This guidance describes how to interview those colleagues on your bench…without interviewing them.

We’ve had a lot of folks ask us over the years about how to interact with their bench. If you don’t know what we mean by your bench, we mean those colleagues, associates, potentially friends, who are high performers that you could see yourself working with in some fashion in the future.

“Having to fill an opening” when you lose someone is inherently a bad process. Manager Tools managers are always building their bench, and evaluating them, so that when there IS a rare opening, they not only see it coming, they have someone ready to fill it. Someone they’ve already “interviewed.”

Here’s part of what to do.

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This guidance describes the first meeting a manager ought to have with a new team member.

Too many of us don't do a great job of focusing on hiring the right people…and then we compound the error by being too busy to get them off to a good start.

But this is Manager Tools, and there's a right way. As we like to say, here's how. 


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This cast concludes our guidance on how to write a job advertisement.

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This cast gives our guidance on how to write a job advertisement.

Writing job advertisements is a job which managers love to delegate. They think it involves creativity and therefore must be difficult and takes lots of time they don't have. Like everything, those of us who have written lots of advertisements know there is a formula.

Once you know how, it's easy.

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This cast concludes our conversation on a more effective way to set standards for getting one of your directs promoted.

1. The Manager Tools Promotion Standard: 150% of Their Existing Job
   1. 100% of Their Job – Top Performance
   2. 50% of Your Job – Grow-ability
2. Here's How:
   1. Delegate
   2. Look For Visibility
   3. Coach on The 50%
   4. Consider Reassigning Responsibilities
3. This is a VERY High Standard – Few Meet It

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This cast describes a more effective way to set standards for getting one of your directs promoted.

Not everyone wants to get promoted. That's fine – not everyone can. It's not just that there aren't enough slots – the pyramid gets narrower at the top. It's also that some folks have reached the reasonable extent of their desire and abilities. You might expect Manager Tools to say that the direct who wants to get promoted but can't is the biggest development or career tragedy in organizations today. But that one comes in second.

The biggest tragedy is managers who won't get them ready to be promoted. It's our job as managers to develop our folks. When someone has the ability and desire, we fail the organization (not just the direct) when we don't do what we can to help them achieve what they want. Lest you think we want this to be all about the direct, think again: a direct capable of and willing to do more? Here inside our company, where internal salary compression makes them cheaper, their knowledge makes them smarter, and their network gives them monetizable goodwill? The manager who doesn't cultivate this candidate reminds us of the old joke about sailing: if you want to see what it's like, stand fully clothed in a cold shower and tear up $20 bills. Managers who don't get those who are able ready to be promoted might as well tear up thousand dollar bills.

Here's how to think about start getting your directs ready so that when there is an opening, they will have already won it.

1. The Manager Tools Promotion Standard: 150% of Their Existing Job
   1. 100% of Their Job – Top Performance
   2. 50% of Your Job – Grow-ability
2. Here's How:
   1. Delegate
   2. Look For Visibility
   3. Coach on The 50%
   4. Consider Reassigning Responsibilities
3. This is a VERY High Standard – Few Meet It

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This cast concludes our conversation on how to increase the chances that you will get to hire your favorite candidate when he or she has to interview elsewhere in the organization.

1. Your Boss is RIGHT To Pass Judgment
2. Brief Your Candidate On Your Boss
3. Describe What Your Boss's Interview Will Be Like
4. Provide Feedback on How Your Candidate Did With You
5. Practice Interviewing With Your Candidate
6. Don't Forget to Review QUESTIONS As Well As Answers
7. Require Thank You Notes, Follow Up, and Communication

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This cast describes how to increase the chances that you will get to hire your favorite candidate when he or she has to interview elsewhere in the organization.

There are a number of times and places and processes where it's amazing how easy it is to be more effective than almost everyone else as a manager. We've said several times that in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. We don't want the state of management to be so underpowered, but it is, and we're not afraid of being blunt about it.

And when the opportunity for an EASY win is in the most important thing a manager does, it's doubly frustrating to not take advantage of some simple improvements. It's one of those areas we think of as a professional sin.

Do we have your attention? Important AND easy to change? Our kind of stuff. What we're talking about here is helping your favorite candidate get hired. Why is it that so many of us as managers find someone we really like, and then we don't do anything to help them get over any hurdles that yet remain? We've heard too many stories of managers either (a) wanting to hire someone and not getting them because THEIR boss didn't agree, or even worse (b), getting someone they DON'T want because the boss didn't like their choice and chose someone ELSE. OUCH.

For the record, this cast will focus on just the "boss" side of this. Lest you doubt it, when you want to hire a candidate, we recommend you also help them be well perceived and received by your directs and the rest of your organization. Their peers and their directs will play a huge role in any candidate's success as a team member. And the boss does too…here's how to make that work.

1. Your Boss is RIGHT To Pass Judgment
2. Brief Your Candidate On Your Boss
3. Describe What Your Boss's Interview Will Be Like
4. Provide Feedback on How Your Candidate Did With You
5. Practice Interviewing With Your Candidate
6. Don't Forget to Review QUESTIONS As Well As Answers
7. Require Thank You Notes, Follow Up, and Communication

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This cast describes how big to size a team when forming it.

We get asked all the time, what's the ideal size for a team to be? The simple answer is that there's no ideal size – it depends on a lot of factors. But, we realize that when we get asked, someone's probably got to form a team to accomplish something, and so our answer, though right, isn't initially helpful. The question probably ought to be, "how big should I make this team I'm forming ..."

If you've got to form a team, and are wondering how to do it, this cast starts our answer by giving guidance about how big it should be.

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This cast describes how to delegate running your staff meeting as part of succession planning. 

One of the mistakes that a lot of us make as managers is thinking of all the things we have to do when it comes to management, and getting overwhelmed. Meetings, developing our team, annual reviews, coaching, goal setting, succession planning, promotions…and that's without thinking about our NON managerial responsibilities.

But we're making it too hard. All of the above boils down to performance management. How can we get the most out of our team, to deliver the most value for the organization? How can we improve productivity? Why not combine succession planning, performance improvement, and delegation with one less meeting to manage? Here's how.

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