New listeners to the show are often confused on where to start. What are the foundational podcasts, the core principles that underly the Career Tools philosophy?
This is the definitive list of the "must listen to" podcasts. If you're a new listener, these are the podcasts you need to listen to.
One on Ones
One on Ones are the core of The Management Trinity. Effective Managers know that to achieve exceptional results, we must create relationships with each of their directs. To do THAT, we must spend time every week focusing on the direct and their work.
Virtually everything Manager Tools recommends is built upon a firm relationship with one's directs, and the best way we know to make that happen is One on Ones.
Start Here. You don't have to do anything else for 2 months besides One on Ones. It will change your managerial life.
The podcast page can be found here: One-on-Ones (Revised 2012 podcasts)
- Part 1
- Part 2
- Part 3
- One-on-Ones, Questions
Feedback
As a manager, you're responsible for the results that your team produces. Results are nothing more than the aggregated behaviors of everyone who works for you. So, effective managers know that we've got to have a way to talk to our directs about their behaviors. The Feedback Model gives us the way to do it.
It's simple, direct, and easy to learn. Managers who adopt this Manager Tool get more effective results from their teams more quickly.
Coaching (4 Shows)
As a manager, you're responsible not only for results, but also for improving results over time. That means you're responsible for improving the skills - the behaviors - of your team. Feedback gets you started, and Coaching helps everyone on your team improve.
If you haven't had a good experience with coaching, it's because you've been misled about how hard it is. But with the Manager Tools Coaching Model, you can coach everyone on your team in 5 minutes per week during your One on Ones.
Delegation
Delegation is the quiet 4th member of The Manager Tools Effective Manager Trinity. Effective Managers delegate routinely, because they not only know how (described here), but also because they understand that delegation is a key engine of corporate profitable growth. Adding more people when you have more work isn't as effective as growing the team you already have.
Rolling Out the Manager Tools Trinity (4 shows)
We've been asked a thousand questions about what to do and when to do it when it comes to the Management Trinity, and we've finally gotten frustrated enough to do something about it. We assumed that a lot of the ideas we're going to share here just made sense, and managers were taking the parts of the Trinity step by step, mastering each one, and adding new parts as they were able.
And then we got an email complaining that putting ALL FOUR of the Trinity in place all at once was "JUST TOO HARD".
And, that listener was right – it was too hard – and we weren't helping by not sharing our guidance. We've shared these ideas with hundreds of corporate client managers…and now it's time to share it with everyone.
Step by step, here's how you do it. If you ask us, if there WERE a Manager Tools Hall of Fame (HOF), this cast would be in it.
Other
If you're a technical person, you've surely wondered about your career path, and how to ensure you're getting the most out of your work life. This cast takes a different approach than most in the IT world - it starts with building relationships with folks on the business side (gasp). It works - ask your bosses.