The ABC in Brisbane Likes Us….

Posted on 14. May, 2006 by Wayne in General

Folks, a reviewer for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Brisbane, Australia reviewed a number of TPN shows… listen to what he had to say about The Cranky Middle Manager….

Cranky Middle Manager
Blurb: We’ve all had to deal with middle management at one time or another, but what about being a middle manager? The name of this show gives it all away – “The Cranky Middle Manager Show”. Wayne Turmel takes a light-hearted look at the in’s & out’s of Middle management, with some interesting interviews and commentary on the modern culture of our managers. As Wayne himself says – “If you ever feel stuck between the idiots that make the decisions and the morons who won’t do as they’re told, this is the show for you.”
Episodes: 46
Web: http://cmm.thepodcastnetwork.com/
Subscribe: http://cmm.thepodcastnetwork.com/feed/
Jo’s Rating: Refreshing and fun! A new look at a tired and weary job description… Wayne is hilarious, the content is interesting, and the talent well qualified to talk.

Congratulations to Cameron Reilly who besides hosting G’Day World and the Napoleon 101 podcast is the founder and head zoo keeper at TPN as well as to  Des at the Applied Karate show. Seems TPN is putting out lots of good stuff these days.

 A big thanks to Jo Leutton for exhibiting such excellent taste!
 

The Cranky Middle Manager Show #47 Working With You is Killing Me

Posted on 14. May, 2006 by Wayne in Podcast

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Cranky Middle Manager Show #047

Hi everyone. Welcome to another edition of the show. Today we talk about trying to work with people who are just plain obnoxious. For some reason, the folks I work with say I should be paying attention to this topic. Who knew?

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show.It’s all about getting along with your co-workers. The show is dedicated to the Grimke sisters, Angelina and Sarah. When you can tick off the Quakers you’ve got issues, still they got the job done.

2:09 Napoleon Bonaparte knew a thing or two about fighting. It’s the little things that lead to the big blowups people.

3:40 Welcome Kathi Elster and Katherine Crowley, authors of Working With You is Killing Me- Freeing Yourself From Emotional Traps at Work. Why is this a business problem and not just a personal issue?

8:00 “The 4 Ds”- Detect,Detach, Depersonalize, and Deal

14:34 Managing Up- managing a Toxic Manager. Meet with this person a lot- really, and it’s your responsibility. Keep your finger on the pulse of your boss’ priorities. Anticipate problems and offer solutions and be prepared to offer updates on your projects. It’s all about adding value. Rajesh Setty talked about Return on Investment on the Interaction in Show 44. A theme developing?

21:26 What about my team and the folks who work for me? The ladies refer to it as Business Parenting- one of the more truthful titles I’ve heard lately.

• Do your employees know what you expect of them?
• Give consistent feedback
• Employees are going to test their environment- deal with it
• Use your business tools and documents to manage

25:30 Resources

The Shrink (Katherine) recommends The Dance of Anger and Why Men Never Remember and Women Never Forget, the more Hardboiled Business Type (Kathi) suggests the World is Flat and Tipping Point.

That’s it for this week. Don’t let the weasels get you down.

The Cranky Middle Manager Show #46- Engaging Employees with George Reavis

Posted on 10. May, 2006 by Wayne in Podcast

 Standard Podcast [32:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Cranky Middle Manager Show #046

Today we talk engaging employees- keeping their heads in the game, their noses to the grindstone, looking like they give what my grandmother would call a horse’s patoot about their customers, their jobs and you as their manager. Oh yeah, and how are YOU doing staying engaged?

We talk to George Reavis- long time listener of this show and brains behind Thankingcustomers.com.

SHOW NOTES

0:00 Welcome to the show. Employee engagement is usually our responsibility if not our fault. How do we do it? We’ll discuss George’s 5-point plan for keeping employees engaged.

1:59 The ultimate example of a leader keeping his people engaged: King Leonidas leading 300 Spartans against 10,000 Persians and holding them off for three days.I can’t get my team to bring decent potato salad to the pot-luck Spring lunch.

3:25 The quote of the week talks about duty- one we sometimes forget is our job too…Just a chance to plug Robert Louis Stevenson- one of my favorite writers.

4:43 Welcome George Reavis. Why is engagement such a big deal? Well, he defines it as “involved with heart and mind”. Yeah, no challenge there.. It starts with engaging front line employees, or associates.

7:25 Take a look around your workplace. Odds are:

• a third of employees are engaged
• about half are neutral, they’re not engaged but they’re getting through
• about 20 percent are actively disengaged

12:18 Engaged customers re-engage employees. There are 3 behaviors engaged people demonstrate:

• intention, which creates commitment
• reflection, am I thinking about what I’m doing which leads to learning
• attention, which leads to focus

19:36 The 5 step process. Line managers are guides, the middle managers are co-ordinators. Take a look at this graphic from his website, which will help explain what we’re talking about.

28:30 Which part of this process do managers do well and which is more of a car wreck? Probably “inviting” and “asking”.

Cool Links

George’s books including “Propel Frontline Leaders”

A Free E-book and course called “5 steps for Group Leaders to Engage Everyone”

A Free Pamphlet called “Building a Cycle of Engagement in Daily Activities”

George’s Squidoo Lens on involving hearts and minds.

That’s it gang, don’t forget to check out the archives by month, check out our frappr map and leave a message via Odeo. Why do you listen? What do you want to hear? Why won’t Tom Peters return my emails? Ah, the questions of life…….

Don’t let the weasels get you down.Â

Â

Â

Another Reason We Do What We Do Here

Posted on 04. May, 2006 by Wayne in General

If you’d like to know why I put this show together- and I suspect why you listen- check this out from www.management-issues.com:
Increased anger and loss of humour amongst people in the workplace are just two of the knock-on effects that businesses now have to deal with due to poor workplace health, according to new research.

The ‘Quality of Working Life’ report published by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and Workplace Health Connect uncovers a high number of physical and psychological symptoms and highlights the impact these have on business performance.
The survey questioned 1,541 managers in the UK revealing a poor picture of health, with only half believing they are currently in ‘good’ health.
Four out of 10 (43 per cent) admitted to feeling or becoming angry with others too easily and nearly a third (31 per cent) confessed to a loss of humour creating workplace pressures. READ MORE HERE.

One of the ways the weasels get us down is to suck all the fun out of things. LAUGH AT ‘EM! It only makes them crazier.