Synopses & Reviews
Management expert Bruce Tulgan’s latest book is based on a simple but powerful insight: The best way to deal with 99% of difficult challenges facing managers is NOT by gearing up to face down one of those so-called “fierce conversations,” but rather by committing to a steady diet of somewhat mundane conversations. Communicating with your employee should not be an event. It should be a process. Do you want to stop agonizing about your employees’ performance? Do you want to master difficult management relationships? Build a culture of ongoing structured one-on-one dialogues—providing guidance, direction, feedback, troubleshooting, and coaching—with every single employee you manage: One person at a time, one day at a time.
When managers consistently practice this simple but shockingly effective technique, they get results: they increase employee performance and morale, increase retention of high performers and turnover among low performers, and achieve significant measurable improvements in business-outcomes. But when it comes to engaging in meaningful dialogue with employees, there’s a culture of complacency and self-deception among managers. Most managers will tell you that they already talk to their direct-reports every day. The problem is that it is precisely the ad hoc manner in which most managers talk to their direct-reports every day that actually makes inevitable the most difficult employee situations that tend to vex managers.
- You are the new leader of an existing team
- Resources are tight
- Employees need to speed up (productivity)
- Employees need to slow down (quality)
- Employees’ personal issues are affecting their work
- Employees need to get organized
- Employees need to be on time
- Employees need to behave differently in meetings
- Employees need to communicate more effectively
- Employees have an attitude problem
- Star employees are thinking about leaving
- …and more.
In The 27 Challenges Managers Face, Tulgan returns to his roots to write about and share with his core audience—the tens of thousands of managers who have participated in his intensive back-to-basic management seminars over the years—how to become the best manager they can be…by simply talking about the work.
Synopsis
It’s not easy to be a manager. With growing resource constraints, relentless change, and high turnover, today’s business climate poses many difficulties, but most managers point to the same greatest challenge: time. Daily crises require immediate attention, managers must drop everything to resolve the issue, they fall behind on their work—and then another crisis takes over the next day. How can anyone find the
time to manage?
In truth, time isn’t the problem, but the solution. Fire-fighting is a symptom of undermanagement, and all managers must rise to the challenge of maintaining regular and meaningful dialogue with each direct report. This does not mean more emails or pointless meetings, but highly structured, highly substantive communication. The very best managers hold ongoing one-on-one conversations that make expectations clear, track performance and offer feedback, provide guidance and direction, hold people accountable, and reward top performance.
Based on twenty years of consulting with hundreds of thousands of managers, Bruce Tulgan shows any manager how to master the fundamental practice of effective management. For every challenge—even the most difficult—relentless high-quality communication is the best solution, and The 27 Challenges Managers Face shows how to tailor conversations to solve specific problems. Managers will learn specific approaches for issues including bad attitudes, friction and conflict, low performers who need to go the extra mile, top performers you want to keep and develop as leaders, and many more.
By making effective ongoing conversations an ingrained part of their routine, managers will boost performance of their whole team—and make their own job easier. The 27 Challenges Managers Face is an indispensable back-to-basics resource for managers at all levels.
Synopsis
For more than twenty years, management expert Bruce Tulgan has been asking
, “What are the most difficult challenges you face when it comes to managing people?”Regardless of industry or job title, managers cite the same core issues—27 recurring challenges: the superstar whom the manager is afraid of losing, the slacker whom the manager cannot figure out how to motivate, the one with an attitude problem, and the two who cannot get along, to name just a few.
It turns out that when things are going wrong in a management relationship, the common denominator is almost always unstructured, low substance, hit-or-miss communication.
The real problem is that most managers are “managing on autopilot” without even realizing it—until something goes wrong. And if you are managing on autopilot, then something almost always does.
The 27 Challenges Managers Face shows exactly how to break the vicious cycle and gain control of management relationships. No matter what the issue, Tulgan shows that the fundamentals are all you need. The very best managers hold ongoing one-on-one conversations that make expectations clear, track performance, offer feedback, and hold people accountable.
For every workplace problem—even the most awkward and difficult—The 27 Challenges Managers Face shows how to tailor conversations to solve situations familiar to every manager. Tulgan offers clear approaches for turning around bad attitudes, reducing friction and conflict, improving low performers, retaining top performers, and even addressing your own personal burnout.
The 27 Challenges Managers Face is an indispensable resource for managers at all levels, one anyone managing anyone will want to keep on hand. One challenge at a time, you’ll see how the most effective managers use the fundamentals of management to proactively resolve (nearly) any problem a manager could face.
Synopsis
Realize exceptional team performance with better employee conversationsThe 27 Challenges Managers Face: Step-by-Step Solutions to (Nearly) All of Your Management Problemsis based on a simple but powerful insight: replacing the "big talking-to" with a steady diet of somewhat mundane conversations leads to better employee performance and overall outcomes. Arguing that communication with employees should be a process rather than an event, the book provides managers with step-by-step guidance on building a culture of structured one-on-one dialogues to provide advice, direction, feedback, troubleshooting, and coaching, with every single employee.
Most managers believe that they already communicate with their direct-reports daily, but it's precisely the ad hoc manner in which these conversations take place that create the difficult employee situations that can plague the workplace. The 27 Challenges Managers Face describes a new approach to communication that emphasizes structure and consistency, creating an atmosphere that's supportive without coddling, and empowers employees to higher levels of effectiveness. These techniques allow managers to achieve significant measureable improvements in business outcomes, while improving the quality of the team. Benefits include:
- Improving quality without sacrificing productivity
- Retaining star employees
- Boosting communication, attitude, and morale
- Fostering organization, punctuality, and good behavior
Managers must drop the complacency and self-deception, and begin to engage in meaningful dialogue with employees if the team is to excel. Mastering difficult relationships is a key leadership skill, and improved all-around communication is frequently the most effective tool. The 27 Challenges Managers Face provides the guidance managers need to engage the team and deliver exceptional results.
Table of Contents
Note on How to Use This Book
Chapter 1 The Fundamentals Are All You NeedChapter 2 The Challenges Of Being The "New" ManagerManagement Challenge #1: When Going From Peer To Leader.
Management Challenge #2: When Coming From The Outside To Take Over Leadership Of An Existing Team
Management Challenge #3: When Bringing Together An Entirely New Team
Management Challenge #4: When You Are Welcoming A New Member To Your Existing Team.
Chapter 3 The Challenges Of Teaching Self-ManagementManagement Challenge #5: When Employees Have A Hard Time Managing Time
Management Challenge #6: When The Employee Needs Help With Interpersonal Communication
Management Challenge #7: When The Employee Needs To Get Organized
Management Challenge #8: When The Employee Needs To Get Better At Problem-Solving
Chapter 4 The Challenges Of Managing PerformanceManagement Challenge #9: When You Have An Employee Who Needs To Increase Productivity
Management Challenge #10: When You Have An Employee Who Needs To Improve Quality
Management Challenge #11: When You Need An Employee To Start Going "The Extra Mile"
Management Challenge #12: When Your Employees Are Doing "Creative" Work?
Management Challenge #13: When The Employee You Are Managing Knows More About The Work Than You Do?
Chapter 5 The Challenges Of Managing AttitudesManagement Challenge #14: When An Employee Needs An Attitude Adjustment
Management Challenge #15: When There Is Conflict Between And Among Individuals On Your Team
Management Challenge #16: When An Employee Who Has Personal Issues At Home
Chapter 6 The Challenges Of Managing SuperstarsManagement Challenge # 17: When There Is A Superstar You Need To Keep Engaged.
Management Challenge #18: When You Have A Superstar You Really Want To Retain
Management Challenge #19: When You Have A Superstar You Are Going To Lose For Sure. How To Lose That Superstar Very Well..
Management Challenge #20: When You Need To Move A Superstar To The Next Level To Develop As A New Leader
Chapter 7 The Challenges Of Managing Around Forces Outside Your ControlManagement Challenge #21: When Managing In An Environment Of Constant Change And Uncertainty
Management Challenge #22: When Managing Under Resource Constraints
Management Challenge #23: When Managing Through Interdependency
Management Challenge # 24: When Managing Around Logistical Hurdles.
Management Challenge #25: When Managing Across Different Languages And Cultures
Chapter 8 The Challenges Of Management RenewalManagement Challenge #26: When You Need To Renew Your Management Relationship With A Disengaged Employee
Management Challenge #27: When You Need To Renew Your Own Commitment To Being A Strong, Highly-Engaged Manager
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Index