Torvald / Torvald Nyquist

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Huffduffed (137)

  1. The Management Trinity - Part 1 | Manager Tools

    This cast describes the origins of the Management Trinity: why we preach it, and how it came to be.

    The Management Trinity: One on Ones, Feedback, and Coaching, plus their silent fourth partner, Delegation, are at the heart of everything Manager Tools recommends. Often when we get asked questions about how to manage, we know immediately whether or not the asking manager is using our models for One on Ones, or Feedback, or Coaching.

    Virtually every manager who has tried these "Manager Tools" says the same thing: "My God, these things really work! Where were you guys years ago, when I was just learning how to manage!" Every once in a while Mark laughs when he hears the line, "You're not going to believe it! These tools really work!" He always thinks, and sometimes says, "Why wouldn't I believe it?"

    And, we get LOTS of questions about the Trinity. Where did it come from, how did you develop it, why does it work, and of course, why isn't everyone doing this? The last one is always nice to hear. We think the answer to the last is related to the clever line that when there is chaos, someone benefits, but that's for another cast.

    This cast attempts to answer some of those fundamental questions about the Trinity. Now, we admit that this cast is a bit unusual in that it is not quite as hard hitting as most casts are in terms of actionable recommendations. We present it with the hope that it will help you as a manager explain WHY you are using these tools, and what their origin is. (For those of you familiar with DiSC, this is the explanation and background you can share with your High C directs.)

    All Of The Manager Tools Trinity Tools Are Teachable Equivalents

    One on Ones: Great Managers Know Their People Exceptionally Well

    Feedback: Great Managers Communicate Incessantly About Performance

    Coaching: Great Managers Regularly Ask for Improved Performance

    Delegation: Great Managers Grow Organizational Capability

    How Can I Use This Knowledge?

    https://www.manager-tools.com/2009/10/management-trinity-part-1

    —Huffduffed by Torvald

  2. The First Rule Of Probing In An Interview | Manager Tools

    This guidance describes the most important things to ask further questions about during an interview.

    Most interviews are terrible.

    And, we're not talking about it from the perspective of the candidate, but rather the manager!

    Most of us really are not very good at all at interviewing.

    When you combine this weakness with what every Manager Tools manager knows - that interviewing is the most important thing managers do - well, that might just be a problem. :-)

    The question we get most frequently from managers is what questions should I ask?

    This is a fine question - and that's why we have our Interview Creation Tool.

    But it's not the best question.

    The best question is how do I evaluate their answers?

    Most of us do this poorly.

    Part of that happens because candidates are terrible at answering our questions.

    And, most of us don't probe enough as they're answering.

    One way to quickly get better at evaluating answers is to probe the decisions they make.

    But how?

    https://www.manager-tools.com/2012/01/first-rule-probing-interview

    —Huffduffed by Torvald

  3. The Coaching Model - Part 1 | Manager Tools

    This cast describes the Manager Tools Revised Coaching Model.

    Coaching is the least often used tool among the Management Trinity. There are some good reasons for it. One on Ones are the most powerful, and once managers start O3s they never want to let them go. Feedback happens next, but it's hard for many of us, and so we stumble. Many of us are afraid of introducing conflict, and fear increased turnover (even though of course the opposite is the case.) And if we can't get through feedback, it's unlikely we're going to embrace the coaching. Feedback takes seconds, but coaching takes months, right?

    But there's another reason, one that we address with this cast. Despite the fact that the original model works well, it was too complicated for too many managers. We know this because so few of us were using it. That's a shame, because it's not that hard. But, as we've said before, we're realists here at Manager Tools and Career Tools. Horstman's 9th Law: Embrace Reality. This cast simplifies the Manager Tools Coaching Model from seven steps to four, and makes this important concept much more accessible.

    https://www.manager-tools.com/2009/07/coaching-model-revised

    —Huffduffed by Torvald

  4. The Coaching Model - Part 2 | Manager Tools

    In this cast, we complete our discussion of the Revised Manager Tools Coaching Model.

    Coaching is the least often used tool among the Management Trinity. There are some good reasons for it. One on Ones are the most powerful, and once managers start O3s they never want to let them go. Feedback happens next, but it's hard for many of us, and so we stumble. Many of us are afraid of introducing conflict, and fear increased turnover (even though of course the opposite is the case.) And if we can't get through feedback, it's unlikely we're going to embrace the coaching. Feedback takes seconds, but coaching takes months, right?

    But there's another reason, one that we address with this cast. Despite the fact that the original model works well, it was too complicated for too many managers. We know this because so few of us were using it. That's a shame, because it's not that hard. But, as we've said before, we're realists here at Manager Tools and Career Tools. Horstman's 9th Law: Embrace Reality. This cast simplifies the Manager Tools Coaching Model from seven steps to four, and makes this important concept much more accessible.

    https://www.manager-tools.com/2009/07/coaching-model-part-2

    —Huffduffed by Torvald

  5. Brainstorming - Part 1 (Hall Of Fame Guidance) | Manager Tools

    In today's fast and flat world, ideas are becoming critical competitive advantages.

    Managers - and many others - need to be good at getting the most and best ideas from themselves and their teams.

    And, if you ask a hundred managers what are some of the tools they might use to generate ideas, the ONLY tool that would get 100 votes is brainstorming.

    The funny thing is, we've been in lots of meetings where folks said that what they were doing was brainstorming, but it wasn't.

    It was solution development, which is a completely different thing.

    Since many managers don't know how to lead a brainstorming session, this cast tells you how.

    https://www.manager-tools.com/2006/07/brainstorming-part-1-of-2#

    —Huffduffed by Torvald

  6. Bench Evaluation Chapter 1: Probing | Manager Tools

    This guidance describes how to interview those colleagues on your bench…without interviewing them.

    We've had a lot of folks ask us over the years about how to interact with their bench. If you don't know what we mean by your bench, we mean those colleagues, associates, potentially friends, who are high performers that you could see yourself working with in some fashion in the future.

    "Having to fill an opening" when you lose someone is inherently a bad process. Manager Tools managers are always building their bench, and evaluating them, so that when there IS a rare opening, they not only see it coming, they have someone ready to fill it. Someone they've already "interviewed."

    Here's part of what to do.

    https://www.manager-tools.com/2012/03/bench-evaluation-chapter-1-probing

    —Huffduffed by Torvald

  7. Measuring The Trinity - Chapter 1 | Manager Tools

    This guidance explains how to BEGIN to measure YOUR success in rolling out the Manager Tools Trinity - One on Ones, Feedback, Coaching, and Delegation.

    We can always get a sense of the use of measurement of managerial change and skill development when we ask Effective Manager Conference attendees a couple of qualifying questions about their use of the Trinity's tools. There are always managers there who have been doing O3s for years, and managers who are (often hostages) completely clueless about our recommendations. When we ask, who is doing One on Ones weekly, we get varied answers. But when we ask those that said they were if they were doing them with everyone, 80% of the time, there's a questioning look on over almost all of the faces that said they were doing them.

    What we've come to realize is that the befuddlement we see isn't necessarily a function of whether someone is getting value from One on Ones, or even if they're doing them, or well. The point is, if you're not measuring them, you surely don't know how you stack up against any reasonable measurement.

    And surely we all know that if it's worth doing, it's worth measuring, right?

    https://www.manager-tools.com/2011/06/measuring-trinity-chapter-1

    —Huffduffed by Torvald

  8. Rolling Out the Manager Tools’ Trinity - Part 1 | Manager Tools

    This cast describes how to gradually implement Manager Tools' Management Trinity (One on Ones, Feedback, Coaching - and Delegation!).

    We've been asked a thousand questions about what to do and when to do it when it comes to the Management Trinity, and we've finally gotten frustrated enough to do something about it.

    We assumed that a lot of the ideas we're going to share here just made sense, and managers were taking the parts of the Trinity step by step, mastering each one, and adding new parts as they were able.

    And then we got an email complaining that putting ALL FOUR of the Trinity in place all at once was "JUST TOO HARD".

    And, that listener was right — it was too hard — and we weren't helping by not sharing our guidance.

    We've shared these ideas with hundreds of corporate client managers — and now it's time to share it with everyone.

    Step by step, here's how you do it.

    If you ask us, if there WERE a Manager Tools Hall of Fame (HOF), this cast would be in it.

    https://www.manager-tools.com/2008/08/rolling-out-the-manager-tools-trinity-part-1

    —Huffduffed by Torvald

  9. The First Rule for New Managers | Manager Tools

    In this cast, we share the First Rule For New Managers: the most important recommendation for someone taking over a team.

    We have been asked hundreds of times for guidance on what to do as a new manager, and we're finally ready to start rolling out this series of casts.

    This first cast will probably surprise some of our listeners, because it's pretty counterintuitive.

    On the other hand, we have alluded to it in a few casts before.

    It's just not what most people think it should be.

    We'll tell you as well what most managers do…and why they're wrong.

    The first in a series: The Manager Tools Guidelines For New Managers

    https://www.manager-tools.com/2008/03/the-first-rule-for-new-managers

    —Huffduffed by Torvald

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