Management Skills

How do you manage your team?

September 1, 2009
As chief executive of a bank with 40,000 employees, Robert Joss realized he couldn’t get to know everyone. But he built working relationships with his 500 midlevel managers.

Ready for the next disaster?

August 1, 2009
For many of us, August means vacation. But for meteorologists, August is peak hurricane season.

Three goals for August

August 1, 2009
Offer a menu of options when you discipline … Let change resistors exercise some control … Request “Top 3 Job Duties” list from workers.

‘We need you here’

August 1, 2009
Eric, a manager at a financial services company in Florida with 19 employees, discusses the dilemma of letting people work from home.

Jump at the chance to stay calm and cite relevant facts

August 1, 2009
As conflicts intensify, you face a choice. You can either spoil for a fight or detach yourself and stay levelheaded.

Three goals for July

July 1, 2009
To promote change, list pros and cons … Quantify challenges, then go to the TOPS … Reinforce what you read so that it sinks in.

Play detective to uncover wrongdoing

July 1, 2009
The ability to ask shrewd questions is a manager’s secret weapon. By posing carefully worded inquiries in a neutral tone, you increase your odds of getting more revealing answers.

Turn teams into problem-solvers

June 1, 2009
At age 37, Dan Carmichael earned a key promotion. He became regional vice president for Crum & Forster, an insurance firm, with responsibility for five states.

The four stages of managing change

June 1, 2009
You know major organizational changes are afoot. You’ve repeatedly told your team that such reforms are not far off and you’ve hinted at what may occur. Yet despite your best efforts, the time has come to enact change.

Three goals for June

June 1, 2009
Break your proposal into three parts, end training sessions with a commitment list, and tame difficult workers without ultimatums.