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    Manager Mechanics: Tips and Advice for First-Time Managers
    Manager Mechanics: Tips and Advice for First-Time Managers
    Manager Mechanics: Tips and Advice for First-Time Managers
    Ebook199 pages2 hours

    Manager Mechanics: Tips and Advice for First-Time Managers

    By Eric P. Bloom

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    About this ebook

    An entertaining, fast-paced, and enjoyable read, Manager Mechanics serves as both mentor and guide for newly minted managers. Blooms uses his more than twenty-five years experience to give first-timers the practical knowledge and political insights needed to perform successfully in their new management role.

    Just been made a manager? Great! Now what? Have kids? If so, you have all the management experience you need. Congratulations, now you get to manage your friends. Now that Im a manager, whats my next step? Discover how work is not a democracy; its a dictatorship! Learn about the 7 kinds of troubled employees; Sleazy, Grumpy, Lazy, Brainy, Tardy, Dummy and Troubled. How does the hiring process really work? Uncover the truth about the Good, the Bad and the Other. Bloom explains how new and seasoned managers alike will gain techniques and proven approaches for leading their teams, hiring top talent, navigating company politics, avoiding career-limiting mistakes and producing high-quality, well-planned results.

    Manager Mechanics is your first step toward cultivating a strong career in management. Improve your communication skills, employee morale, and work environment with this indispensable guide!

    Im always on the lookout for great new training materials, and this book is right on target. It gives great advice, is well-written and has just enough humor in it to make it fun. Eric Bloom really understands new manager needs.

    Susan J. Goldberg
    President and CEO of Northeast Training Group, Inc.

    This book is a must read for anyone in a managerial role. Its easy to read, contains practical examples, and as a result, is easy to remember.

    Jeffrey Burd, Esq.
    Director of Placement, Kelly Law Registry

    Street-wise advice on handling the important everyday issues nobody tells you about.

    Frank Capecci
    Executive Leadership Consultant

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisheriUniverse
    Release dateJun 2, 2009
    ISBN9781440133510
    Manager Mechanics: Tips and Advice for First-Time Managers

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      Book preview

      Manager Mechanics - Eric P. Bloom

      Manager Mechanics:

      Tips and Advice for First-Time Managers

      Eric P. Bloom

      iUniverse, Inc.

      New York Bloomington

      Manager Mechanics

      Tips and Advice for First-Time Managers

      Copyright © 2009 by Eric P. Bloom

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

      iUniverse

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.iuniverse.com

      1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any Web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      ISBN: 978-1-4401-3349-7 (pbk)

      ISBN: 978-1-4401-3350-3 (cloth)

      ISBN: 978-1-4401-3351-0 (ebk)

      iUniverse rev. date: 6/22/2009

      To Emily, Jonathan, and Jeannie

      Contents

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      PREFACE

      Nobody Reads the Preface, but Maybe You

      Should Read This One

      INTRODUCTION

      What Are Manager Mechanics?

      Some Specifics

      Chapter 1

      FOOD FOR THOUGHT FOR A NEW MANAGER

      Have Kids? You Have All the Management

      Training You Need

      Caring about Your Group Is Half the Battle, but Not the

      Whole Story

      Your Team Doesn’t Have to Like You, but They

      Do Have to Respect You

      Key Points

      Chapter 2

      MANAGEMENT REALITIES

      Congratulations, You Get to Manage

      Your Friends

      The Management Dress Code

      Following the Company Line

      Other Managers Are Now Your Peers

      Managers Live in Fish Tanks

      Key Points

      Chapter 3

      MANAGING YOUR TEAM: THE GOOD STUFF

      Work Is Not a Democracy: It’s a Dictatorship

      Developing Trust

      Motivating Your Group

      Allowing for Employees’ Personal Needs

      Building Loyalty

      The Rule of No Surprises

      Key Points

      Food for Thought

      Chapter 4

      MANAGING YOUR TEAM: THE BAD STUFF

      Making Promises You Can’t Keep

      How to Discipline a Staff Member

      The Seven Types of Difficult Employees

      Sleazy

      Grumpy

      Lazy

      Brainy

      Tardy

      Dummy

      Troubled

      Key Points

      Food for Thought

      Chapter 5

      NAVIGATING OFFICE POLITICS

      Being the Chief Cheerleader

      for Your Department

      Manager-Level Politics

      Managing Up

      Managing Down

      Knowing What Not to Send in an E-mail

      Key Points

      Food for Thought

      Chapter 6

      THE HIRING PROCESS

      What You Should Know

      In Office Lingo, It’s a Req

      Getting Permission to Hire

      Finding People to Interview

      Reviewing Résumés

      When You Recognize a Name on a Résumé

      The Interview Process

      Deciding Which Person to Hire

      Hiring Good People

      Key Points

      u Food for Thought u

      Chapter 7

      THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE OTHER

      Giving Promotions

      Parity in Pay among Peers

      Giving Raises

      u Span of Control Rules u

      u The Importance of Communication u

      Contractor to Employee Conversions

      Employee Training, Who Needs What

      Firing People

      Laying People Off

      Key Points

      Food for Thought

      Chapter 8

      HR AND VENDORS AND FINANCE (OH, MY!)

      u Working with the Human

      Resources Department u

      Working with Vendors

      Working with the Finance Department

      Key Points

      Food for Thought

      Chapter 9

      PROCESS TO THE PEOPLE

      (RIGHT ON!)

      Performance Reviews

      u Management by Objective (MBOs) u

      Salary Planning

      Succession Planning

      Key Points

      u Food for Thought u

      Chapter 10

      BUDGETING

      Importance of Your Budget

      Components of Your Budget

      Budget-Planning Process

      Padding Your Budget (I Mean: Creating Budget Contingency)

      Expenses versus Capitalization

      Key Points

      Food for Thought

      Chapter 11

      MANAGEMENT NO-NO’S

      No, Don’t Do It

      Playing Favorites

      Gossiping about Your Staff

      Lying to Your Staff

      Lying to Your Boss about Your Staff

      Leaving Employee Data Hanging Around

      Making Promises to Your Staff that You Can’t Keep

      Sexual Harassment

      Making Racial, Sexual, or Other Jokes in Bad Taste

      Having Sex with a Subordinate

      Wanting to Have Sex with a Subordinate

      Key Points

      Food for Thought

      Chapter 12

      PERSONAL GROWTH

      Make Sure You Want to Be a Manager

      Defining Your Management Style

      Watching Other Managers and Learning from Them

      Finding a Mentor

      Leadership versus Management

      Consider Your Next Move

      Your Continuing Journey

      Key Points

      Food for Thought

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      I would like to thank the many people who assisted me in the creation of this book. Your help, suggestions, guidance, and support are truly appreciated. In particular, I would like to thank Emily Bloom and Jonathan Bloom for suggesting various topics for the book and for their general inspiration, David Ossam for his advice, Mandy Tom for suggesting I write the book, and Denise Boulanja for proofreading the original manuscript.

      PREFACE

      Nobody Reads the Preface, but Maybe You

      Should Read This One

      How about that? I got you to read the preface.

      On a serious note, this book took twenty-five years and four months to write. The twenty-five years represents my business experience working within small, medium, and large companies. Over that time, I have been an individual contributor, a project leader, a manager of individual contributors, and a manager of managers.

      Over the years, I worked for a few great managers, a number of good managers, and a few, not-so-good managers. From the great managers, I learned about leadership, courage, professional competence, and the many other traits that we aspire to attain. From the good managers, I learned about solid management practice, the importance of understanding your job, and the reasons for doing it well. From the not-so-good managers, I learned how not to manage, how not to treat your team, and how it feels to be poorly managed. In all cases, I observed their actions and learned from their managerial triumphs and failures. From these experiences, I gained the knowledge needed to become a manager myself and, ultimately, to write this book.

      The four months refers to the time it took to actually write the book.

      My goal with this book is to provide you, a new manager, with knowledge that will help you grow professionally, help you help your subordinates to grow professionally, and help you contribute to your company’s success.

      My hope is that you find this book to be a fast, very informative, and entertaining read. Should you want to contact me regarding this book, I can be reached via eric@ManagerMechanics.com. Happy reading, good managing, and good luck.

      Oh, by the way, did you hear the joke about the manager who went fishing? Sorry, I actually don’t know any good manager jokes. I’ll tell you what, if you e-mail me a good manager joke, and I include it in my next book, I’ll put your name in the credits. You can contact me at eric@ManagerMechanics.com.

      Eric P. Bloom

      INTRODUCTION

      What Are Manager Mechanics?

      Manager Mechanics are based on the core set of personal traits, skills, and knowledge needed to be a great manager.

      The personal traits include a willingness to take on responsibility, provide leadership, and act decisively, as well as a desire to treat others with respect, honesty, and integrity.

      The skills include the ability to communicate, delegate, hire quality people, teach and mentor staff, organize meetings, run projects, properly set expectations, follow directions, give directions, and instill confidence in others.

      The knowledge includes an understanding of office politics, budgeting, human resource-related activities, planning, forecasting, and a working knowledge of the area you are managing.

      This book has been designed to address these and other areas in an informative, fun, and fast manner. I hope you enjoy the book and enjoy being a manager.

      Some Specifics

      At various times in the book, I generically refer to the Human Resources (HR) department and the finance department. In large companies, these departments may each have hundreds of people, and in small companies, there may be a single person who performs both functions. In either case, when I suggest that you speak with the HR or finance department, I simply mean that you should speak to the person in your company knowledgeable and/or responsible for these business functions.

      Regarding the he/she debate: While writing this book, I tried to use both genders equally. In other words, I used he/him examples as often as she/her examples. I did this because I have found that men and women make equally good and equally bad managers. For me personally, my best manager was a woman and my worst manager was a man. The reason that I am speaking about this at all is because as a writer (and as a manager), I try to be fair and even in all ways.

      The book’s accompanying Web site, www.ManagerMechanics.com, contains additional materials, suggestions, and links to other high-quality management training materials, books, and organizations.

      Chapter 1

      FOOD FOR THOUGHT FOR A NEW MANAGER

      Have Kids? You Have All the Management

      Training You Need

      Believe it or not, caring for your children is good management training. As a parent, you learn to praise and discipline your children, as well as provide guidance, direction, leadership, and a pleasant living environment. You teach your children new skills and give them additional training via teachers and coaches. You make sure they have the supplies they need—crayons, scissors, and paper—to perform various tasks. You teach them to minimize unneeded risks by teaching them not to run with scissors and to look both ways before crossing the street. You learn that each child is an individual with his or her own personality, likes, dislikes, motivations, skills, and abilities. Lastly, you realize the need to treat each child as an individual, the importance of being part of a family, and the responsibility that being part of a family brings.

      Another thing that a parent quickly realizes (or at least I did) is that you don’t have all the answers. As a parent, you find that you must learn new skills, like changing diapers, food preparation, and family budgeting. You also learn the importance of decision making. Questions such as, what to make for dinner, does the child need to see the doctor, which school is best, should the child be punished, and more have to be answered. You also have to learn how to react properly when your children whine, yell

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