Bruce Tulgan

The Step-by-Step Guide to Becoming the Manager Your Employees Need

It's Okay to Be the Boss

What's the secret to being indispensable--being a true go-to person--in today's workplace? With new technology, flatter organizations, far-flung virtual teams, and constant change, getting things done at work is tougher and more complex than ever. We're in the midst of a collaboration revolution--but sometimes it feels more like a meltdown. Managers and executives are trying harder than ever to keep up and stay effective, relying on cross-functional coordination, better planning and resource sharing, simplified processes, and speeded-up work. It's a herculean challenge, and people are struggling. Overcommitment grows and burnout looms. But even amid the seeming chaos of the matrix organization--where you are constantly being asked to do things by people who aren't your boss, and where you must ask things of others who don't report to you--there is always that special person who seems indispensable, who seems to thrive on complexity, and who is able to stay focused and positive and get the right things done: This is the go-to person. In this game-changing yet practical book, talent guru and bestselling author Bruce Tulgan reveals the secrets of the go-to person in our new world of work. Based on an intensive study of people at all levels, in all kinds of organizations, Tulgan shows how go-to people not only behave differently, but also think differently, basing their decisions and actions on their own personal influence rather than on any formal designation of authority. At the heart of the go-to person's unique credo are the basics of "the ask" and the response--a powerful reimagining of how to say yes and when to say no. Nearly a century ago, Dale Carnegie's classic How to Win Friends and Influence People propelled millions of readers up the ladder of success. Now, in a world of work where you truly need to interact with everybody, Tulgan provides the new must-read guidebook for achieving real influence and learning to thrive when the guardrails of traditional management are pulled away.

Win Influence, Beat Overcommitment, and Get the Right Things Done

The Art of Being Indispensable at Work

For more than twenty years, management expert Bruce Tulgan hasbeen asking, “What are the most difficult challenges youface when it comes to managing people?” Regardless of industry or job title, managers cite the same coreissues—27 recurring challenges: the superstar whom themanager is afraid of losing, the slacker whom the manager cannotfigure out how to motivate, the one with an attitude problem, andthe two who cannot get along, to name just a few. It turns out that when things are going wrong in a managementrelationship, the common denominator is almost always unstructured,low substance, hit-or-miss communication. The real problem is that most managers are “managing onautopilot” without even realizing it—until somethinggoes wrong. And if you are managing on autopilot, then somethingalmost always does. The 27 Challenges Managers Face shows exactly how tobreak the vicious cycle and gain control of managementrelationships. No matter what the issue, Tulgan shows that thefundamentals are all you need. The very best managers hold ongoingone-on-one conversations that make expectations clear, trackperformance, offer feedback, and hold people accountable. For every workplace problem—even the most awkward anddifficult—The 27 Challenges Managers Face shows how totailor conversations to solve situations familiar to every manager.Tulgan offers clear approaches for turning around bad attitudes,reducing friction and conflict, improving low performers, retainingtop performers, and even addressing your own personal burnout. The 27 Challenges Managers Face is an indispensableresource for managers at all levels, one anyone managing anyonewill want to keep on hand. One challenge at a time, you’llsee how the most effective managers use the fundamentals ofmanagement to proactively resolve (nearly) any problem a managercould face.

Step-by-Step Solutions to (Nearly) All of Your Management Problems

The 27 Challenges Managers Face

Learn the secrets of managing a unique and productive generation In the newly revised third edition of Not Everyone Gets a Trophy: How to Bring Out the Best in Young Talent, renowned management trainer and business advisor Bruce Tulgan reimagines how to engage with, develop, and retain millennial employees in a time of deep economic disruption. The book offers step-by-step best practices for getting millennials onboard and up-to-speed. You’ll learn how to provide them with the context they lack, teach them how to manage themselves and how to be managed, and turn the very best into new leaders. In the book, you’ll also find: A renewed focus on every millennial generation, including Generations X, Y, and Z. A new preface about the dramatic generational shift now taking place in the workforce Updated case studies and examples, as well as brand-new research on first-wave and second-wave millennials An essential handbook to maximizing the considerable potential of the millennial generations, Not Everyone Gets a Trophy: How to Bring Out the Best in Young Talent will earn a place in the libraries of executives, managers, HR professionals, and other business leaders interested in getting the most out of each and every one of their employees.

How to Bring Out the Best in Young Talent

Not Everyone Gets a Trophy

"Based on more than a decade of research, Not Everyone Gets a Trophy reframes Millennials at a time when many employers are struggling to engage, develop, and retain them. Not Everyone Gets a Trophy, Revised and Updated provides proven, step-by-step best practices for getting Millennials onboard and up-to-speed--giving them the context they lack, teaching them how to manage themselves and how to be managed, and turning the very best into new leaders. This book is the essential guide for winning the talent wars and managing Millennials. This new revised and updated edition includes: - New focus on all millennials, which include Generations X, Y, and Z - New preface about the incredible generational shift under way in the workforce now and the critical nature of this issue now - Updated case studies and examples - New research on first-wave and second-wave of the Millennials"--

How to Manage the Millennials

Not Everyone Gets A Trophy

Harvard Business Review

Steven G. Rogelberg

Herminia Ibarra

Frances X. Frei

Balance being a leader with being an individual contributor. Collaborator. Communicator. Creator. Coach. Conduit. The pandemic, and the resultant ever-evolving landscape of hybrid work, highlighted that we're asking more of our mid-level managers than ever. You balance leading your team with maintaining your high-level individual performance. You provide feedback and coaching, support your people through tough times, field requests large and small, and communicate in every direction. Mid-level managers are the key to managing a hybrid workforce, leading innovation, managing talent, and helping your organization—and its people—adapt to our changing world. If you read nothing else on being an effective mid-level manager, read these 10 articles by experts in the field. We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the best ones to help you manage up and down, interpret and distill important messages, lobby for time and resources for key projects and players, and lead change—all while getting things done. This book will inspire you to: Build teams and develop talent Transform your role from intermediary to innovator Encourage critical thinking Foster a culture of psychological safety Lead change by leveraging internal networks Understand the cognitive and emotional drain of having both high and low power Form partnerships at every level of the organization HBR's 10 Must Reads paperback series is the definitive collection of books for new and experienced leaders alike. Leaders looking for the inspiration that big ideas provide, both to accelerate their own growth and that of their companies, should look no further. HBR's 10 Must Reads series focuses on the core topics that every ambitious manager needs to know: leadership, strategy, change, managing people, and managing yourself. Harvard Business Review has sorted through hundreds of articles and selected only the most essential reading on each topic. Each title includes timeless advice that will be relevant regardless of an ever‐changing business environment.

HBR's 10 Must Reads for Mid-Level Managers (with bonus article "Managers Can't Do It All" by Diane Gherson and Lynda Gratton)

Management trainer Tulgan puts his finger on the biggest problem in corporate America--an undermanagement epidemic affecting managers at all levels--and offers another way. His clear, step-by-step guide to becoming the strong manager employees need challenges bosses everywhere to spell out expectations, tell employees exactly what to do and how to do it, monitor and measure performance constantly, and correct failure quickly and reward success even more quickly. Now that's how you set employees up for success and help them earn what they need. Tulgan opens our eyes to the undisciplined workplace that is overwhelming managers and frustrating workers and invites bosses everywhere to accept the sacred responsibility of managing people. His message: It's okay to be the boss. Be a great one!--From publisher description.

The Step-by-step Guide to Becoming the Manager Your Employees Need

It's Okay to be the Boss

A companion to the dynamic It's Okay to Be the Boss: The Management Workshop, this Participant Workbook is a hands-on resource that will help you learn how to overcome the common obstacles to becoming an engaged manager. You will gain a clear understanding of which management challenges can be controlled, along with tips and techniques for effectively controlling them. You will also discover the proven strategies for working around issues that cannot be avoided or controlled. The It's Okay to Be the Boss: The Management Workshop leads you through a series of eight back-to-basics techniques that clearly show how to develop the skills that will enhance your management abilities and help you Build relationships of trust and confidence with employees Delegate tasks, responsibilities, and projects Keep employees focused and moving in the right direction Increase productivity, quality, retention of high-performers, and turnover among low-performers Sharply reduce waste, inefficiency, errors, down-time, and conflict among employees It's Okay to Be the Boss:The Management Workshop will help you incorporate into your daily routine the time-tested management techniques that spell success—tracking employee performance, correcting failure, and rewarding success.

Participant Workbook

Get what you need from your boss In this follow-up to the bestselling It's Okay to Be the Boss, Bruce Tulgan argues that as managers demand more and more from their employees, they are also providing them with less guidance than ever before. Since the number one factor in employee success is the relationship between employees and their immediate managers, employees need to take greater responsibility for getting the most out of that relationship. Drawing on years of experience training managers and employees, Tulgan reveals the four essential things employees should get from their bosses to guarantee success at work. Shows employees how to ask for what they need to succeed in their high-pressure jobs Shatters previously held beliefs about how employees should manage up Outlines what employees must get from their managers: clear expectations; the skills needed to perform their jobs; honest feedback, recognition or rewards A novel approach to managing up, It's Okay to Manage Your Boss is an invaluable resource for employees who want to work more effectively with their managers.

The Step-by-Step Program for Making the Best of Your Most Important Relationship at Work

It's Okay to Manage Your Boss

Bruce Tulgan shows bosses how to get things done by solving corporate America’s huge problem with simple, effective management. In this call-to-arms, consultant and speaker Bruce Tulgan puts his finger on biggest problem in corporate America: no one wants to be the boss. No one wants to take responsibility and tell their employees what to do and how to do it. More importantly, no one wants to follow up and make sure that assignments were done and done right. Making a clear distinction between managers who interfere with the work at hand and managers who are simply afraid to take charge by setting clear goals and evaluating work, Tulgan opens eyes to the undisciplined workplace that is frustrating workers at every level. Giving a clear 8-step path to becoming a strong manager, Tulgan will empower anyone to be the best bosses they can be.

"Bruce Tulgan is the new Tom Peters."--Howard Jenkins, chairman and CEO, Publix Super Markets, Inc.

Winning the Talent Wars

FAST stands for Frequent, Accurate, Specific and Timely, and FAST Feedback is a new approach to performance evaluation in sync with today's fast-paced, rapidly changing workplace. FAST can be used in conjunction with or as an alternative to six and twelve month reviews. FAST links training directly with ongoing performance evaluation by keeping employees in a constant feedback loop. There are many ways to implement FAST Feedback in your organization, including the customizable forms included in this pocket guide.

Fast Feedback

The book that exploded the slacker myth and introduced the world to the real GenX: flexible, technoliterate, information-savvy, entrepreneurial, and perfectly adaptable to the new just-in-time workplace.

Managing Generation X

Adapt your management methods to harness Millennial potential Not Everyone Gets a Trophy: How to Manage the Millennials provides employers with a workable game plan for turning Millennials into the stellar workforce they have the potential to be. The culmination of over two decades of research, this book provides employers with a practical framework for engaging, developing, and retaining the new generation of employees. This new revised and updated edition expands the discussion to include the new 'second-wave' Millennials, those Tulgan refers to as 'Generation Z, ' and explores the ways in which these methods and tactics are becoming increasingly critical in the face of the profoundly changing global workforce. Baby Boomers are aging out and the newest generation is flowing in. Savvy employers are proactively harnessing the talent and potential these younger workers bring to the table. This book shows how to become a savvy employer and. . . Understand the generational shift occurring in the workplace Recruit, motivate, engage, and retain the newest new young workforce Discover best practices through proven strategies, case studies, and step-by-step instructions Explore new research on the second-wave Millennials ('Generation Z') as well as continuing research on the first-wave Millennials ('Generation Y') Teach Millennials how to manage themselves, help their managers manage them, and how to become new leaders themselves It's not your imagination-Millennial workers are different, but that difference is shaped by the same forces that make potentially exceptional workers. Employers who can engage Millennials' passion and loyalty have great things ahead. Not Everyone Gets a Trophy is your handbook for building the next great workforce.

Not Everyone Gets A Trophy, Revised and Updated

Carolyn A. Martin (Ph. D.)

They thrive on challenging work and creative expression, love freedom and flexibility, and hate micromanagement. They are fiercely loyal to managers that are knowledgeable, caring coaches that can mentor them to achieve their goals. What does Gen Y expect from you? Ongoing research indicates that the fourteenth generation has expectations of their bosses such as: Provide challenging work that matters Balance clearly delegated assignments with the freedom and flexibility to produce results in their own way Reward accomplishments with increased responsibility Provide ongoing training and learning opportunities Establish mentoring relationships Managing Genertion Y is for those who want to become the employer of choice for the next cohort of young adults. Discover the Gen Y traits that pose the greatest challenges to managers as well as the best practices you can implement now to keep these upbeat, techno-savvy workers focused and motivated.

Global Citizens Born in the Late Seventies and Early Eighties

Managing Generation Y

Solve the number one problem with today's young workforce—the soft skills gap The number one challenge with today's young talent is a problem hiding in plain sight: the ever-widening soft skills gap. Today's new, young workforce has so much to offer—new technical skills, new ideas, new perspective, new energy. Yet too many of them are held back because of their weak soft skills. Soft skills may be harder to define and measure than hard skills, but they are just as critical. People get hired because of their hard skills but get fired because of their soft skills. Setting a good example or simply telling young workers they need to improve isn't enough, nor is scolding them or pointing out their failings in an annual review. However you can teach the missing basics to today's young talent. Based on more than twenty years of research, Bruce Tulgan, renowned expert on the millennial workforce, offers concrete solutions to help managers teach the missing basics of professionalism, critical thinking, and followership—complete with ninety-two step-by-step lesson plans designed to be highly flexible and easy to use. Tulgan's research and proven approach has show that the key to teaching young people the missing soft skills lies in breaking down critical soft skills into their component parts, concentrating on one small component at a time, with the help of a teaching-style manager. Almost all of the exercises can be done in less than an hour within a team meeting or an extended one-on-one. The exercises are easily modified and customized and can be used as take-home exercises for any individual or group, to guide one-on-one discussions with direct-reports and in the classroom as written exercises or group discussions. Managers—and their young employees—will find themselves returning to their favorite exercises over and over again. One exercise at a time, managers will build up the most important soft skills of their new, young talent. These critical soft skills can make the difference between mediocre and good, between good and great, between great and one of a kind.

Bruce Tulgan

About

Books

Join the club