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About The Struggling Manager
Are you a struggling manager? Are you struggling to become a manager? Go from mediocre worker to management material by reading the advice in these articles and implementing changes in what you do every day on the job.
Year of the Chicken
Read Rob Redmond's book The Year of the Chicken. A compelling story about a young couple from the American South who go to Japan believing in tales of gold in the streets for English speakers. They seek adventure and mystical karate powers and find reality instead. Told in a humorous and self-effacing style the author details misadventures common to travellers everywhere. At least he hopes they are. Get your copy today!
Jun
22
In the previous article, I suggested that good bosses are observant, and that they share these observations with employees through the channels of strong relationships. Good bosses are like mirrors. They tell the whole truth, good and bad, which is mostly good. They also spare employees their observations, allowing them to turn away from the mirror.
Peter D. Kramer, a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Brown University, agrees, and says that work provides a form of therapy to the employed.
Work is a yet more useful colleague; it offers patients particular lessons about how they behave and how others respond.
Why Your Cubicle Moonlights as a Therapist’s Couch
Jun
21
One of the qualities that the most successful executives seem to have as a rule is the ability to observe behavior in real time without getting lost in the moment. When you speak, they carefully observe your facial expressions for hints as to what you really are feeling and thinking. When you move your hands, they observe carefully for shaking that indicates fear or carefully movement that indicates a lack of self-monitoring. They observe behavior.
Really great bosses will build strong relationships and familiarity with their employees and use these relationships to make the employees aware of their observations as well as suggestions for improvement. This process is called feedback. Feedback is not a script for criticizing employees. Feedback is what happens when observant bosses tell employees what they are seeing the employee do. Feedback is when the boss serves as a mirror.
Mirrors are not selective in what they reflect. They do not spare the onlooker their reflection until they are having a bad hair day. Mirrors reflect continuously. Good bosses do the same – the good and the bad. Mirrors allow the onlooker to turn away and rest. Good bosses do the same. They observe an employee who is not ready to listen, and then spare them that moment’s observation. There will be plenty of other opportunities.
Jun
4
by Bob Redmond
This is a series of articles written by my father, a professional management analyst with more than 30 years of experience as a manager. Most solid management practices have been around for a long time, and I think you will find his experience timeless.
I toiled most of my career in hierarchical organizations with well-defined functions. There was a pyramidal organization chart with line and staff departments, from offices down to divisions, branches, and sections. There was a position description for each position. Managers worked to control more than to delegate.
Read more
Jun
2
Make no mistake about it. Your top priority of the moment is whatever your boss asks you to do. If your boss asks you to build a report, the proper response is, “You got it!” or “Consider it done.”
Never respond by saying, “I have a meeting at 3pm, but then I will get on it.” You don’t have a meeting at 3pm any longer. Delegate the meeting or ask someone to postpone it. Your boss is your most important customer, and he just asked you to do something.
Do your boss requests first and foremost before anything else. Only another competing boss task should ever be brought up as a conflict. Even then, try to manage without annoying your boss with the details and get everything done ASAP.
About the Author
Rob Redmond studied sociology, psychology, and political science as an undergraduate before entering the workforce. Returning to school, Redmond earned an MBA from Georgia State University in June of 2000. Rob is currently employed as a manager of IT of a large technology company.
Rob is 41 years old and is married to Lorna. Together they have two sons. The family includes a dog named Decibel (Deci the DooDoo Dog), and a black and white cat named Keiko.