Finding, developing, and retaining terrific team members is hard, but finding and retaining exceptional managers is even more challenging. While most positions within an organization are tasked with a particular set of responsibilities based on experience and skills, managers are charged with vast and complex duties. In recent times, both employers and employees have come to expect managers to keep up with the industry management trends, run a successful team, and still get work done. 

A manager’s ability to navigate countless structural and procedural issues while keeping a cool head is what best describes excellent management.

The phrase, ‘that’s the best boss I’ve ever had,’ is often used by employees to describe great managers. With that in mind, we welcome Ralph Peterson to this week’s episode to help you become the boss everyone wants to be associated with.

TOPICS WE DISCUSSED INCLUDE:

• Getting to know Ralph Peterson (02:25)
• The wonderful world of management (03:45)
• Being the manager of managers (04:43)
• Having difficult conversations with difficult people (05:53)
• Working with Ralph (08:18)
• Including people interested in management in your management talks (09:05)
• 7 out of 10 first-time managers fail in their first 90 days (09:53)
• Super workers progressing to become super leaders (10:50)
• What best describes a great leader? (11:35)
• 5 traits every great manager should have (11:45)
• Working in the business versus working on the business (16:35)
• New managers and timekeeping (16:50)
• Demerits of the open door policy (18:50)
• The time it takes to get back to being laser-focused after being disrupted (19:50)
• The manager’s job is to go and find the problem and not wait for the problem to come to them (20:45)
• Maintaining fairness across your team (21:20)
• Making sure everybody sees you (25:19)
• Why you need to stop taking your work home (26:34)
• Being visible in a remote team (27:18)
• Proving your worth when working remotely (27:55)
• Having clear expectations (29:18)
• The good manager (30:40)
• To be a good manager, you have to be a good person (30:53)
• How to be good at being a good manager (31:50)
• The golden rules of management (32:37)
• Getting the job done (36:50)
• The way you treat people matters (38:10)
• Top 5 tips for upcoming managers (38:40)
• The shortage of managers (39:18)
• The way you see things now is not the same way you’ll see them when in charge (42:15)
• Going from super worker to supervisor (43:05)
• The idea of being in management is prettier than actually being in charge (43:36)