This cast describes the first principle of how to develop subordinate managers - Measure Basic Behaviors.

One of the many ideas that hurts us managers is the fallacy that management is about personality. Just think about it for a second. Don't you know at least one good manager who is outgoing, energetic and a persuasive speaker? And then another good manager who is reserved, quiet and communicates little? Of course you do. The diversity of good managers' personalities gives the lie to the fallacy, yet it still persists.

Further, this idea promotes the belief that management is both unteachable AND individually based. Both are wrong, and counter to good management practices and development. But management IS teachable, and if we have managers working for us, we're obligated to teach it. But how?

1. It's Okay To Ask Others To Behave The Way You Do
2. Ask for Those Specific Behaviors
3. Measure What You Ask For

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This cast describes a technique for measuring your team and/or organization's ability to recognize talent.

Many managers mistakenly fail to connect the process of hiring with the later successes and failures of the organization. When someone doesn't work out, particularly if it's 3-5 years after they were hired, very few managers think that the problem started when they were being interviewed. But the fact is, just like our elected leaders in a democracy, we get the people we deserve. If we hired them, we MUST have wanted them?

Mark recently blogged with our first ever management koan, "What Would An Effective Manager Do?" It was clearly a big hit - we got 45 responses within 2-3 days.

No, I'm not sharing the answer yet.

So, you're a manager, and you've got a boss and a team. Let's assume for a moment that all of your responsibilities - your goals and objectives, rolling up all your tasks, can be represented by a bucket of balls (as in, "juggling a lot of balls.").

Today, we finish up our series on building a sense of urgency in your team.

Here's a brief outline of the Sense of Urgency series:

1. Ask the right questions
2. State the deadline ... don't ask
3. Know how to combat bad answers
4. Accelerate all deadlines
5. Use passive updating
6. Feedback every time ...
   

You know you're a manager - really, truly in a role of managing others - when you get frustrated that things don't happen as fast as they used to. "Gosh, why don't they GET IT? Can't they SEE what kind of pressure we are (I AM) under?" What is taking SO *(@((&$^*@^Q@*#% LONG?"

That's what all that extra pay is for. ;-)

If you've wondered whether it's just YOUR team, it's NOT. We find a lack of a sense of urgency to be pandemic. Most managers spend time complaining about this very thing when we coach them.

One of our most popular podcasts - and it was actually a series of casts - were titled "The Efficient Assistant and The Effective Executive". We laid out a plan for having a great relationship with one's assistant, and we get comments and mails almost every day from managers and executives thanking us for sharing what their firm never did.

This week, we finish (finally!) our series on working effectively with administrative assistants.

Also, for all of those who went to Podcast Alley and voted for Manager Tools, thank you very much! We achieved a long-held objective of getting in the Top 10 list of all podcasts. We don't know how long we'll stay there ... but we're enjoying the moment. And we owe that to all our friends here on Manager Tools. Thank You!

This week, we continue our series on working effectively with administrative assistants. Given that this is part 2 of 3 parts, we've obviously had a lot to discuss on the subject.

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