About this podcast
Tired of management theory? Want to learn specific skills to help improve your management performance? Then Manager Tools is the podcast for you! Manager Tools is a weekly business podcast focused on helping professionals become more effective managers and leaders. Each week, we discuss specific actions for professionals to take to achieve their desired management and career objectives. Manager Tools won Best Business Podcast Award in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2012 as well as the People's Choice Award in 2008. Find more at http://www.manager-tools.com/
Episodes
The newest 50 of 1,000 episodes
- The Juggling Koan (Hall Of Fame Guidance)You're at capacity, and your boss walks in with one more big assignment. The instinct is to defend your plate, ask what can come off, or quietly hope nobody notices what slips…
- Aggregated Behaviors ARE Performance - Chapter 2 - Part 2One of the stupid mistakes that almost all organizations have made over the past 50 years is separating performance from "behavior." The modern organizational language has…
- Aggregated Behaviors ARE Performance - Chapter 2 - Part 1One of the stupid mistakes that almost all organizations have made over the past 50 years is separating performance from "behavior." The modern organizational language has…
- Feedback Is Not A Personal Attack (Hall of Fame Guidance)Feedback is about behavior. It's not a personal attack. Available in person or virtual, join us at an Effective Manager Conference: www.manager-tools.com/emc
- Why Do I Have To Wait To Give Feedback? - Part 2One of the most frequently asked questions we get about feedback is why we recommend waiting to give feedback until after you have started One On Ones. It's a reasonable…
- Why Do I Have To Wait To Give Feedback? - Part 1One of the most frequently asked questions we get about feedback is why we recommend waiting to give feedback until after you have started One On Ones. It's a reasonable…
- The Effective Manager And The Principle Of Sub-Optimization - Part 2When you become a manager, you start getting exposed to systems, processes, and principles that organizations rely on or understand to help them succeed. One of those hidden…
- The Effective Manager And The Principle Of Sub-Optimization - Part 1When you become a manager, you start getting exposed to systems, processes, and principles that organizations rely on or understand to help them succeed. One of those hidden…
- How To Teach Peer Feedback To Your DirectsIf your directs aren't managers, they may not know the core principles behind giving feedback. They won't know how to give peer feedback. But you can teach them.
- The First Rule Of FeedbackGiving effective feedback is one of the hardest tasks for managers. Feedback isn't hard to understand. We know we need to give it. But too many of us don't understand feedback's…
- How To Prewire a Meeting - Part 2 (Hall of Fame Guidance)This cast describes how to prepare for meetings or presentations in order to ensure your message is persuasive and you get the support you're looking for from the audience.
- How To Prewire a Meeting - Part 1 (Hall of Fame Guidance)This cast describes how to prepare for meetings or presentations in order to ensure your message is persuasive and you get the support you're looking for from the audience.
- Coaching a Direct On Relationship Development - Part 2Coaching is the least-used of the Manager Tools Trinity's tools - One On Ones, Feedback, Delegation, and Coaching. That's too bad, because it only takes 5-10 minutes a week. One…
- Coaching a Direct On Relationship Development - Part 1Coaching is the least-used of the Manager Tools Trinity's tools - One On Ones, Feedback, Delegation, and Coaching. That's too bad, because it only takes 5-10 minutes a week. One…
- Your Job Includes Teaching Professionalism - Chapter 1 - Timeliness - Part 2Don't believe the "news" that organizations are changing so fundamentally that the core standards of professionalism no longer apply. In fact, as the world becomes faster, the…
- Your Job Includes Teaching Professionalism - Chapter 1 - Timeliness - Part 1Don't believe the "news" that organizations are changing so fundamentally that the core standards of professionalism no longer apply. In fact, as the world becomes faster, the…
- Culture - Chapter 3 - Performance!There's always a lot of talk by a lot of so-called experts about culture. That's because they define culture any way they want. That way they can say whatever they want. But some…
- Give Positive Feedback Just For Doing Their Job! - Part 2The vast majority of things that happen in your organization are good. Otherwise your company would go out of business. But most managers think their job (and it's a part they…
- Give Positive Feedback Just For Doing Their Job! - Part 1The vast majority of things that happen in your organization are good. Otherwise your company would go out of business. But most managers think their job (and it's a part they…
- Sourcing And Your BenchIf you have a good network, with some of those in your network on your bench, you can shorten your hiring process and increase the chances of a successful hire.
- How To Work With CompetenciesThere's an organizational tool, almost always used by Human Resources, called competencies. Even though it's a fairly popular model for thinking about professional development…
- Presenting Mistakes - Chapter 2 - RigidityOne of the most common presenting failures is being too rigid in one's preparation and delivery. If you're not well prepared, and therefore flexible, your rigidity can cause your…
- Company Change With A Promotion Is Unlikely - For Managers - Part 2Many professionals think that one way to keep their career moving upwards is to change companies. Unfortunately, this is a relatively rare occurrence.
- Company Change With A Promotion Is Unlikely - For Managers - Part 1Many professionals think that one way to keep their career moving upwards is to change companies. Unfortunately, this is a relatively rare occurrence.
- Teaching Your Directs How To Interview - Chapter 1 - Basics - Part 2The Manager Tools Interview Process recommends having your direct reports interview candidates who would become their peers. Here's how to teach your directs to be Effective…
- Teaching Your Directs How To Interview - Chapter 1 - Basics - Part 1The Manager Tools Interview Process recommends having your direct reports interview candidates who would become their peers. Here's how to teach your directs to be Effective…
- Presenting Failures - Chapter 1 - Front Of The Room BehaviorsToo many managers, and the majority of execs, too, are TERRIBLE at presenting. But getting good at presenting is just like getting good at managing. Since everyone else is so…
- Top 10 Hiring Mistakes - #6 - The Warm Body ProblemThere is a 3-Body Problem in Classical Mechanics. That one cannot be solved. But hiring managers are also afflicted with *The Warm Body Problem.* But this one is easily solved.
- Job Requirements - Beware The Ratchet!You may not realize it, but your company makes it increasingly harder to find qualified candidates without intending to. How does it do that? With The Hiring Requirements…
- Fill The Vacuum! - Communicate Your Vision - Chapter 1If your people say they don't know what's going on strategically, or operationally, **it's your fault.** You can fill that void with your own vision and communications.
- Network Building - The St. Jude RuleDo you know what it's like to lose a job? Get fired? Get laid off? If you don't, that's good. But more people who go through it wish more people who haven't did a better job of…
- Building Peer Relationships - Part 2When you're a manager, you're thinking of your team all the time. But remember you're a part of a team, too: your boss's team. You need to work on having good relationships with…
- Building Peer Relationships - Part 1When you're a manager, you're thinking of your team all the time. But remember you're a part of a team, too: your boss's team. You need to work on having good relationships with…
- Top Ten Hiring Mistakes - #7 - Being SwayedOne of the most common mistakes of managers when hiring - it made our Top 10 list! - is being swayed by their directs into hiring someone that they weren't that impressed by…
- The Difference Between Line And Staff LeadershipManagers today are constantly besieged by requests and demands from above their level. But just because someone is "above" you in the org chart doesn't mean they can easily task…
- Three Current Modern Management Scams - Part 2This cast serves as a compendium of the biggest management scams of the 21st century. We have covered these topics extensively. But we know there are close to 2,000 podcasts so…
- Three Current Modern Management Scams - Part 1This cast serves as a compendium of the biggest management scams of the 21st century. We have covered these topics extensively. But we know there are close to 2,000 podcasts so…
- Why Does HR Make It So Hard To Fire People? - Part 2For over half a century, managers have been complaining: "HR won't let me fire this guy." This myth - and yes it is a myth - is so common that experienced managers teach it to…
- Why Does HR Make It So Hard To Fire People? - Part 1For over half a century, managers have been complaining: "HR won't let me fire this guy." This myth - and yes it is a myth - is so common that experienced managers teach it to…
- How To Be A Positive Interviewer - Part 2Too many managers make the mistake of thinking they have to be a "tough" interviewer. They think that interviewing is adversarial. They think they need to apply pressure to see…
- How To Be A Positive Interviewer - Part 1Too many managers make the mistake of thinking they have to be a "tough" interviewer. They think that interviewing is adversarial. They think they need to apply pressure to see…
- Top 10 Hiring Mistakes - #8 - Unprepared - Part 2If you want managing to be easier, learn to hire better. We've been saying it for two decades now. We normally put out positive guidance, about what to DO. In this series of…
- Top 10 Hiring Mistakes - #8 - Unprepared - Part 1If you want managing to be easier, learn to hire
- Management Is An Organizational SystemOne of the most common things professionals say about managing is that they have a personal 'style.' But does that make sense? Is it reasonable to expect that with all the…
- Development Plans Are Dumb (Hall of Fame Guidance)Development plans for directs are constantly talked about. You've read about them in the business news, especially for less experienced employees. They're recommended by HR. They…
- Assumptive Goal Setting - HOF 2025Our Hall of Fame guidance on how to think more creatively about annual planning goals.
- How to Set Annual Goals - HOF 2025Our Hall Of Fame guidance on how to start setting annual goals, and why we do not like "SMART" goals.
- One On Ones - How Much Personal? (Hall of Fame Guidance)Many managers are worried about talking about personal topics in One On Ones. They shouldn't be - it doesn't happen that often... and it's a sign of trust, too.
- My Boss Doesn't Support Company GuidanceA manager is always obligated to support the organization, even if he or she disagrees with what the organization is doing. But what happens when your boss doesn't do that?…
- Delivering the Performance Review - HOF 2025Our Hall of Fame guidance on delivering a performance review.
