Our guidance on how to know when to end a conversation with a senior person.

We see a lot of advice about asking for informational interviews or talking to more senior people in your company about how to get ahead. We don’t disagree with the advice in general – the problem is it’s always given from the point of view of the person who wants something, and rarely takes into account what the senior person in the conversation might want or need.

If the conversation doesn’t go well, then you may not be able to use that relationship to get more information in the future. One of the tricks to having it go well, is knowing when to end it. In this cast, we’ll tell you how to know when.

  [Play in Popup]

This guidance recommends a standing ground rule at all meetings: No “buts,” only “and”.

The most frequent behavior we all engage in at work is communication. And, for most of us, we don’t think about it much. We were never really “taught” how to communicate, though we did “learn” it.

This creates problems for us at work, though. We “learned” when we weren’t in a professional environment. And the professional environment requires us to work in close proximity to others. We bring our “learned” behaviors. They bring theirs. Thus, conflict. It’s time to start learning new behaviors.

  [Play in Popup]

Our guidance how to deal with not being promoted, when your former team member is now your boss.

One of the most requested Manager Tools casts was ‘How To Manage a Disgruntled, Non-Promoted Direct’. The cast was written for new managers whose former peers were struggling with the new relationship.

But what if you’re the person who wasn’t promoted. How do you deal with your own feelings and develop a new, productive, respectful, manager-direct relationship?

  [Play in Popup]

This cast concludes our guidance on how to run a Routine Town Hall Meeting for your organization.

We've talked many times about the importance of managerial communications. Our sample communications plan is one of the more requested documents from us. It shows what we recommend a typical manager do in terms of regular comms with her team, using different media and different frequencies and covering different topics.

And, we've mentioned many times Horstman's Law of Organizational Communications: Say something 7 times and half of your people will say they've heard it once. Every organization has its own sandpaper, rubbing away at your meaning.

One way to reach further down and have more control of your message is to conduct a Town Hall meeting. This is the final meeting that Manager Tools would consider "routine", though it's certainly not frequent. It's in the line of Weekly One on Ones, Weekly Staff Meetings, and periodic Skip Levels.

  [Play in Popup]

This guidance describes how to run a Routine Town Hall Meeting for your organization.

We've talked many times about the importance of managerial communications. Our sample communications plan is one of the more requested documents from us. It shows what we recommend a typical manager do in terms of regular comms with her team, using different media and different frequencies and covering different topics.

And, we've mentioned many times Horstman's Law of Organizational Communications: Say something 7 times and half of your people will say they've heard it once. Every organization has its own sandpaper, rubbing away at your meaning.

One way to reach further down and have more control of your message is to conduct a Town Hall meeting. This is the final meeting that Manager Tools would consider "routine", though it's certainly not frequent. It's in the line of Weekly One on Ones, Weekly Staff Meetings, and periodic Skip Levels.

  [Play in Popup]

The conclusion of our guidance on how to interview when the interview is conducted over Skype.

We have been getting questions about Skype interviews for some time, and the incidence of this type of interview will only get more frequent as time goes on. Whilst tele-conference interviews never became as common as was predicted – it was much harder to schedule and the technology was and remained much more expensive than expected – Skype is cheaper and easier to use. In addition, most of us have a computer at home which will run Skype, and most of us have webcams. Therefore, companies can expect the interviewee to have the requisite equipment at home, and that requesting a Skype interview doesn't cause an unnecessary burden.

So having put forward a case that you're likely to be asked to a Skype interview – and even more likely in the future, what do you need to do?

  [Play in Popup]

Our guidance on how to interview when the interview is conducted over Skype.

We have been getting questions about Skype interviews for some time, and the incidence of this type of interview will only get more frequent as time goes on. Whilst tele-conference interviews never became as common as was predicted – it was much harder to schedule and the technology was and remained much more expensive than expected – Skype is cheaper and easier to use. In addition, most of us have a computer at home which will run Skype, and most of us have webcams. Therefore, companies can expect the interviewee to have the requisite equipment at home, and that requesting a Skype interview doesn't cause an unnecessary burden.

So having put forward a case that you're likely to be asked to a Skype interview – and even more likely in the future, what do you need to do?

  [Play in Popup]

This guidance recommends having any of your directs who present, and maybe even yourself, join and attend a Toastmasters Chapter.

We don't often recommend external sources for managerial development, but it's hard not to just bow low to an organization as effective a tool for managers as Toastmasters is. Toastmasters is probably the most effective quasi-professional member-driven voluntary organization we know of.

And why Toastmasters? Because presenting matters, and most of us just aren't very good at it. That said, it's not as if we're all naturally born with the skill, or that we're taught it well. Some schools in the US have started students presenting more…but there's very little instruction on it. (To be fair, though, let's not go the other way and just teach it without having young people do lots of presenting.)

A brief definition for those of you unfamiliar with Toastmasters International: TI is an international organization dedicated to helping people become effective presenters and communicators. There are over a quarter of a million active members all over the world, who generally meet in weekly or bi-weekly meetings. There are HUNDREDS of chapters in most of the major cities in the US. Over 200 in Chicago. There are 12 in Paris, and 25 in London. It's an incredibly LOCAL organization – local chapters meet and practice speaking, and that's about it. You go to TI to become a better presenter and communicator. There aren't service projects which are a big push for you to be "more involved." There are some small fees, and it's unlikely that you as a manager couldn't afford paying yourself for your team, let alone having your company do so.

The modern workplace has become much less vertical and formal than it used to be. More folks are expected to be able to present at all levels. (It used to be 95% of all presenters were managers). More folks know that they have to manage their own careers. Not as many know that results are where their career marketing starts…but surely folks know that others' impressions of them matter a great deal.

If you have directs who present, it's your job as a manager to help those directs be effective when they do it.


  [Play in Popup]

This cast concludes our guidance on how to stay up to date on what's going on in your company.

One of the skills which separates the successful from the non-successful is their connectedness. They know what's going on in the company and therefore where the opportunities are. It's not all achieved by networking, though there is no such thing as too much networking. In part, it's achieved by knowing what questions to ask of whom.

That means reading and thinking about the information which is available.

  [Play in Popup]

This cast gives our guidance on how to stay up to date on what's going on in your company.

One of the skills which separates the successful from the non-successful is their connectedness. They know what's going on in the company and therefore where the opportunities are. It's not all achieved by networking, though there is no such thing as too much networking. In part, it's achieved by knowing what questions to ask of whom.

That means reading and thinking about the information which is available.

  [Play in Popup]