1998 Weekly Management Tips (1st Half)
This list of tips is intended to help you focus on the key issues that are important to your success as a manager. (If you would like to contribute a tip to this list, email it to me.)
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05/28/98: Keep the flame alive. When people join your organization they are all fired up and ready to do great things. Over time we all too often wear down that enthusiasm. Instead, do what you can to fan the flames of their enthusiasm and you will be amazed at their output.
04/20/98: Under-promise and over-deliver. This goes beyond the old adage 'don't promise what you can't deliver'. Instead, deliver more than what you promised. It's a good way to build customer rapport - both outside and inside the company.
04/13/98: Your greatest resource is your people. You can have the best, high tech, equipment available. but, without the people you have no business. Treat your people with the same, or greater, care as you do your equipment. (This week's tip is from Calvin Dukeshire )
04/06/98: Keep your focus external. Stay focused outside your company so you watch your customers and competitors. Don't get hung up on internal processes and procedures if it keeps you from looking outward.
03/17/98: Structure follows Strategy. When you develop your company's internet presence, or any other part of the business, remember that what you want to achieve (Strategy) has to drive the design and implementation (Structure). Don't get it backwards and let technology obscure the business purpose.
03/10/98: Do Your Homework. Whether it's a proposal to a major client or a meeting with the Shop Steward of a union, you will do better if you are prepared. Collect the facts, think the problem through, talk to the others involved. Take the time to do the "up-front" work and the "downstream " work will be easier and more rewarding.
03/04/98: Delight the Customer. It is heard a lot, but seldom practiced. Today I saw a production supervisor straighten out a mess and, in the process, calm an irate customer. When I heard her tell them to put two mugs with the company's logo into the package being sent to the customer, I knew she understood what "Delight the Customer" means.
02/27/98: Don't Get Lost in the Steps. Stay focused on what it is you need/want to accomplish. Don't focus on the steps involved. Be more concerned about your ultimate goal than about any individual step along the way.
02/10/98: Don't Be A Demotivator. Your job as a leader is to get and keep your people motivated and working toward the common goal. Demeaning them, to their face or to others, erodes their motivation. So does dismissively telling them that their ideas "are stupid". Watch your own actions to be sure you aren't defeating your own efforts by demotivating your people.
02/01/98: If you're not #1 in your market space, define a new market space in which you can be Number 1.
01/20/98: Don't DO Anything. Your job as a manager is to "plan, organize, control and direct." Don't let yourself waste valuable time by falling back on what you did before you became a manager. We know you enjoy it and you are good at it. That's why you were promoted. Now you need to concentrate your efforts on managing, not on "doing".
01/06/98: Manage the function, not the paperwork. Remember that your job is to manage a specific function within the company, whatever that may be. There is a lot of paperwork that goes with the job, but don't let that distract you from your real responsibility.
