Any Book Suggestions On The Topic Of Managing People?
- Thread starter AdHustler
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ZuzanaDesigns
All Your Design Needs
Managing people and leading people was your query. Which does not implicitly mean 'management' as an office title or position. Plus, they are merely 'suggestions' Anyways, it depends on your opinion and perspective on leadership, management...one person's trash is another's treasure. A good fisherman has many reels, uses various baits and has different weights.
What exactly is the purpose of the books? For you? A gift for some other person?
I worked in management for years and I read a lot books on the subject too. I wish I could give you some Bible on managing people but it doesn't exist. Different personality types require different management approaches and there are a ton of variables depending on what is going on in that persons life, what their expectations are for their job, the weather, you name it - too many variables for their to be a comprehensive book on the subject. There's no substitute for experience, which of course doesn't help starting out.
Understanding psychology will better prepare you for managing people than any management/business books. The better you understand a persons desires and motivations the better you can manage them.
Understanding psychology will better prepare you for managing people than any management/business books. The better you understand a persons desires and motivations the better you can manage them.
In my office we have had great luck with the One Minute Manager books. I ended up buying one for myself and then one for each of our employees. I had them all read it and talk about how it applied to our company and their position in it. We changed our methodology to match up with it and have had great results.
Managing employees was one of my most hated tasks and this book/process really simplified things for me.
Managing employees was one of my most hated tasks and this book/process really simplified things for me.
I've worked in management, been a team leader, and been in client facing roles. You want to break it down into two categories; managing things (time, projects, milestone) and motivating people. Managing things can be done with PM and CRM tools that everyone can log into and see what tasks are assigned. Give them the big picture too, not just the task at hand. People want to know what this cog they're making will be used for and how their work fits in. Motivating people can be helped with having them understand the milestones in projects and have some kind of celebration to recognize their contribution. If you want to go deeper than that then it comes down to psychology as stated above. What most people want is autonomy and the freedom to do what they want, and then seek monetary rewards. Not sure if you have virtual or in house employees. That's a difference. The best advice I can give is give as much information to them as you can about your vision for the business and how they can be a part of it.
Understand the basic skills behind your employees positions and manage accordingly.
A creative thinking employee is way different than say, sales.
A creative employee will respond to motivations like: explaining how they are making a difference in the world, relaxed work environments, small perks, etc.
A sales guy will respond well to pressure and financial motivation. Try to motivate sales guys with 'making a difference' and you won't get many sales. Try to motivate a designer with pressure/financial reward for efficiency and you will get crappy designs even from the best designers.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc]RSA Animate - Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us - YouTube[/ame]
No better words about management have ever been spoken. The reason why people had trouble managing or retain me was because they couldn't figure out what I wanted. It was really simple. I wanted to be given an assignment and then left the fuck alone to complete it. I didn't want social interaction via office parties, required get togethers, team building exercises, etc. I didn't really give a shit about financial incentives after a certain stage in my life, because I had already maxed out my salary cap for my "career" by the time I was 25. I just wanted to be left alone and no manager any where could figure that out. It got to a point where I had an office space moment. I was making more in a month than I would in over a year at any place that would hire a top notch programmer so I said fuck it. I yelled at a few people and walked out. I did end up coming back for a while though as a consultant which meant a fuck load more money and working from where ever I wanted. I gave them a one sided contract that basically said you'll pay me X up front and then I can do what ever I want when I want and you'll like it. I didn't expect them to sign it, but they did.
tl;dr
If you can't seem to find someones incentive give them an assignment and leave them the fuck alone. See if they complete it correctly, on time, and become happy.
If you're hiring programmers disregard a lot of this. If you're hiring creative social people listen to this.
As a programmer I could care less about the vision you have for your company unless it's directly related to the software I'm writing. Then I care, because it's my job to care. I also already know what cog I am. I make software that is my job. Reiterating that is demeaning. Celebrating when I do my job correctly is also demeaning. Of course I hit the deadline that's what I get paid to do. Celebrating that I did it implies you didn't think I would. A thank you or good job is generally enough. Freedom is the biggest thing you can give your tech workers. If you can't trust them to hit their deadlines without micro-managing them you should fire them.
If you don't believe me go hide a tape recorder or microphone next to your developers. You'll hear them bitching about being bothered by someone from XYZ department. If they're being micro-managed you'll also hear them bitch about that as well. Constant meetings are another thing you'll hear them bitch about. Meetings are importing, but for ever hour a meeting lasts that means one hour of development time that has to be made up that week.
Also, don't have multiple systems developers have to login to. It's a pain in the ass to have to have one system for bug reports, one system for task delegation, another z, another y. Keep it in one system or you'll find people not using all of them like they should. I know it sounds silly, but I've seen places have numerous systems and then wonder why some don't get used.
This, hands down:
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Managing-featured-Leadership-Results-Goleman/dp/1422158012/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346915235&sr=8-1&keywords=managing+people"]Amazon.com: HBR's 10 Must Reads on Managing People (with featured article "Leadership That Gets Results," by Daniel Goleman) (9781422158012): Harvard Business Review: Books[/ame]
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Managing-featured-Leadership-Results-Goleman/dp/1422158012/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346915235&sr=8-1&keywords=managing+people"]Amazon.com: HBR's 10 Must Reads on Managing People (with featured article "Leadership That Gets Results," by Daniel Goleman) (9781422158012): Harvard Business Review: Books[/ame]