The Cranky Middle Manager Show #316 The Final Cranky Show and the Future of Work with John Blackwell
The Cranky Middle Manager Show # 306 Can You Prove Training ROI? Ajay Pangarkar
Posted on 09. Dec, 2011 by Wayne in General, Podcast
Today Wayne Turmel talks to Ajay Pangarkar about kind of a touchy subject–at least it’s touchy for those of us who actually stop to think about it. Can you really prove Return on Investment for training…and should you even bother? That’s only one topic, along with wondering what you would tell Cleopatra’s kids, wondering if it’s smarter to teach or learn, and what Wayne will be doing in Vegas on January 27th. Just another eclectic Cranky Middle Manager show.
If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.
If you manage remote teams, don’t forget to check out the TheConnectedManager.com blog. New content twice a week!
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the show. Today we are talking about something that very few people outside of the training world talk about. I am talking , of course, about the training world which gets no love until someone needs them or they ask for things like budgets. To this end we dedicate our show to someone who understood the thankless task, Nicolaus of Damascus. Being the tutor for Cleopatra’s kids must have been a pain in the asp. Yes I said it. Deal.
5:00 The quote of the week is from John Churton Collins. We all know it’s better to give than to receive but I’m not sure that applies to learning and advice.
5:50 Welcome back Ajay Pangarkar to the show. He’s the CEO of CentralKnowledge and someone who has been with us before. (Hear an earlier conversation here). He’s asking some hard questions about how the effectiveness of training is measured. How is ROI measured as a rule? Warning…we geek out on financial terms but stick with us. It matters because it comes out of someone’s budget. Nothing good comes when you ask for a part of someone’s budget.
9:33 How come you can invest in machinery and get a tax break but you can’t invest in people without getting arrested? The accounting gets real ugly, real quick. Training works the same way as marketing.
12:45 Training and HR people know this but we introduce you to Kirkpatrick’s 4 Levels of Evaluation. Now you’ll know what the nice lady in HR is talking about….. you’re welcome. The point is, you can’t show dollar value as much as you can show alignment with your company’s strategy.
17:50 Here’s how to have a real conversation between line managers and training. Start with the end in mind instead of the name of a program. Maybe it’s time you knew some of the pressures training people are under. Be nice to them. Also, get out your calculators for some formulas.
26:00 Ajay and I will both be speaking at the ASTD TechKnowledge 2012 conference in Las Vegas in January. Will you be there? Let us know!
Ajay’s resources
Order his books from Wiley.com and save 15% by using the code TMW11
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The Cranky Middle Manager Show #301 Up, Down and Sideways Mark Sanborn
Posted on 29. Oct, 2011 by Wayne in General, Podcast
Hello everyone. Today we talk about maintaining your focus and your equilibrium no matter how crazy the world gets. Mark Sanborn joins us today to talk about his book, “Up, Down and Sideways- How to Succeed When Times are Good, Bad, or in Between”. We also talk cathedrals, starfish on the beach, ponies and dozens of other motivational cliches.
If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.
If you manage remote teams, don’t forget to check out the ConnectedManager.com blog. New content twice a week!
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to another episode of The Cranky Middle Manager. Today we are talking about the need to make sure we’re okay in the midst of all the craziness. Today we come dangerously close to the old fashioned motivational speech. No dedication today, I go on a small rant about motivational speakers, and tell the very common story that actually motivates me, embarrassing as it is. Here’s hoping you can find a pony in the pile of….. piled stuff.
5:55 The quote of the week is from Peter Drucker…. yes, it sounds cliche but attitude is everything, because the facts remain the same. It’s all in how you adjust to it.
6:35 Thanks to last week’s guest, Bob Burg, we got a chance to interview one of the really big shots in the professional speaking world, Mark Sanborn. He’s the author of “Up, Down and Sideways- How to Succeed When Times are Good, Bad, or in Between”. After years of experience, there’s one question people ask that usually fires him up: “What are the 3-4 things he does every day to ensure his success?” This is probably something we need to talk about since it’s so weird out there.
9:46 You can’t tell if you’re successful unless you keep score, but who’s score card do you use. We talk about the “4 Rs” that most people use: Results, Rewards, Recreation and Relationships. And the greatest of these is ……
18:10 Is there a pony in your pile ? (See,this is why I told the story) How can you build optimism? It turns out there’s a great deal of neuroscience around this. Oh, and optimism is NOT denial. It’s being informed AND inspired.
21:45 If you’re listening to this, you probably are a firm believer in the “Learner’s Leverage”. Are you learning all the time? And then, of course do you actually take action on what you’ve learned?
23:45 Do you know your value? Value is not just what you do but what it actually means to someone, whether it’s your boss or your spouse? Have you ever really asked?
Mark’s Resources
www.marksanborn.com
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #295 42 Things No One Told You About Management Pam Fox Rollin
Posted on 08. Sep, 2011 by Wayne in General, Podcast
Today, Wayne Turmel talks to Pam Fox Rollin about her new book, “42 Rules For Your New Leadership Role- The Manual They Didn’t Hand You When You Made VP, Director or Manager”. We also talk Arctic exploration, managing managers and Greek stoics, which I think are a lot like souvlakis only messier.
If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.
Cranky listeners get a 10% discount on this webinar workshop: “How to Lead Effective Virtual Meetings”, September 29th. Register on the site or drop me a line for discounts and details.
Show notes
0:00 Welcome to the Cranky Middle Manager Show, one and all. Today we dedicate this episode to Sir John Barrow who knew a thing or two about exploring new territory, managing projects and managing without WebEx. Also we look at a Greek stoic and why managing managers is a whole new ball game.
4:01 Our quote of the week is from Epictetus. I love this guy, I wrote about him in my first book A Philistine’s Journal-an Average Guy Tackles the Classics. Anyway, not specific to today’s topic, but if you’re so darned smart, why bother learning and growing?
5:00 Why don’t they hand you a better manual when you start a new gig? They’re real good at telling you about badge security, but not so much about being a leader. When leaders start, they tend to be a bit more confused than we like to cop to.
7:48 Most leaders get a honeymoon period, but how do you make the most of it? A great reason is to avoid jumping straight into the work and introduce yourself around to your peers, colleagues and employees. Don’t wait for a crisis to connect to the people you’ll depend on.
12:04 You often need to introduce yourself….or often RE-introduce yourself. Now’s the time to create your reputation before others do it for you. Oh, and we almost cause a stock market crisis.
14:06 How do you get started in a new role? What are the things we should do to get some quick wins? You need to find out the expectations of your team. What’s your group’s real earned reputation? Odds are it’s not what you were told during the interview.
17:55 We often inherit old metrics for new situations. How do you create a set of metrics that let you actually measure what’s important? What are the things you all agree on that are good signals to watch out for?
21:35 Without getting all paranoid, do you really understand the risks involved in this job? We are not talking obsessing, we are talking risk management.
24:54 As you get past your first project management or supervisor job, you start to manage managers. This is a different gig entirely. How do you measure and coach vaporware? Avoid “surrogate metrics” like activities and participation in meetings. You need to check on whether they set direction, take action and hit the mark. You want them doing leadership, not the actual individual contributor’s work.
Pam’s Resources
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #293 Bare Knuckle Management Sean O’Neil
Posted on 16. Aug, 2011 by Wayne in General, Podcast
Welcome back. Today we’re going to look at a depressing truth: no matter how many books we read or how hard we try, people are going to make our lives complicated. We can complain that they’re not behaving like they do in the Management books, or we can get on with it and cope. We’ll talk to Sean O’Neil, co-author of “Bare Knuckle People Management: Create Success With the TeamYou Have- Winners, Losers, Misfits and All”. We also drag Wyatt Earp and Marcus Aurelius into the conversation…. which may be the first time those two have ever been included in the same sentence but that’s what we do here.
If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.
Cranky listeners get a 10% discount on this webinar workshop: “How to Lead Effective Virtual Meetings”, September 29th. Register on the site or drop me a line for discounts and details.
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the show. Today we’re talking about doing the best you can with the people you have on your team. As exhibit A, we present Wyatt Earp and the gunfight at the OK Corral. Let’s face it, if you were staring down the most dangerous people in town, would you choose your brothers and an alcoholic dentist with tuberculosis as backup? Probably not, but we make the most of the hand we’re dealt. That’s what being a manager is.
4:30 The Quote of the Week is from Marcus Aurelius.… you can be stoic, or you can recognize the reality of the situation. it seems like asking for both is a bit of an overreach.
5:43 Welcome Sean O’Neil to the show. Why isn’t this a standard, politically correct , very polite management book? Because real life doesn’t work that way all the time.
8:15 The world is not a Harvard Business Review case study. We have to play the hand we’re dealt. Many managers don’t realize going in that not everyone has the same work ethic or skillset you did when you had that job.
11:24 We are told that if we did all the good employee engagement “stuff”, all will be well with the world. The reality is sometimes colder than that.
13:28 One of the heresies in the book is the idea that blanket one-size-fits-all rules just don’t work all that well.
16:00 When dealing with Superstars, it’s important that they understand everything you do for them. This is an interesting notion. The Badass might be a superstar or not…. they certainly act like one.
20:00 Every team has the “Steady Eddie”….not superstars, not problems, they just show up and get the work done. You have to realize what they bring to the party and use them as a stalking horse. The problem is that they aren’t spectacular and often get ignored.
22:00 I am an “ADHD Butterfly”…. Sean explains how he’d manage the likes of me. We also discuss how your personal style impacts your ability to work with others.
Sean’s Resources