World Famous Comics: What To Do When You Become The Boss: How new managers become successful managers
What To Do When You Become The Boss: How new managers become successful managers
By: Bob Selden Publisher: Outskirts Press Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Outskirts Press Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 288 Publication Date: November 15, 2007
Product Description: A self-help book for people about to move into their first management role. The author Bob Selden, has been a manager and coach of managers for over 30 years, so the book is very practical and easy to follow.
It allows the new manager to access the topics at their own pace and according to their own particular learning style. Actual cases show how various concepts, models, techniques and strategies have been successfully implemented. Each chapter has both a "How to implement straight away" checklist and "Action plans for the longer term" so the new manager can take action immediately and also plan for the future.
"What To Do When You Become The Boss" covers the full range of skills required of the new manager (in fact any manager) - leading, managing, motivating, team building, decision making, delegating, recruiting (and firing), managing performance, meetings, influencing others and managing boss and self.
A Valuable Resource "On target, comprehensive and easy to read describes this book. Bob excels in providing a detailed road map for new managers. His use of vignettes and examples make his message real and memorable for the reader. I found myself reflecting on my own experience and how I wished I had a valuable resource such as this early in my career. Two thumbs up and a must have for all new managers in companies large and small." - Timothy A. Laskis, Ph.D., Founder, Lex-T Organizational Consulting
Finding Your Costa Rica : 5 Powerful Steps to Personal, Professional and Financial Success
Great General and Specific Advice What To Do when You Become the Boss by Bob Selden is a practical, step by step guide on how to survive the transition from employee to someone others report to. These types of books by their nature often have to make assumptions about your learning style and the situation you're in. Bob really does go above and beyond by trying to have his book meet all needs. To begin with, he has you determine if you are an activist, pragmatist, theorist or reflective learning style. He then gives you a step by step guide on how to "hop chapters" to find the information you most need.
I admit that I would find it very hard to jump around - I wanted to start from the beginning and read through chapter by chapter. But maybe that's just an indication of my personal style. Maybe someone else would really enjoy the chapter leaping :)
Bob says that you need to balance leading, managing and operating. Leaders don't just "happen" - they need to be *chosen*. I.e. if your followers are unwilling to follow you, then you really aren't a leader. A leader needs to help his followers understand their tasks, provide direction provide belief in what they're doing and help enable them. Bob also comments that leading is path finding, while managing is path minding.
Bob talks about these generalities - but he also gets down to specifics as well to help you in each area. He recommends you find concrete, specific things to praise your employees for - they appreciate this much more than one might imagine. Also, when discussing problems, avoid the word "but". Also avoid the word "you". Phrase things with "I" - such as "I was disappointed in the quarterly report, and I think together we can find a way to improve this." Always discuss the ACTION that needs to be fixed - not the person.
Other specific suggestions really do seem helpful. He suggests setting Outlook to open to the task view - not to email which might distract you from your tasks. He suggests turning off the pop-up reminders of new mail and the associated sounds. That being said, he talks about only checking on mail for a brief time in the afternoon. I would never survive managing my web businesses if I ignored my mail all morning long :)
Finally I did find it a little annoying when he constantly recommends you buy copies of the book for friends and family and discuss the book with them. Talk about viral marketing! If you have the book you've probably already bought one copy. Now he's telling you to go out and triple his sales by yourself? That just seemed wrong to me.
Still, there's a lot of great information in here, and rather than buying a copy for a friend, I'm going to give them MY copy :)
Valuable and Customizable Learning for New Managers Reading this book has given me the opportunity to learn new skills -- and re-activate some rusty ones! I thought it particularly clever of the author to highlight the different learning styles at the beginning of the book -- a good reminder that our colleagues are all different, with different strengths to bring to the work place. That theme is also continued throughout: Each section includes instructions on how to use the book based on your identified learning style. I also appreciated the opportunity at the end of each chapter to review, practice and implement the skills discussed throughout the chapter.
For me, a particularly valuable chapter of the book was 'How to Manage Your Boss' -- an often neglected area of managing, but one that is hugely important for most of us. Thank you for your valuable insights and your easy writing style which made these insights so accessible. An invaluable tool for all managers.
Brilliant. Turns great concepts and theory into practical applications for managers. This is more than just a read once and put down book. This is a managers bible! It has so many practical tools for managers to use for all kinds of situations they face day to day, as they develop their leadership potential. Should remain in the top drawer of every manager's desk.
Good Application & Tools! In my line of work (leadership & productivity behavior change development) I read numerous books a year on management and business in general. I found this book to be one of the more useful ones, in that the information was kept concise and applicable. There are several good tools in many of the chapters, that I also found useful.
In the book's introduction, it had a simple assessment so the reader could determine what style of learner they were. Then it gave each learning style tips on how to get the most out of the book. In each section, there was a guide for the four styles. For example, it told people who had a "activist" style to go directly to such and such chapter and implement the ideas. At first I thought this a little "fluffy," but then quickly realized the value in it. Actually, other management books would do well to incorporate such an assessment and guide!
The book covers all the basic people management ideas. In my line of work, we typically see that while there are lots of good ideas floating around, many times the issue is the ideas are not applied well. Ideas without application are just basically entertainment. In this respect, I thought Bob's book to be right on, in that it was simple on the theory side, and heavy on the execution side. In my own leadership experience I would gladly trade all my theoretical MBA studies for a few simple, yet effective leadership ideas implemented! Therefore, in this respect his book hits the mark.
There are only two key ideas I would add to this book. One is some discussion of a routine planning and scheduling system. Without a good system to keep and track commitments, goals and plans, no leader can truly be effective - they will have lots of ideas, but not really get the things done they need to, or in the proper priority. The other thing that I like to see in any such publication, is a focus on the dividends paid by people development. In this day, when we're all so convinced that "people are the greatest asset," I always like to see this reinforced. Proper people development is a win-win-win (employee, manager, organization). Being a Servant Leadership advocate, I believe no aspiring manager will be truly effective without having this focus.
To finish, I reiterate that this book should be given very high marks - especially if you are looking for solid, applicable actions and tools.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Not Available Comics
Trevor
