“Manager Tools® Saved My Business”

Back in November 2013, I was probably at the lowest ebb I have ever been in my professional life. I am a small business owner, with two partners, and there had been some issues within our partnership which had caused a lot of stress and anxiety over the previous six months. In addition to those problems, our small team was suffering from a lack of leadership and was pretty unproductive as a result. In a nutshell, the future was not looking bright for the business.
 
I am not a natural manager, and have never had any formal training, but I knew that the future of the business was in doubt if I couldn’t find a way forward. I tried reading various books on management but either I was reading the wrong ones, or they weren’t giving me the kind of actionable guidance I was looking for. Almost in desperation, one day I Googled ‘Podcasts for management training’ and Manager Tools appeared at the top of the list.
 
I started by downloading a couple of podcasts to see what they were like.  As soon as I started listening to one I knew I had struck gold. This was what I was looking for – clear, actionable guidance for managers who want to do a better job with their team. Over the next few weeks I listened to all of the ‘Basics’ podcasts, and by the end of the year I had written up a formal proposal to present at our January board meeting for rolling out the Trinity during the course of 2014. My proposal was accepted, and following MT’s guidelines I embarked on rolling out the Trinity during that year.
 
I’m pretty sure there was a healthy dose of scepticism from the team at the outset. Rolling out ‘new initiatives’ was something they had seen many times before, without much in the way of positive results for them. However, to their credit they were willing to give this a shot. It really didn’t take very long before they realised the huge benefits of the One on Ones.  Within a couple of months they all had detailed Personal Development Plans and knew that I would be coaching them to help them achieve their goals. The introduction of feedback was as awkward as MT warn you it will be, but I cannot stress highly enough its value. Like a lot of MT managers, I know I don’t give enough feedback, but I’m learning.
 
Fast forward to July 2015 and the team has been transformed. We work as a very tight unit, with everyone supporting everyone else. The whole ethos of our business has become much more collaborative, and the difference in terms of productivity and the effectiveness of the team has been remarkable to witness. I honestly had no idea our team could be this good with the right management!
 
Best of all, I have developed great relationships with my team, and I know them a lot better than previously. I look forward to our O3s each week and hearing about what is going on in their lives (something I never thought I would say as a High D, High C!). The added benefit is that the time I allocate to doing the O3s is repaid many times over by the reduction in ‘ad hoc’ queries I had to deal with on a daily basis before – partly because they now save their queries for their O3, and partly because having delegated more responsibility to them and empowered them to do their jobs more effectively they no longer have the need to come to me with the same kinds of queries.
 
When I started out down this road I never could have imagined the difference Manager Tools would make to both my team and the business as a whole. As an unexpected additional benefit, MT has taught me not just how to be a more effective manager, but also how to be a better business owner. As a result of that the partnership issues have now been resolved and the future for my business looks bright and exciting.
 
— Carolyn Gowen