Managing to Make a Difference: How to Engage, Retain, and Develop Talent for Maximum Performance

  • 3h 59m
  • Kim Turnage, Larry Sternberg
  • John Wiley & Sons (US)
  • 2017

A practical, real-world training manual for mid-level management

Managing to Make a Difference presents a leadership guide for those in the middle. The C-suite has a wealth of resources for leadership guidance, but middle managers face a quandary: often given little guidance on how to excel, they are also under enormous pressure to do a variety of things other than "lead." This book provides much-needed tools and techniques for building a high-performing team—without letting your other duties suffer. Organized around a coherent philosophy and based on solid research, the discussion offers a roadmap to engagement, talent development, and excellence in management. From difficult situations and organizational challenges to everyday motivation and inspiration, these techniques help middle managers achieve the goals of their organization while empowering their workers to achieve their own.

Talent development is probably not your full-time job—yet it drives the engagement that results in high performance. This book shows you how to hit the "sweet spot" of middle management, with a host of tools and strategies to help you help your team shine.

  • Motivate, inspire, and lead your team with confidence
  • Manage through challenges and overcome obstacles
  • Develop key talent and maintain high engagement
  • Adopt practical management tools based on substantiated research

Most organizations direct the majority of their development resources to the C-suite, but still expect their mid-level managers to attract, engage, retain, and develop talent; but successfully juggling everyday duties while maintaining team performance and leading around roadblocks leaves little room for management planning. Managing to Make a Difference offers the solution in the form of tools, techniques, and practical strategy for a high performing team.

In this Book

  • Introduction
  • Relationships Create Opportunities to Make a Difference
  • Get to Know Your Employees
  • Go Ahead, Get Close to Your People
  • Accept People as They are
  • Tolerate Undesirable Behaviors
  • Make People Significant
  • Prioritize One-on-Ones
  • Don't Make Relationship Conflicts Worse
  • Apologize
  • Forgive
  • Cultivate a Great Relationship with Your Boss
  • Embrace the Ebb and Flow of Relationships
  • Abandon the “Follow Shirley” Method
  • Help People Self-Actualize
  • Coach to Improve Performance
  • Optimize Fit
  • Set the Right Expectations
  • Ask the Right Questions
  • Kick Butt the Right Way
  • Emphasize the Why
  • Meet People's Needs
  • Don't Sit on Good People
  • Resist the Temptation to Seize Control
  • Empower Your People
  • Harness Discretionary Effort
  • Solicit Volunteers for Unpopular Tasks
  • Create a Sense of Urgency
  • Set Challenging Goals
  • Be Unreasonably Optimistic
  • Recruit Continuously
  • Bet on Talent
  • Ensure the Right Fit
  • Match the Right People to the Right Training
  • Delegate to the Right People
  • Ask for Commitment
  • Invest Your Time with Top Performers
  • Conduct Occasional Team-Building Events
  • Advance from Team to Family
  • Avoid the Peter Principle
  • Don't Lead People on
  • Sometimes Firing Someone is the Caring Thing to Do
  • Never Badmouth Top Performers Who Resign
  • Don't Always Take the Easy Way Out
  • Focus on the Right Things
  • Exemplify Cultural Values in Employee Orientation
  • Welcome and Integrate New Team Members
  • Adjust to Accommodate New Employees
  • Curate Your Organization's Folklore
  • Enliven Cultural Values and Expectations
  • Provide Frequent, Candid Feedback
  • Shape a Culture of Recognition and Appreciation
  • Emotionally Rehire People
  • Celebrate Personal and Professional Accomplishments
  • Ask, “How Can I Help?”
  • Encourage Employees to Have Fun
  • Address Poor Performance
  • Address Bad Behavior
  • Exert Moral Authority
  • Rise above the Politics
  • Don't Chase Hearsay, Rumors, or Gossip
  • Speak Positively about Those Not Present
  • Embrace Uncertainty, Be Confident, Instill Hope
  • Encourage Suggestions—Have an Appetite for New Ideas
  • Don't Strive for 100 Percent Buy-in
  • Take Action on Legacy Employees
  • Replace Employees Who are Blocking Change
  • Overcommunicate during a Management Transition
  • Prepare for the Unknowable Future
  • Develop Yourself
  • Define What Success Means to You
  • Spend More Time on the 20
  • Build Your Strengths
  • If You Have Been Newly Promoted, Just Take Charge
  • If You Feel Trapped in Your Job, Change Something
  • Take Steps to Fit in on a New Job
  • Hire Some People Who Can Replace You
  • Find a Mentor
  • Become a Better Mentee
  • Express Your Gratitude
  • Notes
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