Being An Agile Leader-Manager: Practical skills to handle people challenges in today’s world of work

Managing other people at work is a challenge for every manager… you’re not alone! Are you a practical person but need step-by-step tools to manage others? Want to handle other people’s expectations more effectively?Succeed with tricky conversations Facing resistance to new solutions, new processes or even simple ideas? Want to improve the performance of others? In each chapter, Catherine takes you through a different topic: with exercises, stories and tips to dip into and expand your management skills. If you are a new manager there are practical and useful ways to help you be more effective. If you are an experienced manager there are new processes to learn and fresh strategies to explore. Either way, this book will help you be more agile and deal more effectively with others, be they your employees, your boss, your clients, JV partners or colleagues.

Table of Contents:
Introduction What you want In this book In essence Sayings that this book encapsulates Chapter 1: The Three Generations at Work Changing times Baby Boomers Generation X Generation Y Generation Z Tips on how to manage the three generations Retention: The challenge for employers and managers Maximising the potential of all Ten tips for leader-managers (L-Ms) who are managing the three generations at work In essence Chapter 2: Being a Leader-Manager (L-M) Today Quick history lesson The reluctant manager Defining the Leader-Manager roles Maximising the ‘potential’ of having leader-managers Exercise - Assessing yourself as a L-M Beneath-the-surface drivers Exercise - What invigorates you? In essence Chapter 3: Managing Expectations WHY explicitly discuss and manage expectations? WHEN to have the managing expectations conversation WHAT is the psychological contract? Activity – take an A4 sheet of paper HOW: Discussing and managing expectations Activity – take an A4 sheet of paper Traps to avoid when discussing and managing expectations In essence Chapter 4: Think and Plan Before You Act Be prepared for the unexpected Seven strategies to help you be more effective Encourage consistent behaviours Maintain standards 5W1H Be assertive Align actions with bigger plan/objectives Communicate the why! Doing your preparation In essence Chapter 5: Understanding Resistance to Change From resistance to acceptance Where resistance most commonly occurs in the organisation Recognising the forms of push back Three underlying types of resistance Common reasons for resistance to change Five stages of resistance to change Who is resisting? Preparing to deal with resistance – ask and answer Twenty ways to create a climate of change acceptance In essence Chapter 6: Managing Good Performance and Underperformance Why manage performance effectively and confidently? Activity – engaging your team Taking action: praise/recognition v acknowledgement/appreciation Before you give praise or recognition consider this… Delivering praise, recognition, appreciation Setting people up for performance success Managing underperformance What is underperformance? Useful skills for managing performance Actively promoting good performance Ten top tips for managing underperformance In essence Chapter 7: How to Be an Effective Leader-Manager Understanding yourself and how you can best contribute Three useful beliefs Collaborative business relationships BS11000 In essence Chapter 8: Conversations for Employee Engagement Employee engagement and motivation A word about motivation Conversations for: Clarity Realignment of performance Challenge Disappointment In essence Chapter 9: Handling Difficult ‘Courageous’ Conversations Conversation for clarity and performance Introduction Why handle difficult conversations? The power of how you think A Guided Pathway: A process for constructive Courageous Conversations: before, during and after Start with the end in mind: Use the 3-Stage, 7-Step Process 3-7: The Courageous Conversation Pathway: CHECKLIST for your 3-7: Courageous Conversation Overcoming the barriers to holdingCourageous Conversations Twenty things to BE when handling Courageous Conversations In essence Chapter 10: Effectiveness – Getting it in the muscle Plan, rehearse, practice The Forgetting Curve Knowing is not the same as doing Getting it in the muscle In essence Final Thoughts Author Biography

About the Author :
Catherine is a highly experienced, qualified consultant, facilitator and executive coach with over 20 years’ experience in corporate life. She specialises in helping develop leaders and managers in such a way that they can significantly increase their confidence, competence and impact in the organisations that employ them. She has extensive experience with intact and virtual teams, coaching directors and senior managers in a range of industries. Working with blue chip companies in the areas of leadership, change and management development, she especially enjoys working with individuals, teams and large groups who are in the process of business change and those who want to grow and develop their leader-managers.

Review :
I was thrilled when Catherine asked me to read her book. I expected it to be insightful, full of her words of wisdom and presented in an easy-toread format. I wasn’t disappointed. This will sit in my bookcase alongside the greats as a tool for reference when I’m working through an approach or when I’m designing leader-manager learning interventions. It’s full of useful exercises, rich in short, thought-provoking statements, truly helpful relatable case stories and years of experience in many different sectors of work. Well done Catherine. This is a great read. I really enjoyed it. If you are new as a leader-manager read and learn. If you are an experience leader-manager read on, there are new things to learn and some things to refresh thinking on. This spans the years of leader-manager practice. Read it! This is one of the most engaging, real-world management books I’ve read in a long time. It was like getting a shot of Catherine. You were here with me, being highly engaging, fun, businesslike and motivational. Catherine is an inspirational exec coach and brilliant facilitator at getting ‘You’ to get the best out of ‘You’. Through her teachings, guidance and support I continue to grow each day as an effective Leader. ‘Being an Agile Leader-Manager – practical skills to handle people challenges, in today’s world of work’ is an essential part of the current or aspiring leader-manager’s toolbox; I’d challenge anyone using the book not to identify, learn and improve with it. Catherine’s book is excellent. It really explains the key things that a leader-manager needs to handle effectively in today’s complex organisational environment to deliver success. It’s an excellent ‘go to’ resource for any manager who wants to be successful at managing people. This book gets to the real essence and issues that confront leader-managers in the complex world of business today, providing a valuable guide to the challenges they face. I’ve read some ‘Management’ books before and they have been a trudge with no real learning at the end other than a whole load of terms I’ll never use. This book has substance and meaning. The stories and exercises and ‘?’ sections allow/invite the reader to ‘do’ something rather than being passive. How very grateful would I have been earlier in my career if a manager or mentor had handed me your book. It is brilliantly segmented and specific in areas of focus. It works on every level and it would inspire any manager/leader in my industry to action. I actively recommend it to current and aspiring managers – and to organisations who wish to turn their technical talent into the leaders of the future.