Toluu

Slacker Manager

Paving the path of least resistance, so you don't trip and fall.

Personal Development for Smart People: Book ReviewYesterday

I just finished reading Steve Pavlina’s book Personal Development for Smart People, and I really enjoyed it. It was jam packed full of simple but not easy steps on how to improve all aspects of your life.

It was divided into 2 sections: Fundamental Principles and Practical Application. It took me a long time to get through the Fundamental Principles, but after that, the Practical Application seemed to go much more quickly.

The above diagram explains the layout of the Fundamental Principles Steve writ

Learn the Management Power Hours with Lisa HanebergOctober 9

What are you doing December 9th and 10th?

Join Lisa Haneberg in Washington D.C. I will be visiting the group for an hour or two as a guest provocateur!

Are you ready to be a great manager? I think this grows in importance each day we have more business and economic upheaval. This is a two day workshop whereby the participants will create and share many (maybe dozens, depending on the group size) of Power Hours - ready to take back to their workplace and use to help develop great managers.

Power Hour. A power hour is a one-hour informal learning conversation that is designed to get managers into discussions that will help them generate and implement new/renewed ideas to move the business forward and build their management and leadership craft. All of the participants will get access to everything that’s generated during the two days - no licenses, no limitations.

Ultimate benefit: Participants will leave the two days with years worth of management development materials and the ability to easily blend power hours into their training regimens.

Managers who develop managers, trainers of managers, and HR professionals are the target audience for this conference. Anyone interested in management and leadership will love it.

The new management skills and requirements - what are the emerging management topics that ought to be a part of your training programs but probably are not yet? Emerging, new, cutting edge, under recogniz

Obama or McCain: Charismatic or Traditional LeadershipOctober 8

Edward Brown from the Core Edge Image & Charisma Institute shared a very interesting comment on 8 Steps to Charismatic Leadership that gave me pause, and made me realize I needed to share it with you:

There appears to be two dominant leadership models on the current world stage, Charismatic Leadership (often described as arousing the emotions of the populous through imagery and poetic prose) and Traditional Leadership (Often described as operations-centric and unilateral while courting consensus building). Interesting enough, both forms are effective, but only under specific social-economic conditions.

During times of uncertainty and upheaval, Charismatic Leadership is effective at restoring hope and productivity. Once the crisis has abated, Traditional Leadership is effective for stabilizing operations and maintaining a steady course until another shake up emerges. The important dynamic essential for the two models to be effective is the competency of the Charismatic and Traditional Leader.

The two models represent a particular philosophy as well as direction, which require scholarship and experience. The U.S.’s current tumultuous conditions favor the Charismatic Model. But, the Charismatic Model steeped with experienc

Expanding ConnectionsOctober 7

Two words towards being a genius

by David Zinger

I had the wonderful opportunity this year to work with Dick Richards and Jodee Bock in Fargo. Dick spent a day with us helping us discover a two word key to our individual genius. You can read about his approach in his book: Is Your Genius at Work?

Let’s face it, we are all too busy at work and it is too easy to lose our focus. I am embedded in one of those very busy timeS and I have found that keeping my genius at work has helped me to make the biggest contribution, connected me with the people I manage, offered me perspective, added to my energy, and made a difference for others.

My genius is: EXPANDING CONNECTIONS.

I doodled my genius on a napkin and have included a scan of it in this article.

I encourage you to grab a napkin and get playful creating two words that sum up your genius.  This would be a first step and you could refine it by working with the exercises in Dick Richard’s book.

What is your two word genius?

 

Focus on the error, not the personOctober 6

“Emphasize the error, not the person committing it.” — Terri Lonier

As a manager, it’s important that you focus on the behavior the people who report to you exhibit, and NOT the person making the error. Think about it when you give your team feedback.

Good example: “That was a bad decision you made. Here’s how you can improve next time.”

Bad example: “How could you be so stupid as to make that decision?”

The good example helps the person you’re correcting feel good, and yet still understand the impact of the errors.

Focus on the error, not the person who did it.

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