Practical Ways to Manage Yourself

Praise Quotes

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Who Are the People in These Essays?

1.Management Starts with Managing Yourself

1. 1.1Discover Your Management Balance with Congruence
2. Where to Start with Congruence?
3. 1.2Manage With Value-Based Integrity
4. 1.3Self-Esteem Builds Empathy and Respect for Yourself
5. 1.4Managers Serve and Lead Others
6. 1.5Managers Manage the System
7. 1.6Consider These Principles for Managing Yourself
8. 1.7Build Your Management Excellence

2.How Valuable Are Managers?

1. 2.1Myth: I Am More Valuable than Other People
2. 2.2Middle Managers Have a Difficult Balancing Act
3. 2.3Great Management Is Servant Leadership
4. 2.4Assess the Cost of Your Decisions or the Cost of Change
5. 2.5Consider the Value You Offer

3.Are You the One to Solve This Problem?

1. 3.1Myth: I Must Solve the Team’s Problem for Them
2. 3.2Managers Want to Be Helpful
3. 3.3Encourage the People Who See the Problems to Solve Them
4. 3.4Managers Can Help Unstick Problem-Solving
5. 3.5Let the Team Solve Its Own Problems
6. 3.6Options to Avoid Inflicting Help

4.Does Your Team Need You So They Can Work?

1. 4.1Myth: I Am Too Valuable to Take a Vacation
2. 4.2“Please Stay in Touch While You Are Gone”
3. 4.3Do You Feel Indispensable?
4. 4.4Prepare to Delegate
5. 4.5Consider What You Can Delegate
6. 4.6Support Your Team’s Decisions
7. 4.7Avoid Anyone Second Guessing Your Team’s Decisions
8. 4.8Identify Your Delegation Boundaries
9. 4.9Options to Start Delegation
10. 4.10Take a Vacation

5.Can You Be Effective as a Player-Coach?

1. 5.1Myth: I Can Still Do Significant Technical Work
2. 5.2Do You Still Understand the Details?
3. 5.3Know What You Can Do
4. 5.4Consider the Role of a Technical Manager
5. 5.5Create an Environment Where People Can Solve Problems
6. 5.6Can You Contribute Technically?
7. 5.7Where Does Management Time Go?
8. 5.8But, My Manager Expects Me to Do Both
9. 5.9Frustrated by Management Work?
10. Do You Have Impostor Syndrome?
11. 5.10What If You Love Technical Work?
12. 5.11Options to Move from Player-Coach to Manager

6.Can You Trust Your Estimation Gut?

1. 6.1Myth: I Know How Long the Work Should Take
2. 6.2How Long Will the Work Take?
3. 6.3Do You Still Know What to Do?
4. 6.4What Does the Manager Want?
5. 6.5Options for When You Don’t Like the Estimate

7.When Do You Ask, “Are You Done Yet?”

1. 7.1Myth: It’s Fine if I Micromanage
2. 7.2Learn How to Delegate
3. 7.3Clarify Which Information You Need When
4. 7.4Offer Feedback to Managers
5. 7.5Recognize Your Micromanagement
6. 7.6Options to Stop Micromanagement

8.Does the Team Need Motivation?

1. 8.1Myth: The Team Needs a Cheerleader!
2. 8.2Intrinsic Motivation Is What Counts
3. 8.3Use Purpose to Solve Problems
4. 8.4Transparency Helps Everyone
5. 8.5Cheerleading Denies Everyone Courage
6. 8.6Options to Encourage and Create Real Motivation

9.Are You Allowed to Make Mistakes?

1. 9.1My Very Bad-Manager Day
2. 9.2Myth: I Must Never Admit My Mistakes
3. 9.3Managers Make Mistakes
4. 9.4A Manager’s Mistakes Cascade
5. 9.5Managers Can Rebuild Trust
6. 9.6Wrong Decisions Happen
7. 9.7Ask for Help
8. 9.8Options to Make Safe Mistakes

10.When Do You Take Time to Think?

1. 10.1Myth: I Can Concentrate on the Run
2. 10.2When Do You Make Time to Concentrate?
3. 10.3When Do You Decide?
4. 10.4How Do You Concentrate?
5. 10.5Create a Structured Meeting
6. 10.6Sitting Might Not Be the Answer
7. 10.7Options to Make Time to Think

11.Are Problems Bad?

1. 11.1Myth: I Must Always Have a Solution to the Problem
2. 11.2Manager Rules Prevent Easy Problem-Solving
3. 11.3Transform Your Manager Rules to Guides
4. 11.4Rules About Problems Won’t Make the Problems Vanish
5. 11.5Acknowledge Your Feelings
6. 11.6Problems Might Be Possibilities
7. 11.7Options to Consider Problems as Possibilities

12.How Much Do You Trust the People You Serve?

1. 12.1Myth: You’re Empowered Because I Said So
2. 12.2What Does Empowerment Mean?
3. 12.3Clarify Boundaries
4. 12.4Telling Isn’t the Same as Being
5. 12.5Options to Extend Trust

13.What Does “Indispensable” Mean?

1. 13.1Myth: You Believe in Indispensable Employees
2. 13.2Indispensable Employees Create Bottlenecks
3. 13.3What Do You Do with Indispensable Employees?
4. Are All of Your Employees Bottlenecks?
5. 13.4Consider the Growth Mindset
6. 13.5Avoid the Scarcity Thinking Trap
7. 13.6Origins Of This Thinking
8. 13.7Options to Stop Relying on Indispensable or 10X Employees

14.How Can I Do All of This Alone?

1. 14.1Myth: Good Managers Don’t Need One-on-Ones
2. 14.2Create Opportunities to See More of the System
3. 14.3Address Your Management Challenges
4. 14.4Build Trust Both Ways
5. 14.5Options to Create Regular One-on-Ones with Your Manager

15.Where Will You Start Managing Yourself?

1. 15.1Measure Your Cycle Time
2. 15.2Assess Your Behavior Now
3. 15.3Change Behaviors Before Beliefs
4. 15.4Why Do People Not Know About These Ideas?
5. 15.5You Don’t Have to Be Perfect

Annotated Bibliography

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