Are you a good boss—or a great one? Good bosses can handle the day-to-day work of running a team. Great bosses go beyond that, finding ways to help employees become better versions of themselves as people and professionals. But as a manager, how do you reach that next level? The HBR Guide to Being a Great Boss contains practical tips and advice to help you become a more well-rounded leader, one who sparks creativity, engagement, collaboration, and growth in your team. You'll learn how to: Magnify your people's strengths Create a welcoming, inclusive culture Communicate effectively—and regularly—with your team Challenge your people to grow beyond their current limits Recognize and reward good work Establish yourself as a trustworthy leader and colleague Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
Productivity starts with you. Every day begins with the same challenge: too many tasks on your to-do list and not enough time to accomplish them. Perhaps you tell yourself to just buckle down and get it all done—skip lunch, work a longer day. Maybe you throw your hands up, recognize you can't do it all, and just begin fighting the biggest fire or greasing the squeakiest wheel. And yet you know how good it feels on those days when you're working at peak productivity, taking care of difficult and meaty projects while also knocking off the smaller tasks that have been hanging over your head forever. Those are the times when your day didn't run you—you ran your day. To have more of those days more often, you need to discover what works for you given your strengths, your preferences, and the things you must accomplish. Whether you're an assistant or the CEO, whether you've been in the workforce for 40 years or are just starting out, this guide will help you be more productive. You'll discover different ways to: Motivate yourself to work when you really don't want to Take on less, but get more done Preserve time for your most important work Improve your focus Make the most of small pockets of time between meetings Set boundaries with colleagues—without alienating them Take time off without tearing your hair out Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
You never dreamed being the boss would be so hard. You're caught in a web of conflicting expectations from subordinates, your supervisor, peers, and customers. You're not alone. As Linda Hill and Kent Lineback reveal in Being the Boss, becoming an effective manager is a painful, difficult journey. It's trial and error, endless effort, and slowly acquired personal insight. Many managers never complete the journey. At best, they just learn to get by. At worst, they become terrible bosses. This new book explains how to avoid that fate, by mastering three imperatives: · Manage yourself: Learn that management isn't about getting things done yourself. It's about accomplishing things through others. · Manage a network: Understand how power and influence work in your organization and build a network of mutually beneficial relationships to navigate your company's complex political environment. · Manage a team: Forge a high-performing "we" out of all the "I"s who report to you. Packed with compelling stories and practical guidance, Being the Boss is an indispensable guide for not only first-time managers but all managers seeking to master the most daunting challenges of leadership.
Are you a good boss—or a great one? We know people don't leave jobs, they leave bosses. So how can you be the type of boss that doesn't send employees running? One who makes your people happy to work for you? You've got the basics covered, like reading a P&L and setting and implementing strategy. But how can you raise your leadership level to be a boss who develops trust with their employees? How do you create a culture where learning—and failing—are OK? Can you go beyond evaluating performance and distributing bonuses once a year to finding ways to regularly share productive feedback—and recognize great work—in ways that work for the individuals who work for you? You can meet the basic requirements of your job as leader and rise above that to motivate the people on your team to do more—and be more—than they thought possible. Whether you're a first-time boss or you've been managing people forever and are looking for some new insights and inspiration, the HBR Guide to Being a Great Boss will provide you with a variety of expert voices sharing their advice on being a boss who sparks creativity, engagement, and collaboration. You'll learn how to: Magnify your people's strengths Communicate effectively—and regularly—with your team Cultivate trust Help your employees find meaning in their work Challenge your people to reach beyond their current limits Recognize and reward good work Network to keep your team informed—and visible Help struggling employees improve Bring out the best in your people—and yourself Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
ARE YOUR WORKING RELATIONSHIPS WORKING AGAINST YOU? To achieve your goals and get ahead, you need to rally people behind you and your ideas. But how do you do that when you lack formal authority? Or when you have a boss who gets in your way? Or when you’re juggling others’ needs at the expense of your own? By managing up, down, and across the organization. Your success depends on it, whether you’re a young professional or an experienced leader. The HBR Guide to Managing Up and Across will help you: Advance your agenda—and your career—with smarter networking Build relationships that bring targets and deadlines within reach Persuade decision makers to champion your initiatives Collaborate more effectively with colleagues Deal with new, challenging, or incompetent bosses Navigate office politics
How-to guides to your most pressing work challenges. This 16-volume, specially priced boxed set makes a perfect gift for aspiring leaders looking for trusted advice on such diverse topics as data analytics, negotiating, business writing, and coaching. This set includes: Persuasive Presentations Better Business Writing Finance Basics Data Analytics Building Your Business Case Making Every Meeting Matter Project Management Emotional Intelligence Getting the Right Work Done Negotiating Leading Teams Coaching Employees Performance Management Delivering Effective Feedback Dealing with Conflict Managing Up and Across Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
Develop the mindset and presence to successfully manage others for the first time. If you read nothing else on becoming a new manager, read these 10 articles. We’ve combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you transition from being an outstanding individual contributor to becoming a great manager of others. This book will inspire you to: Develop your emotional intelligence Influence your colleagues through the science of persuasion Assess your team and enhance its performance Network effectively to achieve business goals and for personal advancement Navigate relationships with employees, bosses, and peers Get support from above View the big picture in your decision making Balance your team’s work and personal life in a high-intensity workplace This collection of articles includes “Becoming the Boss,” by Linda A. Hill; “Leading the Team You Inherit,” by Michael D. Watkins; “Saving Your Rookie Managers from Themselves,” by Carol A. Walker; “Managing the High-Intensity Workplace,” by Erin Reid and Lakshmi Ramarajan; “Harnessing the Science of Persuasion,” Robert B. Cialdini; “What Makes a Leader?” by Daniel Goleman; “The Authenticity Paradox,” by Herminia Ibarra; “Managing Your Boss,” by John J. Gabarro and John P. Kotter; “How Leaders Create and Use Networks,” by Herminia Ibarra and Mark Lee Hunter; “Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey?” by William Oncken, Jr., and Donald L. Wass; and BONUS ARTICLE: “How Managers Become Leaders,” by Michael D. Watkins. 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.
Managing your boss: Isn't that merely manipulation? Corporate cozying up? Not according to John Gabarro and John Kotter. In this handy guidebook, the authors contend that you manage your boss for a very good reason: to do your best on the job—and thereby benefit not only yourself but also your supervisor and your entire company. Your boss depends on you for cooperation, reliability, and honesty. And you depend on him or her for links to the rest of the organization, for setting priorities, and for obtaining critical resources. By managing your boss—clarifying your own and your supervisor's strengths, weaknesses, goals, work styles, and needs—you cultivate a relationship based on mutual respect and understanding. The result? A healthy, productive bond that enables you both to excel. Gabarro and Kotter provide valuable guidelines for building this essential relationship—including strategies for determining how your boss prefers to process information and make decisions, tips for communicating mutual expectations, and tactics for negotiating priorities. Thought provoking and practical, Managing Your Boss enables you to lay the groundwork for one of the most crucial working relationships you'll have in your career.
If you manage a team, you need to be able to measure and manage their performance. From establishing a performance review cycle and building toward your year-end assessment, to providing individual feedback and coaching and establishing group cohesion and accountability, this collection teaches you the skills you need to inspire your team to greater success. This specially priced four-volume set includes books from the HBR Guide series on the topics of Performance Management, Coaching Employees, Delivering Effective Feedback, and Leading Teams. You'll learn how to: Set--and adapt--employee and team goals Assess performance fairly Coach your employees through tough situations React calmly if someone gets defensive when you deliver feedback Create plans for individual development Rethink how you use performance ratings Avoid burnout on your team Foster group camaraderie and cooperation Hold your team accountable Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.
An all-in-one guide to helping you buy and own your own business. Are you looking for an alternative to a career path at a big firm? Does founding your own start-up seem too risky? There is a radical third path open to you: You can buy a small business and run it as CEO. Purchasing a small company offers significant financial rewards—as well as personal and professional fulfillment. Leading a firm means you can be your own boss, put your executive skills to work, fashion a company environment that meets your own needs, and profit directly from your success. But finding the right business to buy and closing the deal isn't always easy. In the HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business, Harvard Business School professors Richard Ruback and Royce Yudkoff help you: Determine if this path is right for you Raise capital for your acquisition Find and evaluate the right prospects Avoid the pitfalls that could derail your search Understand why a "dull" business might be the best investment Negotiate a potential deal with the seller Avoid deals that fall through at the last minute Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.