Sneak Peek At the First “CMM” E-Book- Want to Help?

Posted on 15. Jun, 2006 by Wayne in General

This may be the single scariest moment since I’ve launched this show. I am about a month away from publishing my first “Cranky Middle Manager-branded E-Book- “Meet Like You Mean It- a Cranky Middle Manager’s Guide to Productive and Painless Meetings”. I’d like to invite a few of you, my audience, to give me some guidance.

I need some objective eyes to look at it- preferably someone I don’t know well. You, after all, are the target audience. Face it- if I ask my wife, she’ll say it’s brilliant. My daughter will think it sucks before she reads a word. My boss will probably fire me, sooooooooooooo….

The first 5 people to drop me an email and say you’re willing to read a draft and answer 5 very simple questions will get to look at it before the rest of the human race.

Depending on feedback nobody else may ever see it and it will be worth gazillions on eBay. Who knows?

5 Common Mistakes When Hiring Managers

Posted on 15. Jun, 2006 by Wayne in General

The folks at Right Management recently listed the most common mistakes employers make when hiring or promoting managers- any surprises?

1. Inadequately defining and evaluating critical roles
2. Insufficient grooming of high-potential types through coaching, mentoring and training
3. Overly subjective criteria and assessment tools
4. Too much focus on “competencies” rather than intangibles like teamwork and morale boosting
5. Giving inadequate consideration to outsiders

You can read the whole thing here…

So the biggest problems are not really defining the job ( because how many companies can actually tell you what their managers DO all day?) and not training people sufficiently (through any number of ways besides “training”).

 How is your organization tackling these problems? How many of you received a clear picture of what you were stepping into and were effectively trained to assume that position (as opposed to “assuming the position”, which is how most of us learned)?

I should never read stuff like this on days I’m frustrated with my day job……

The Cranky Middle Manager Show #50 Focus Like A Laser- Lisa Haneberg

Posted on 10. Jun, 2006 by Wayne in Podcast

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The Cranky Middle Manager Show #050

Welcome to the show. We talk to Lisa Haneberg from Management Craft about her new book, Focus Like a Laser Beam-10 Ways To Do What Matters Most.

Show Notes

0:00  Today’s show is dedicated to Simon de Montfort… a little focus might have kept him out of trouble.

3:20  A quote from Konstantin Stanislavsky.. talent and focus are intertwined….no kidding!

4:30 Welcome Lisa Haneberg. She was with us way back in the day ( it was show # 5 if you can believe it. If you missed it the first time, take a listen here.) We spend a minute or two to talk about Management Craft, why she does it and what she gets out of it. If you haven’t checked it out, please do so. One of her points is about the conversation- that’s what we try to do here- have the conversations you want to have.

8:55 Now, to her book. Focus is so critical and it’s something of the topic du jour, so why is Lisa putting her “stake in the ground”? Well, her approach to focus involves other people- which is somewhat ironic given other people are the biggest impediments to MY focus.

13:00 Lisa has 10 ways to get people to focus, we’re gonna look at a couple of them. Way number 2 is “Get intimate with your employees”. I show impressive restraint not giggling like a school girl at this but I know what she means…..

18:06 Invite a Challenge. Yes,invite people to poke holes in your plans…not that some of us NEED the invitation.  Train your people to give you feedback and it will save problems down the road. Most people haven’t been expected to do that before.

23:01 So where does multitasking come into play and compete with focus. We reference a bit of a spitting match that took place in Management Issues on the topic of Multitasking… poor Dan Bobinski got a bit sideswiped by Max McKeon. I take no sides, but read it yourself…. okay, yes I do… Max was a bit out of line in the way he did.

The main point is, Lisa talks about CHUNKING, rather than multitasking.

27:15 I strongly defend caffeine. I ain’t a doctor, but I like this theory.

Lisa’s Resources…

Exhuberance, by Kay Renfield Jameson

Don’t forget her book High Impact Middle Management

Folks, join our cause. Put yourselves on our Frappr Map, Post to the blog, Drop me an email. Check out the sidebars of this site and you’ll see how to do all those things.

Don’t let the weasels get ya down.

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A Word About Vacation Time- Don’t Laugh Dammit

Posted on 09. Jun, 2006 by Wayne in General

Folks, an article on Management Issues about an annual poll on  how Americans use their time off got me thinking about something I want to share with each of you- USE YOUR VACATION TIME.

I try and fail each year to use as much time off as I can. I’m a workaholic- and the times I’m not working at the DJD (Dreaded Day Job) I’m working on this podcast, but that’s relaxation and a hobby- at least that’s what I tell the Duchess and Her Serene Highness as I snarl at them to stay the $*()_%@ out of my office

This is mostly- but not entirely- an American thing. Our marketing VP is from Belgium and let me tell you she has NO problem at all taking every minute of vacation time she’s offered. Works like a demon the rest of the time but isn’t shy about saying “I’m gone for the next two weeks, muddle on without me”.  Neither does our New Zealander head of IT.

I remember being furious because I couldn’t get hold of her for two weeks around Christmas. Then I thought….why am I mad at her because she’s taking time she’s due? And why am I working on the 27th of December when everyone I manage is recovering from The Holidays?

So, I’m going to try and be a good boy and take my time off… in small chunks but take it none the less. Here are some ideas for helping wean yourself off the calendar….

• Take short 3-4 day blocks off at first until you notice that the company is still standing when you return
• Give plenty of notice to your team and the people who haunt you most
• Despite that, they’ll send you emails and voicemails anyway because they don’t believe you. Make sure your “out of office” memo states when you’ll return voicemails and emails.
• Stick to it. You’ll be amazed how many things are solved by the time you get back
• Leave your cellphone/blackberry/electronic tether in the room when you go to the pool. It will still be there when you get home
• Unless you’re working on the Great American (place nationality here) Novel, leave the laptop at home and use the Hotel’s business center. You can still get your pixel fix if you need it but you’ll actually have to leave the spa to do so and that desire will pass after the second Mai Tai

I’m going to assume that many of you are already following this advice since our numbers have been down the last couple of weeks, and I can only assume you’re on vacation and will come back when you’re home.

You will come back, right?