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 continues our discussion on whom to coach and develop on your team with your marginal time.

If you only have a limited amount of time, whom should you coach? This is a question we get all the time. What if I've got a weak performer? Don't I have to work to get him up to speed? What do I do when the time I spend with a weak performer cuts into my time with everyone else?

These are really good questions. They address the inherent challenges of growing the productivity of your team, AND the issue of there never being enough time to do it. So, before we go any further, let's be clear: if these are the questions you're asking yourself, you're thinking the right way and wrestling with the right kinds of questions.

The problem with these questions is that if the average manager asks her peer a couple of cubes over, and that fellow manager really doesn't know what HE is doing either.

So let's answer the Coaching Dilemma problem once and for all.

  [Play in Popup]

This guidance describes whom to coach and develop on your team with your marginal time.

If you only have a limited amount of time, whom should you coach? This is a question we get all the time. What if I've got a weak performer? Don't I have to work to get him up to speed? What do I do when the time I spend with a weak performer cuts into my time with everyone else?

These are really good questions. They address the inherent challenges of growing the productivity of your team, AND the issue of there never being enough time to do it. So, before we go any further, let's be clear: if these are the questions you're asking yourself, you're thinking the right way and wrestling with the right kinds of questions.

The problem with these questions is that if the average manager asks her peer a couple of cubes over, and that fellow manager really doesn't know what HE is doing either.

So let's answer the Coaching Dilemma problem once and for all.

  [Play in Popup]

A short (8 min) extra cast where Mark introduces the Coaching Dilemma and solicits YOUR responses. What do you think is the correct answer to the dilemma?

  [Play in Popup]

This cast helps you create a development plan for yourself.

One of the most common themes in the questions we get is 'I want to move from where I am, to where I want to be, how do I do it? Whether the person is talking about promotion, a sideways move or a career change the steps are essentially the same. Companies used to do this for us. In some companies there are still structured career paths and structured moves, especially at the lowest levels and in senior management. Often though, the company is small and doesn't have a method for developing staff. Or you're stuck in a wasteland, somewhere between the plant floor and an office of your own.

So, assuming that your company isn't going to do it for you (and why would you rely on someone or something else to control your career, even if they were willing) what do you do?

  [Play in Popup]

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

  [Play in Popup]

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? Right?

Somehow, though, this kind of analysis is never done. While it's probably not terribly helpful for those who leave the company after 20 years, there ought to be a way to evaluate managers' abilities to find and hire good, talented people ("talent") for the company.

And now there is: The Manager Tools Talent Scouting Average.

  [Play in Popup]

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.").