The Manager's Resource Handbook
Tools, Resources and Guides for Managers and Business Leaders. Real Advice from Real Bosses.
How to Improve Communication in Your Business It was a game I played as a youngster; we called it ‘telephone.’ It was the game where students sat around in a circle whispering a message into the ear of the person beside them. When the last person got the message, he or she would say the message out loud. Naturally, after 30
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Managing Employees Who Are Older Than You I first began managing other people in my mid 20’s. I worked at a Fortune 500 company with over 150,000 employees and was given a small team to lead. Of the five team members, most were close to me in age, and whom I had few concerns as their supervisor. Then there was
» Read more Does Admitting Your Mistakes Make You a Bad Manager? A hot-tempered conference call had just ended. I stepped out of my office to get some fresh air. At the water cooler I ran into a peer, a fellow manager, who had also been on the conference call. “Wow, that was intense” she said. “Yeah. I don’t get why he just won’t let it
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How to Manage Change in Business Everyday, our industry and market changes. Our staff will change. And leaders of our organizations move on, and new ones take their place. All of this forces us as business leaders to constantly keep tabs on our organization to make sure things run smoothly. Unfortunately, with such dynamics many businesses
» Read more How Operating Procedures Can Reduce Competitive Advantage Every business wants financial growth that is stable, predictable and comes with minimal risk. This desire, though, goes against the age-old adage that says the higher one’s risk, the greater the potential reward. Ultimately, every business must strike balance on a sliding scale between the profit reward it seeks and the risk it is will willing
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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
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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
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“Unlike pizza toppings, more marketing is not always better.” I heard this phrase on a radio show not too long ago, and thought it was a stroke of genius. There are a myriad of marketing channels out there, some free, some expensive. Marketing exists in a variety of forms such as radio ads, clever roadside billboards, or simply the printed
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How to Estimate Hours for a New Project How many times have you been asked the question “It’s going to take you how long?” when you present an estimate of hours required for a new project? Regardless of whether it is your customer or a fellow manager, the conversation is often the same. As the expert, you anticipate the project will
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Every year, companies establish goals and objectives for their business. Some firms may plan further out – as far as 5 years – in order to obtain a certain sales targets and other corporate metrics. Unfortunately, many businesses stop there and lack a strategy for how they will actually achieve the goals. As a result, the lofty numbers on the
» Read more How to Change the Culture of a Team Two years ago, I took the management role for an organization of about 40 people. My predecessor had been asked to leave the business as the team’s performance had gradually been on the decline. My task was to turn the team organization around – no small feat as an outsider to the organization
» Read more How to Communicate Your Value Proposition to Customers Companies compete on a daily basis for a finite amount of sales and revenue in the market. Whether we are a small business, a conglomerate, a B2B or B2C firm, we all have competitors. As we chase the next sale, the next contract or the next service appointment, though, there are ways of
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Basic Lessons in Customer Service When it comes to working with customers, there are numerous ways to make a lasting impression that will bring them back to you time and time again. Sometimes a friendly tone of voice over the phone is all it takes to win a customer over. Perhaps your quick response time is all the customer needs
» Read more I recently sat through a regional meeting for a large corporation, during which a series of presentations were made. At the conclusion of the meeting, the regional manager got up to share a short set of slides that were presented at the annual corporate summit she had recently attended. The company has been undergoing a series of transformations
» Read more 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
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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
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What is the Difference Between Management and Leadership? Much has been written about the difference between managers and leaders. It’s an important discussion because they are in fact, not the same thing. Further, a conversation explaining the difference between management and leadership to our employees can greatly benefit an up-and-coming staffer, who is considering future positions in your organization. Let’s take
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I recently read a newspaper article about World Cup football, which was great because it listed all the funny pairings of nations in various matches. The article went into detail about various styles of play, which got me thinking about how such different countries work together. Having spent most of my career working overseas with clients and colleagues, I have witnessed
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How to Create Business Metrics Our world revolves metrics. Businesses track financial investments to see how they grow. Professional and weekend runners alike continually push themselves to shave seconds of the time it takes them to run a mile. And some people monitor their vehicle’s gas mileage to help determine when they need an oil change. Metrics, after all, are used to measure
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A recent article by Professor Karan Girotra at INSEAD University discusses 4 myths to a technology growth strategy. The entire article is a great read, but Myth 1 “It’s about a BIG idea” caught my attention. Having spent my career in the technology and engineering fields, I’ve seen several different approaches to technology growth. In some instances, the growth strategy could be described
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