Bypassing the Buzzwords for Real Results

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Christee Gabour Atwood and HRDQ-U recently hosted a free webinar entitled, Developing “UnCommon Sense” in Managers: Bypassing the Buzzwords for Real Results. Atwood’s background includes radio announcer, newspaper columnist, television anchor, stand-up comic, association executive (which she defined as another version of a stand-up comic), and Universal Studios tour guide (which taught her to point to her left and right). For over two decades now she has focused her efforts on creating learning opportunities — and doing so while “linking laughter and learning.” Her rationale? We always remember a joke longer than a lecture.

She’s the best-selling author of five business and training books, which have been translated to both Japanese and Chinese, and are used in universities from the United States to Korea and Lebanon. She’s coordinated skills development systems and the sharing of knowledge within organizations ranging from governmental agencies and municipalities, corporate and retail organizations, associations, and nonprofits.

Close to 400 people signed up to listen to this webinar live. Missed it? Click here to watch the recording.

You may be a great accountant. That doesn’t mean you’ll be a great manager of accountants. And yet, that’s the system the business world was built upon. Basically, if you were good at what you did, you were promoted to something you weren’t good at doing. And we wonder why we developed so many workplace challenges?

Unfortunately, common sense is not as widespread as we once thought. To deal with that (and more), the agenda for the day was as follows:

  • The shifting sets of challenges facing today’s managers
  • Tools and techniques to identify developmental needs
  • UnCommon Sense Principles for effective management
  • How to create ongoing learning opportunities for managers and management candidates

We began with a poll. What are the biggest challenges that you and your managers face?

The answers that flooded in were very similar. Here are a few of the popular ones:

  • Communication issues
  • No training
  • No support
  • Inherited teams
  • Negativity
  • Fear of confrontation
  • No administrative backing
  • Not enough staff
  • Young managers with little or no experience

Think of the best leader you ever had. What made him or her so great?

  • Shared information
  • Active listeners
  • Knowledgeable
  • Fair
  • Consistent

See how none of the challenges were seen as positive traits to good leadership? The lists were completely different!

Next we reviewed “Tools & Techniques to Identify Development Needs”. We reviewed traits of good leaders and talked about challenges and skills that are necessary when added together to be a good manager.

Another important topic was performance reviews. They should never be a surprise to the manager OR the person being reviewed. Both parties should have time to prepare for their appraisals and nothing that comes up there should be new.

There are many principles that govern management. Atwood discussed the importance of really listening when people speak. She stressed the value of putting our phones down and stopping with the constant texts! Even if you can talk and text, that behavior gives off the appearance that the phone is more important than the conversation.

Be aware of phrases that make people angry (like buzz words) or raise red flags. Know your audience and do not try to impress them with big words – use words they can understand. Think about how you present an idea or approach a topic and change your delivery or inflection if need be. All of these and more can help your management style.

Want to learn more about how to be a better manager or make your manager better? If so, then click here to watch the recorded session.

Sign up today to make sure you don’t miss the next free webinar!

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