Manager by Design Year in Review: Top Article Series (part 2)
As we close out the year, here are the top series of articles published by Manager by Design in 2010. Check out part one here.
Providing Expectations:
Providing expectations sets the bar for what you and your team need to do, and how to get it done. Yet it is an ignored art. Here are some articles on the art of providing expectations:
The art of providing expectations: Get input and the earlier the better
The art of providing expectations: Tie the expectations to the larger strategy
Examples of providing expectations to your team
Examples of using expectations to improve your performance feedback
The Value of Providing Expectations: Positive reinforcement proliferates
Performance feedback is a means to improve your expectation-providing skills
Behavior-based language:
Managers need to check their usage of language to focus on behaviors. This doesn’t necessarily come naturally. Here is primer on using behavior-based language.
Behavior-based language primer for managers: How to tell if you are using behavior-based language
Behavior-based language primer for managers: Avoid using value judgments
Behavior-based language primer for managers: Stop using generalizations
How to use behavior-based language to lead to evaluation and feedback
Behavior-based language primer: Steps and Examples of replacing using adverbs
Managing from a deficit:
When one is an individual contributor, it’s generally easy to figure out when you are falling behind. But it isn’t so easy when you’re a manager. These articles focus on the moments that might reveal you’re managing from a deficit, and could benefit from changing your management practices.
The manager who yells is managing from a deficit
Check your usage of the word “just.” It could mean you’re managing from a deficit
What it really means when a manager swings by and asks, “You doing OK?”
Five tips for reducing drama on your team
If you’re the manager, it’s your job not to act surprised
Managers behaving badly: Training the team not to report bad news
What to do when you see a status or metric as “Red”
Keep reading the Manager by Design blog for tips on people management and team management. Happy new year and see you in 2011!
Manager by Design Year in Review: Top Article Series (part 1)
As we close out the year, here are the top series of articles published by Manager by Design in 2010.
Providing Positive Reinforcement:
A manager needs to provide positive reinforcement to encourage that employees keep doing the things that are going well, and perhaps do more of the things that work, and less the things that don’t. Here are the Manager by Design articles related to Positive Reinforcement:
Examples of when to offer thanks and when to offer praise
“Thanks for your Hard Work” vs. “Thanks for your Good Work”
The Value of Providing Expectations: Positive reinforcement proliferates
Managers should provide focus on what’s going right and reward those behaviors
An example of tracking positive performance and praise of an employee in an employee performance log
Getting started on a performance log – stick with the praise
Using a Performance Log:
So many things happen when managing, it’s easy to forget what happened. Or worse, it’s easy to remember the things that don’t matter as much. What does matter is the performance of the employees. Here are tips on keeping a performance log. Remember — it should include the good stuff your employees are doing!
Helpful tip for managers: Keep a performance log
Important fields that an employee performance log should contain – Beginner Level
Important fields that an employee performance log should contain – Intermediate Level
Important fields that an employee performance log should contain – Advanced Level
Keeping a performance log – why not?
An example of tracking positive performance and praise of an employee in an employee performance log
Getting started on a performance log – stick with the praise
An example of how to use a log to track performance of an employee
Meetings:
Managers get invited to meetings all the time. They also invite a lot of people to meetings too. This means that meetings are important. So what makes a good meeting? Here are some articles by Manager by Design on the topic:
Criteria to generate a virtuous cycle for meetings
A leading indicator for team performance: Chart your meeting quality
Nine simple tips to make meetings more compelling
Making it a mandatory meeting sabotages the meeting
More reasons mandatory meetings are bad for you and bad for your team
How to get out of what seem to be useless meetings
How to get out of really useless meetings
Happy New Year from Manager by Design!
