Leaders & Managers
From the nitty gritty of daily management to addressing your aspirations of leadership, this section for leaders & managers tells you how to make strong leadership decisions, build effective teams, delegate and stay above the everyday management muddle.
Get tips, strategies, tool and advice on: performance reviews, preventing workplace violence, best-practices leadership, team building, leadership skills, people management and management training.
Q. Almost two years ago, I was forced
by my boss to take a transfer employee from another department who I
knew was trouble. This person likes to pit employees against each other
by bad-mouthing them. She has managed to foster several allies among my
staff.
Michael Kinsley, the editor of Slate, an online magazine published by Microsoft Corp., has a formidable résumé. He joined Microsoft in January 1996 after serving as editor of The New Republic and co-host of CNN’s Crossfire. He’s also a contributing writer at Time and has written for publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Reader’s Digest. Based in Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Wash., Kinsley manages people nationwide.
Like Teflon, some bosses never have anything bad stick to them. Despite abortive projects and unmet commitments, they survive.
To reach a major decision, invite your team to vote on a course of action.
Manage change by communicating to your team the dangers of the status quo.
Most management experts warn against meddling in your employees’ every decision. That advice isn’t always right. While controlling supervisors can turn their bold innovators into pliant order-takers, there are times when micromanaging makes sense.
As much as you want your employees to challenge your ideas without fear
of retribution, they may still feel reluctant to speak up.
Trying to motivate your employees to accept new goals or an organizational change? Give them a “Reason to Believe” (RTB).
Want to earn a reputation as a savvy negotiator? Then keep quiet.
You may assume that if your employees give 100 percent, then you’re doing fine. But managers who snatch plum promotions don’t accept a mere 100 percent effort. They demand 110 percent and beyond, and they usually get it.
