12 Tips for Writing a Better Email

how to write better email

Manager’s Guide to Better Email Writing Even in the age of Facebook, Twitter and text messaging, email is still at the core of modern business communication.  We use email to communicate to our customers, our suppliers, our employees and our superiors.  We use it to send mass-communication to our entire organization, and we use email to contact a single recipient.  Moreover, according

» Read more

20 Rookie Manager Mistakes You Want to Avoid

management mistakes to avoid

  Every manager has that first day on the job.  And no matter how many years of work experience he or she may have, most first-time managers quickly realize they have a lot to take in.  (We’ve all been there!)  As we learn, we are bound to have our screw ups, it’s normal.  The good news is that we can always

» Read more

Presentation Slides: They’re Just a Message Delivery System!

Example of a Busy Presentation Slide

Create Slides That Manage Your Message Every organization holds periodic management reviews of current programs, projects and initiatives.  We have all experienced them: we share the current financial outlook of a project compared to the initial plan, we identify any changes in strategic direction, and we highlight to the executives any new challenges that have emerged.  Of course, the overall intent of such internal reviews

» Read more

10 Secrets for New Managers

How to be a better manager

Settling In as a First-Time Boss For some new managers, the idea of giving performance reviews and being responsible for others can be intimidating.  For others, there are questions concerning how they manage people older than them, or fears of being accepted by their new team.  Though I’ve been managing teams for nearly two decades, I too, had these fears.  Bottom

» Read more

Why Making Your Employees Fail Makes You A Better Manager

managers resource handbook

How to Manage Arrogant Employees There is a reason why employee development is a constant topic among management teams.  After all, in addition to being responsible for getting a job done, we as managers are also tasked with the growth and development of our employees.  This part of the job, though, is especially hard when we have an arrogant employee who doesn’t

» Read more

Doing Martial Arts Today Can Make You a Better Manager

How to Manage in Chaos It was late on a Friday when an employee came by my office to check in before he left for the weekend.  The office was mostly empty by this point, and he was one of the last to leave.  It had been a busy week and we had hardly crossed paths over the previous five days.  This employee was one

» Read more

A Simple Tool to Drive Accountability and Alignment in an Organization

Managing metrics

How to Hold Employees Accountable and Get the Results You Need   Among the many challenges first-time managers and business leaders face, learning how to hold employees accountable is perhaps the most difficult skill to master.  Holding employees accountable is essential because the results managers are expected to deliver depend on the performance and contribution of their individual employees.  Thus, managers

» Read more

Restructuring Your Company: 5 Key Decisions

How to Restructure an Organization If you’ve ever been part of restructuring of an organization, you know that the very mention of it can induce a sense of worry.  Restructuring a company is tough and takes a great deal of careful planning.  Moreover, business renewal is never easy nor is it fun because big decisions need to be made that affect

» Read more

5 Tips for Managing Your Overseas Employees

Managing a Virtual Staff If you are a manager who spends a lot of time on the phone with your employees who sit nine time zones away, you’ve come to the right place.  These days, many managers find themselves responsible for employees overseas.  Whether these employees report directly to you, or to a local in-country manager, the challenges of working with remote workers are

» Read more

Run More Effective Meetings With The 3 “W”s

How to Assign Action Items in Meetings We are all accustomed to going to meetings where there is a lot of discussion and head nodding around the room.  After 60 minutes, there are jovial pats on the back as people leave the conference room; after all, there’s another meeting in there at the top of the hour.  But how many meetings

» Read more