feedback
1. Encourage Effective Future Behavior
2. When Should I Give Feedback?
13. Chapter 8: Common Questions and Resistance to Feedback
1. How Does It Sound?
2. The Capstone: Systemic Feedback
, 14. Chapter 9: How to Start Delivering Feedback
1. Announce Your Intention in Your Weekly Staff Meeting
2. Schedule 30 Minutes for Your Briefing
3. Use Our Materials
4. Cover the Purpose of Feedback
5. Walk Them through Each Step of the Feedback Model
6. Give Only Positive Feedback for Eight Weeks
7. Add in Negative Feedback after Eight Weeks
8. Stay as Positive as You Can
15. Chapter 10: Ask for More—Coaching
1. Step 1: Collaborate to Set a Goal
2. Step 2: Collaborate to Brainstorm Resources
3. Step 3: Collaborate to Create a Plan
4. Step 4: The Direct Acts and Reports on the Plan
16. Chapter 11: How to Start Coaching
17. Chapter 12: Push Work Down—Delegation
1. Why Delegation Is the Solution—The Delegation Cascade
2. How to Delegate—The Manager Tools Delegation Model
18. Chapter 13: Common Questions and Resistance to Delegation
1. What Should You Delegate?
2. What If a Direct Repeatedly Says No to Delegation Requests?
19. Chapter 14: How to Start Delegating
20. Afterword
21. Index
22. End User License Agreement
List of Tables
1. Table 3.1
2. Table 4.1
3. Table 10.1
List of Illustrations
1. Figure 7.1
2. Figure 10.1
3. Figure 12.1
4. Figure 12.2
5. Figure 12.3
, WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR, WHAT IT'S
ABOUT, AND WHY
If you're a manager, this book was written for you. If you've ever struggled to lead your team or
wondered how to handle a difficult situation, this book is for you. If you find the people side of
management (and that's all this book is about) difficult at times, this book is definitely for you.
To be clear: this book isn't about “management” the way most business publications talk about it.
To them, “management” means big organizational ideas like strategy, or finance, or organizational
change. If you scan the Management section of The Wall Street Journal, you'll see articles about
those topics. That's not what this book is about. Frankly, if you're just a frontline manager, or
maybe even a director, you don't need to know a lot about that kind of “management” just yet.
What you do need to know about is how to manage people. If that's you, this book is for you.
This book is about managing people. It's about getting the most out of your direct reports, for two
reasons: because most managers are very bad at that part of their job, yet that's the most valuable
thing they do as a manager.
Isn't that sad? Most managers are terrible at the most important thing they're supposed to be doing:
getting top performances out of the people they are managing.
In a way, though, it's not surprising. Lots of folks think getting a Master of Business Administration
(MBA) will make them managers. But MBA programs don't teach much about managing people.
Part of the reason for that is that many of the professors have never managed a group of people
with responsibility for their output. Also, people aren't easily placed into neat conceptualized
models that can be analyzed and measured. People are messy.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of managers describe their “training” this way: I got promoted, and
they didn't tell me anything about what I was supposed to do or how I was supposed to do it. They
just gave me a team and wished me luck.
One new manager I worked with, years ago at a great firm, told me that the day he got promoted,
his new boss handed him a stack of folders regarding his team members, pointed to a corner of the
building, and said, “Your team sits over there, by the windows.”
This is mind-boggling. The upside of this, however, is that you're not alone. That feeling you have
that others know what they're doing but you don't is wrong. Almost everyone else doesn't know
either.
So, give yourself a break. Let yourself off the hook. You're doing a difficult job, and you haven't
been given ample preparation. That's why I wrote The Effective Manager.
The Effective Manager will only concern itself with actionable guidance. Usually, I will not tell
you “how to be” or “what to reflect on” or “what attitude to have.” There's a part of me, after 25
1. Cover
2. Title Page
3. Copyright
4. Dedication
5. Introduction Who This Book Is for, What It's about, and Why
1. About Manager Tools
2. A Note about Data
3. A Note about Gender
6. Chapter 1: What Is an Effective Manager?
1. Your First Responsibility as a Manager Is to Achieve Results
2. Your Second Responsibility as a Manager Is to Retain Your People
3. The Definition of an Effective Manager Is One Who Gets Results and Keeps Her People
7. Chapter 2: The Four Critical Behaviors
1. The First Critical Behavior: Get to Know Your People
2. The Second Critical Behavior: Communicate about Performance
3. The Third Critical Behavior: Ask for More
4. The Fourth Critical Behavior: Push Work Down
8. Chapter 3: Teachable and Sustainable Tools
9. Chapter 4: Know Your People—One On Ones
1. Scheduled
2. Weekly
3. 30-Minute Meeting
4. With Each of Your Directs
5. The Manager Takes Notes
6. Where to Conduct One On Ones
10. Chapter 5: Common Questions and Resistance to One On Ones
1. The Most Common Forms of One-On-One Pushback
2. Talking Too Much and Talking Too Little
3. Pushback on Note Taking
4. Can I Do One On Ones over the Phone?
5. Can I Be Friends with My Directs?
6. Can I Do One On Ones as a Project Manager?
11. Chapter 6: How to Start Doing One On Ones
1. Choose Times from Your Calendar
2. Send Out a One-On-One E-mail Invitation
3. Allow for Possible Changes in the Near Future
4. Review Intent, Ground Rules, and O3 Agenda in Your Staff Meeting
5. Answer Questions
6. Conduct One On Ones Only for 12 Weeks
7. Don't Rush to Get to Feedback!
8. Don't Rush to Get to Negative Feedback
12. Chapter 7: Talk about Performance—Feedback
1. Encourage Effective Future Behavior
2. When Should I Give Feedback?
13. Chapter 8: Common Questions and Resistance to Feedback
1. How Does It Sound?
2. The Capstone: Systemic Feedback
, 14. Chapter 9: How to Start Delivering Feedback
1. Announce Your Intention in Your Weekly Staff Meeting
2. Schedule 30 Minutes for Your Briefing
3. Use Our Materials
4. Cover the Purpose of Feedback
5. Walk Them through Each Step of the Feedback Model
6. Give Only Positive Feedback for Eight Weeks
7. Add in Negative Feedback after Eight Weeks
8. Stay as Positive as You Can
15. Chapter 10: Ask for More—Coaching
1. Step 1: Collaborate to Set a Goal
2. Step 2: Collaborate to Brainstorm Resources
3. Step 3: Collaborate to Create a Plan
4. Step 4: The Direct Acts and Reports on the Plan
16. Chapter 11: How to Start Coaching
17. Chapter 12: Push Work Down—Delegation
1. Why Delegation Is the Solution—The Delegation Cascade
2. How to Delegate—The Manager Tools Delegation Model
18. Chapter 13: Common Questions and Resistance to Delegation
1. What Should You Delegate?
2. What If a Direct Repeatedly Says No to Delegation Requests?
19. Chapter 14: How to Start Delegating
20. Afterword
21. Index
22. End User License Agreement
List of Tables
1. Table 3.1
2. Table 4.1
3. Table 10.1
List of Illustrations
1. Figure 7.1
2. Figure 10.1
3. Figure 12.1
4. Figure 12.2
5. Figure 12.3
, WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR, WHAT IT'S
ABOUT, AND WHY
If you're a manager, this book was written for you. If you've ever struggled to lead your team or
wondered how to handle a difficult situation, this book is for you. If you find the people side of
management (and that's all this book is about) difficult at times, this book is definitely for you.
To be clear: this book isn't about “management” the way most business publications talk about it.
To them, “management” means big organizational ideas like strategy, or finance, or organizational
change. If you scan the Management section of The Wall Street Journal, you'll see articles about
those topics. That's not what this book is about. Frankly, if you're just a frontline manager, or
maybe even a director, you don't need to know a lot about that kind of “management” just yet.
What you do need to know about is how to manage people. If that's you, this book is for you.
This book is about managing people. It's about getting the most out of your direct reports, for two
reasons: because most managers are very bad at that part of their job, yet that's the most valuable
thing they do as a manager.
Isn't that sad? Most managers are terrible at the most important thing they're supposed to be doing:
getting top performances out of the people they are managing.
In a way, though, it's not surprising. Lots of folks think getting a Master of Business Administration
(MBA) will make them managers. But MBA programs don't teach much about managing people.
Part of the reason for that is that many of the professors have never managed a group of people
with responsibility for their output. Also, people aren't easily placed into neat conceptualized
models that can be analyzed and measured. People are messy.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of managers describe their “training” this way: I got promoted, and
they didn't tell me anything about what I was supposed to do or how I was supposed to do it. They
just gave me a team and wished me luck.
One new manager I worked with, years ago at a great firm, told me that the day he got promoted,
his new boss handed him a stack of folders regarding his team members, pointed to a corner of the
building, and said, “Your team sits over there, by the windows.”
This is mind-boggling. The upside of this, however, is that you're not alone. That feeling you have
that others know what they're doing but you don't is wrong. Almost everyone else doesn't know
either.
So, give yourself a break. Let yourself off the hook. You're doing a difficult job, and you haven't
been given ample preparation. That's why I wrote The Effective Manager.
The Effective Manager will only concern itself with actionable guidance. Usually, I will not tell
you “how to be” or “what to reflect on” or “what attitude to have.” There's a part of me, after 25
