Creating Your Personal Brand - A Tip From The Manager’s Answer Book

As a manager, all eyes are on you.  You bring knowledge, skill and experience to the job, but you have to show you are credible and competent to be successful.  So how do you do that, and why is it important.  

Manager’s Tip:  You do it by creating your personal brand. Your brand is how you present yourself – how you communicate, act and interact with others. As a manager, you are representing the organization – whether interacting inside or outside – so you always want to be mindful of how your actions uphold the organization’s positive culture.  There are critical traits that illustrate a positive personal brand. Clearly at the top of the list are ethics and integrity – being true to your values and principles. You demonstrate this by making decisions that don’t contradict your values, seeking out people with common values and respecting the people around you. Trustworthiness is a close second to integrity.  You show other people that they can trust you by maintaining confidences, exercising discretion and avoiding rumors and gossip.  Listen to your staff and be as transparent as you possibly can. Be fair and consistent with your staff and admit when you are wrong.  And finally courage – having the confidence and integrity when you see something is wrong or not moving in the right direction to say something. Confront wrongdoing no matter where it’s occurring. Step up and do the right thing. Finally, courageous leaders not only speak out and take an opposing point of view, they also advocate for ideas and positions that may not appear to be popular.

You can read more in The Manager’s Answer Book. Section Four is devoted to creating your personal brand.  Ethics and integrity is discussed on page 111, courage on page 113 and trustworthiness on page 120. The Manager’s Answer Book, is available from Amazon -- https://tinyurl.com/y8umaqpz - Barnes & Noble or your local independent bookstore.

Developing Your Management Skills: A Tip From The Manager’s Answer Book

I was interviewed earlier this month for the radio show “Thank God for Mondays” which broadcasts on WSOU in the New York City metropolitan area. The occasion was National Bosses Day. We talked about several areas that new managers need to prepare and develop. In particular, I was asked: What are one or two skills that new managers needs to develop quickly, and how can they go about doing this?  

Manager’s Tip:  One of the things that is particularly hard for a new manager to do is give up favorite tasks and projects – those things your good at doing.  Delegation is the number one management skill and not learning how to delegate can derail your career. As you let go of your pet projects, think carefully about which staff member is right for each one. Once you’ve chosen someone, describe the task, the timeline and the expected outcome. Be available to answer their questions. Delegating frees up your time to work on strategic items and develops your employees’ skills.

Time management is another challenge – and not just for managers.  Try using a to-do list to keep track of what you’re doing. You may also want to start an accomplishments list so you can see that you’re making progress. Don’t forget to prioritize tasks on that to-do list, and manage distractions and interruptions – but do so gracefully. Finally, don’t take on too much. 

You can read more about delegation and time management on pages 53 and 54 of The Manager’s Answer Book, which is available from Amazon -- https://tinyurl.com/y8umaqpz - Barnes & Noble or your local independent bookstore.

Conflict, Stress & Holidays – Oh My!

It rained all night and the result for us was a peaceful night’s sleep.  “It’s a great way to relieve stress,” my husband declared. What stress is he under, I thought, but it had been a long time since we’ve slept through a rainy night. We live in the desert and rain here is rare.  

I’m writing this in late September, just after the devastating storm named Florence battered the east coast. Don’t tell people in the Carolinas that rain is peaceful and relieves stress, unless you want more conflict. We know better – we’ve lived through hurricanes and can understand and appreciate a different point of view.  

One of the keys to managing conflict – and alleviating stress – is the ability to listen to different points of view.  As we discuss in The Essential Workplace Conflict Handbook, we all have different experiences that shape the way we see things and events around us. Hurricane season is devastating in coastal areas. The summer monsoon season, as the rainy season is called in the Southwest, is welcomed with open arms.

There are more stressful seasons descending upon us. Halloween? No, it will be fun even with the ghosts and goblins and other dark creatures. But then we prepare for Thanksgiving – families gathered around the table. You’re concerned that after the upcoming mid-term elections your right-wing and left-wing relatives won’t keep their political differences civil and are hoping your outspoken brother focuses his attention and comments on the football game rather than offending anyone. 

You may take a pass on Black Friday, but there’s still the stress of holiday gift giving – selecting the perfect gift for everyone, purchasing it, and wrapping it.  

Barbara and I have a gift suggestion, and we'd be honored and humbled if you'd consider it.  We published two books on conflict, The Essential Workplace Conflict Handbook and The Conflict Resolution Phrase Book. They are available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and independent book sellers. Both address topics of diversity, differences and expectations among others. It could be the perfect answer for those relatives who can’t get along or a gift for your colleagues or clients not only at the holidays, but at any time during the year! These books are a good reminder that conflict can be addressed with grace and civility.

Look no further, you can order both books online. To ease the stress, we’ve added links.  The Essential Workplace Conflict Handbook: https://tinyurl.com/y8qy4msz and The Conflict Resolution Phrase Book:  https://tinyurl.com/ycktzyz9,

Free up your time this holiday season for the decorating, baking, partying – whatever you love, but can’t seem to find the time, to do. Fill this time with wonder and light and excitement before the gloomy days of winter, not stress and conflict. 

Having Fun at Work? A Tip from The Manager’s Answer Book

Wait a minute—isn’t having fun at work an oxymoron?  Isn’t work supposed to be serious just because it’s WORK? Yes, of course—work is serious, unless you’re lucky enough to be a comedy writer or circus clown, but aren’t there ways we can still have some fun at work and still be productive?

Our answer to this question is that not only can you have fun at work, there are good business reasons why you should bring some levity into your organization—none the least of which is that fun at work has a positive impact on your bottom line!

Make sure what you do to lighten the mood at work is not the kind of fun at someone else’s expense—that’s when issues like harassment, bias, and potential bullying pop up but if you know your employees well, I’ll bet you can come up some fun ideas that also might stimulate creativity as well! 

Manager’s Tip:  In The Manager’s Answer Book and give you some no or low-cost examples of things you can try including:

• Theme days
• Trivia contests
• Game days
• Ice breakers at staff meetings
• Improv sessions
• Celebrations for meeting deadlines
• Potlucks, chili cookoffs, tail gate parties

The list of things you can do is endless but be respectful of boundaries. Be sure that you as the manager participate along with other senior managers so your employees see a different side of you!

For more on having fun at work, see page 165 of The Manager’s Answer Book. Which is available at Amazon.com, https://tinyurl.com/y8umaqpz - Barnes & Noble, or your local independent bookstore.

Why Mentoring Works - A Tip from The Manager’s Answer Book

I’ve worked with many top-quality mentors during my business career and I hope you have been as fortunate as I was. It was an honor to work with generous people who willingly shared their expertise to help me hone my skills as a manager.

Remember when we thought that mentors had to be older people with many years of experience? Well, those days are over. A better definition of a mentor is “anyone who has knowledge you don’t have.” This new take on mentoring is playing out in organizations today as Millennials mentor Baby Boomers in how to get the most out of technology as often as Boomers mentor Millennials in how to survive office politics!

Mentoring relationships can be formal or informal and savvy organizations are installing mentoring programs to attract, engage, and retain the best talent available.  But, if your organization doesn’t have a mentoring program, don’t hesitate to look for a mentor on your own.

Mentoring is the classic win/win situation.  The mentee gains knowledge they didn’t have, and the mentor has the satisfaction that comes from doing something to benefit another. The organization wins as well with employees who are more engaged in their work and their commitment to your organization for providing them with mentoring opportunities!

Manager’s Tip:  If you want more ideas on mentoring, in our latest book, The Manager’s Answer Book -- we answer this question: “I’ve had wonderful people during my career who served as mentors and helped me get to the management level. I’d like to start a formal mentoring program and have the support of senior management to do so. Can you give me some ideas on how to get started?”

“Answer:  Good for you to want to ‘pay it forward’ and encourage mentoring in your organization. Mentoring is an excellent tool to develop staff that doesn’t cost much (or any) money but it can pay huge dividends for the individual and your organization, including your ability to hire talent employees. Smart job applicants ask if they might have a mentor to help them be productive if they join your organization. Other benefits of mentoring programs include the development of cross-organizational connections as people mentor employees from other departments and build channels of communication—often between people who might not have otherwise worked together.”

Check out more information on designing a formal mentoring program or selecting a mentor on page 138 of The Manager’s Answer Book available from Amazon -- https://tinyurl.com/y8umaqpz - Barnes & Noble or your local independent bookstore.  

Lifelong Learning A Tip from The Manager’s Answer Book

The May-June, 2018 issue of The Harvard Business Review has an article titled, “Why Lifelong Learning Matters More than Ever” which contains a powerful statement, “Lifelong learning is fundamental to building strong communities, companies, and economies.”

The article discusses how life long learning can go a long way toward helping us solve the skills shortage. While there are more and more learning possibilities available to our employees, not enough people take advantage of what’s available to them.

Organizations need to commit to providing learning opportunities and to make it possible for their employees to have the time to develop their skills through learning.

Manager’s Tip:  Life-long learning is a critical issue which we discuss in The Manager’s Answer Book:

Question: “I want to encourage my employees t continue to learn and grow. What can I do to help them see the importance of continuous learning?”

Answer: “Share what you’re learning with your staff. You can do this in a staff meeting by taking a few minutes to share a book, article, or other resource you’ve found to be helpful. If your employees seem receptive, it is a great idea to ask everyone to read a particular article or watch a specific video and then discuss it when you next meet. This is an easy way to get your employees interested in expanding their knowledge or skill base.”

There are so many ways to learn using available technologies, including:

• Webcasts
• Podcasts
• YouTube
• Online articles
• Audio books
• TED Talks

For more on this subject, see page 99 of The Manager’s Answer Book, available from Amazon -- https://tinyurl.com/y8umaqpz - Barnes & Noble or your local independent bookstore.

Third Time’s a Charm

Fifth Avenue holds fond memories for Cornelia who grew up on Long Island – frequent visits with her father as a child to view the store windows during the holidays.  So when our first book together, The Big Book of HR, was published, we were in New York for a writer’s conference and walked over Barnes & Noble on 5^th Avenue in New York City to see our book displayed on a shelf — pretty exciting for both of us. We never thought we’d tope that experience! We thought, “We can’t beat this!”

Fast forward a year and we were back in New York for the same conference and visited B&N on Fifth to discover two copies of the book were displayed, but on the lowest shelf, so getting a picture was going to be difficult. That didn’t stop Cornelia – she almost sat on the floor to do so.  At that moment, two men approached us and asked if they could help. One was the manager of the business book department who was excited to learn we were the authors of The Big Book of HR.

Turns out they were just discussing the need for more HR books. Cal turned to his assistant and instructed him to order more copies of the book. “I’m going to give your book better placement,” he exclaimed pointing to a display at the front of the store “Top Picks in Business. 

We were absolutely delighted to have met him but also to have him be so positive about our book. “We can’t beat this!”

Well, we go to the writer’s conference annually and make the trip over to see our books. Each of the but the next two years when we went, our friend Cal Hunter wasn’t there but it was still great to see multiple copies of The Big Book of HR prominently displayed.

But the third time was a charm. Cal was in the store and after thanking him for his support, he said, “Did you see the window display?” There in the window on 5^th Avenue in New York City, was The Big Book of HR in a display of “hot” business books!

We share this story for a couple of reasons. One is to thank Cal Hunter of the business book department of Barnes & Noble but the other is to serve as encouragement to you to not give up on your dreams and aspirations! 

Think about this, if Cornelia hadn’t gotten on the floor to snap a picture of our book, would we ever have had the experience of meeting Cal Hunter and having him take an interest in our book that ultimately made it to the window? I do know that not giving up was well worth it and I hope there is something in your life—either your personal life or your business life—that hasn’t happened yet. Our advice is to keep trying and never, never give up on your dreams!