The Cranky Middle Manager Show #312 The Future of the MBA Ken Starkey
The Cranky Middle Manager 121- Working Undercover with Alex Frankel
Posted on 24. Nov, 2007 by Wayne in Podcast
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #121 (MP3 12.8MB 28:43 Min)
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Greetings everyone, welcome to the show. A really good interview and a sneak peek at a CMM WORLD-WIDE LIVE EVENT!
The webinar is called Managing Remote Employees, Using Webmeetings To Keep Them Engaged and it’s free to attend. Details in the show and more on the blog next week.
First dibs go to subscribers of the newsletter. Sign up by emailing me and putting Subscribe in the subject line. Also let me know if you’re interested.
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to an undercover edition of The Cranky Middle Manager Show. I first read about today’s guest in Fast Company (here are some links to the story) . This kind of well-meaning subterfuge got me thinking about Austria’s Black Chamber, and Baron Ignaz de Koch…. managing spies has GOT to be tough.
2:50 The quote of the week is from Nathaniel Hawthorne… hiding who you really are has never been easy. I’m amazed Alex got away with it.
4:50 Welcome Alex Frankel, author of Punching In- the Unauthorized Adventures of a Front Line Employee. Basically he went to work for UPS, The Apple Store, The Gap, Enterprise Rental Car and Starbucks, then documented his experience. It’s like 21 Jump Street, where Johnny Depp was too old to go back to high school but no one noticed.
Apparently the secret to not getting people like Alex is on-line screening. Apparently it works better than people at keeping the spies out.
9:15 Even though he was undercover, he did identify with the companies. The story of Starbucks on a holiday Saturday is a big aha. What creates esprit de corps?
12:00 What tells you you’re in a job that’s a good fit? It helps to care about what the company does before you even apply. Do you want to hang with the people you work for? Alex talks about which company he didn’t enjoy working for quite so much…but he was a bad hire. Something for all managers to learn here. He also talks about one assistant manager he worked for at Starbucks. Erica, if you read this we’d LOVE to talk to you.
19:30 Consistency does not always mean plastic, totally conformist or robotic. Alec tells his story about the people he worked with.
22:40 The biggest take-away for Alex? If everyone is on the same team it works… sense of mission is critical.
24:50 If Alex goes to hell, he’ll spend the rest of his life folding sweaters. You heard it here first….
Resources: Alex recommends Made To Stick- by the Heath Brothers.
Watch for details on the Webinar next week, and don’t let the weasels get you down.
The Cranky Middle Manager Show 120- Handling Conflict with Gini Graham Scott
Posted on 19. Nov, 2007 by Wayne in Podcast
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #120
Hello and welcome to our 120th show! Today we’re talking conflict and resolving Disagreements, Disputes and All Out War; 3 Simple Steps For Dealing With Any Kind of Conflict, with author Gini Graham Scott.
Hey, big news coming up next show about a Cranky Middle Manager show Webinar event. Stay tuned……
Show Notes
0:00 Okay, technically conflict is not always bad…. but it usually sucks at the time. This leads us to Lord Aberdeen, who helped determine the site of the Canada- US Border.
2:24 The quote of the week is from the quintuply named John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton who basically believed a little disagreement is important. There’s no trusting without testing.
3:58 Welcome Gini Graham Scott. This is a compilation of a number of her books (Check them out here). The three steps of resolving conflict:
- Emotion
- Reason
- Intuition
5:35 You have to deal with the emotion, let people vent. Easier said than done, I know. If they haven’t let go of everything they have to say, it can get awfully ugly, awfully quick. By the way, easier said than done.
8:40 You have to intellectually understand what’s going on. What’s the reason for the conflict or the person’s anger? It may not be what you think? By the way, marriage is a big old petri dish. You heard it here first.
12:50 When is it time to bring in the nice lady from HR? When it’s going nowhere sometimes you need a third party. it might help to identify your default conflict style:
- Competitive
- Collaborative
- Avoiding
- Accommodating
- Compromising
19:30 Intuition involves imagining the resolution. We talk about visualization, brainstorming and other ways to
25:00 Check out her website, www.workingwithhumans.com.
Hey, drop me an email, check out the the Cranky Middle Manager store.
Don’t let the weasels get you down.
2007 TPN Listener Survey
Posted on 16. Nov, 2007 by Wayne in General
Hi folks, it’s almost the end of 2007 and we would like to know what you listen to and why. Please take a few minutes to take the Annual TPN Listener Survey. I’m always fascinated by the results… you’re much more interesting than you know.
 Hey, it’s ten minutes out of your life….. enjoy Take The Survey Here
The Cranky Middle Manger 119- One Foot Out the Door- Judith Bardwick
Posted on 11. Nov, 2007 by Wayne in Podcast
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #119
Hi everyone. Welcome to a truly unique episode of the Cranky Middle Manager Show. It’s unique in that I demonstrate what a real middle manager I am… I’ve been RIFfed from my day job. That’s right, as of Dec 31 I’m out of a job, but not to worry. There are some exciting things in the pipeline…here’s what you need to know:
1) The show will continue and will get even bigger. I have plans darn it
2) I know the newsletter is late, given the circumstances I hope you’ll forgive me
3) Look for news on a Cranky Middle Manager Live Webinar event. It will probably happen in late December or the first week of January.
4) I’m really okay…this is a good thing in the grand scheme of things
Now on with the show…..
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to a special irony-filled edition of the Cranky Middle Manager. I recorded this interview with Judith Bardwick, about her book “One Foot Out the Door- How To Combat the Psychological Recession That’s Alienating Employees and Hurting American Business” about 24 hours before I was re-orged right out of a job. They were very nice about it, and pretty generous so I’m fine, just couldn’t get over the big giant coincidence with today’s topic.
2:58 The quote of the week, not to get too melodramatic, is from Prince Siddhartha, better known as The Buddha. I’ve spent a lot of time this week contemplating beginnings and endings, so I guess I’m in good shape.
3:58 Welcome Dr. Judith Bardwick… what is the Psychological Recession and why should we care? It’s that despite the relatively good economic news, and a chronic shortage of good employees, none of us feel safe and secure in our jobs and that keeps us disengaged and unproductive (EDITORIAL NOTE- YA THINK????).
10:00 Why do companies do the things that create these problems? it’s not intentional (we hope) but the result is the same. Don’t folks fearing for their jobs try harder? Here’s the data:
- 20% of employees are engaged and loving their jobs
- 60% are disengaged…. they’re there but not committed and doing enough not to get fired
- 20% are actively disengaged, either job hunting, sabotaging the organization or just not giving a rat’s behind
13:22 What does a manager in the middle do when they are being asked to implement policies that are going to make this worse? Well, you can take this book upstairs, but what else can you do? You can change your relationships with subordinates but there’s only so much you can do if the organization doesn’t support you from above.
17:24 Which companies get it? Check out Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For
It’s about mutual respect and mutual goals as well as openness. Here’s where I go off on a rant about how accounting is the problem with treating people properly. I’ve spoken about this before in Management Issues way back in the day. Check it out.
21:54 Morale and satisfaction scores don’t tell you a darned thing. Judith is pretty firm that engagement is a much better indicator. She does a better job of explaining it than I could.
24:00 For resources, Judith gives us a bunch of topics to Google. They include:
- relationship between engagement and commitment and financial outcome
- the role of managers in creating commitment and engagement
Seriously, don’t let the weasels get you down.