How to create a dead-simple Succession Planning Form.

If you want to be good at succession planning, it’s an ongoing process. In our first cast in this series, we told you to get started, just think about who’s ready now, and who’s ready next, and if nothing else, write them down on a napkin. Here’s a really good napkin that will impress your boss.

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Our guidance on how to create a 90 day new job plan.

‘What will you do in your first 90 days’ is a common interview question – especially at mid and more senior levels. Whilst we can console ourselves that the Manager Tools guidance ‘fit in, fit in, fit in’ is right, interviewers tend to want to hear about action. Many of you want to take action too. So, okay, we give in. In this series, we’re giving you the areas where you can take action. In this cast: your role.

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This guidance tells you how to potentially get some informal self development guidance from your manager by asking three simple questions.

Almost every manager wants more performance communications from their boss. But very few bosses give it. If you’re a manager, and you have thoughts about further managerial roles or executive life, what can you do to politely and professionally get some insight into what your boss thinks about your abilities?

Ask her three simple questions.

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Our guidance on how to create a 90 day new job plan.

‘What will you do in your first 90 days’ is a common interview question – especially at mid and more senior levels. Whilst we can console ourselves that the Manager Tools guidance ‘fit in, fit in, fit in’ is right, interviewers tend to want to hear about action. Many of you want to take action too. So, okay, we give in. In this cast, we’re going to give you an overview of the areas you can take action in. In follow up casts over time, we’ll fill in the detail.

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Our guidance on having a notebook and pen with you at all times, and what to do with it.

Years ago, Wendii was responsible for the 'work experience boy'. In the UK, 14/15/16 year olds spend a week or two weeks in whatever employment they can find, called work experience. Usually, they have a parent or a parent's friend in the organization they end up at. This teenage boy came into the office on his first day, and Wendii gave him a notepad and pen, showed him where he was going to sit and so on. Then it came time to start describing the work he was going to do. His first question? "Do I need to write this down?".

He was 14 or 15. He can be forgiven not knowing that he should have a pen and notepad with him. He can be forgiven not knowing when to start writing – since in school, he would have been told: "write this down". However, if you're permanently in the workforce, your exemption is gone. So, what kind of notebook and pen, and when to use it?

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This guidance completes our discussion on how to handle your lunch hour.

This may not make sense to a lot of folks, us talking about how to eat lunch. But the fact is, we all do it almost every day at work. If you do take a full hour, that's roughly 10% or maybe even 15% of your day as a manager or professional. That's a huge part of everyone's day. But, for many of us, our approach to it is rooted in how we had lunch at home as kids, or in school. That makes no sense for the busy professional today.

Suppose your boss takes a 45 minute lunch break most days between 1230 and 115. Should you eat then too, or eat at a different time? Should we eat a big meal, or a small one? I'm so busy…should I work through lunch, at my desk?

In a way, lunch at work is like email: we learned how to eat before we became professionals, and we learned how to communicate before we started doing email. And in both cases we probably have some bad habits worth pruning.

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This guidance describes how to handle your lunch hour.

This may not make sense to a lot of folks, us talking about how to eat lunch. But the fact is, we all do it almost every day at work. If you do take a full hour, that's roughly 10% or maybe even 15% of your day as a manager or professional. That's a huge part of everyone's day. But, for many of us, our approach to it is rooted in how we had lunch at home as kids, or in school. That makes no sense for the busy professional today.

Suppose your boss takes a 45 minute lunch break most days between 1230 and 115. Should you eat then too, or eat at a different time? Should we eat a big meal, or a small one? I'm so busy…should I work through lunch, at my desk?

In a way, lunch at work is like email: we learned how to eat before we became professionals, and we learned how to communicate before we started doing email. And in both cases we probably have some bad habits worth pruning.

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This cast concludes (Part 4 of 4) our guidance on how to respond when, through any number of factors, you and your team are OVERWHELMED with lots of new work. Perhaps it's a layoff, perhaps it's a re-organization, perhaps it's because you're GOOD. Regardless, what do you DO??

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This cast continues (Part 3 of 4) our guidance on how to respond when, through any number of factors, you and your team are OVERWHELMED with lots of new work. Perhaps it's a layoff, perhaps it's a re-organization, perhaps it's because you're GOOD. Regardless, what do you DO??

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This cast continues our guidance on how to respond when, through any number of factors, you and your team are OVERWHELMED with lots of new work. Perhaps it's a layoff, perhaps it's a re-organization, perhaps it's because you're GOOD. Regardless, what do you DO??

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