Simplifying Management

Some of my best ideas come from my clients. I’ve been working with one organization for about a year and recently completed their employee handbook. The Director of Operations asked me if I had a managers’ guide she could give to current and new managers—something of a primer on how to manage and handle employee performance challenges. After giving her request some consideration, I decided I could provide this information in a blog format. Then the instructional guidance would be widely available to not only them, but to others, too.

You may be thinking, what makes her the expert? I’m not sure I’m the expert. But I do know things. Having spent my 35-year career in human resources, the last 15 as a consultant, and the last 10 as an instructor in human resources courses, I think you will find the information and stories I’ll be sharing thought provoking and instructional. I’m always looking for new and better ways to do things. Whether it’s cooking (how can I turn this stove top recipe into a crockpot recipe so I don’t have to tend it?), sewing (I need to simplify how I make pockets for my aprons), or cleaning (I need to find someone to clean for me), I’ve found better and smarter ways to do a lot of things.

So let’s make managing simple. Managing is not an exact science. It is an art. There is not really anything exact about it. There is a process to it. Like a recipe you might use to bake a cake—there are steps involved. Sometimes the cake turns out perfectly and, well, sometimes it falls flat and we try to figure out what went wrong so we can avoid the same mistake in the future. Managing is like that. Sometimes it turns out just right and sometimes what you’re doing as a manager falls flat. So you have to figure it out what you did wrong and try again.

I’m hoping that with this blog, you can learn from mistakes I’ve made, from those I’ve witnessed, and from those I’ve helped to either avoid or fix.

This blog is for you—the person who wants to do the right thing. The thing is, you probably don’t know what the right thing is because nobody has told you yet. I’m here to tell you what the right thing is. I’ll give you the step-by-step guidance you need to be a good manager. You may even end up being be a superstar. You could even one day be a SUPER Supervisor. You just need someone to tell you what to do and how to do it.

I love stories so I’ll share with you some memories from past experiences working as a human resources manager in a variety of industries. I’ll also share client stories (but I’ll keep their names and identifying information a secret) and things my students have shared with me during the last 10 years.

Being a good manager doesn’t come easy to all managers. Acquiring practical management skills that you can use in a step-by-step format is the goal of this blog.