Management Advice from a Manager

What a novel idea.

Blogs are filled with advice from former managers and consultants (I plead guilty to both counts), so it's refreshing to hear from a manager who is slugging it out in the trenches every day.

Enter Frode Heiman at Proper Pants. Frode is in the midst of a series titled 12 Steps to Becoming a Great Employee. The title says it all.

At Frode's invitation I authored an article for Step 9: Involve Yourself.

As I look back over the series, it occurred to me that this is the kind of direction that young people could use in their senior year at university or as part of a a corporate orientation program.

And, they would no doubt do well to land a job with a manager who looks at his role the way Frode does.

Comments

[Frode Heimen]

Hi Steve.
Thank you so much for the kind words!
This is great motivation for me to continue evolving as a manager and to continue blogging from the trenches :)

Frode H.

[Julie Newman]

Hi Steve!

Your post is so useful to a lot of people including myself. In your experience as a manager, is it better to admit you're wrong when you are or just let it pass over?

Thanks for the informative post. It's a great guide to emerging managers :)!

[Steve Roesler]

Julie,

If managers want to become credible and known for their integrity, admitting when one is wrong goes a long way to achieving that. Managers are, ideally, models for their people. Whatever a manager does or doesn't do sets the tone for how a work group will function. If it becomes the norm not to admit mistakes, then potentially harmful errors will be hidden until they become destructive to the organization.

Here's an example of a high-profile professional who was wrong in front of millions of people and what he is doing about it.

http://blogs.jobdig.com/wwds/2008/09/19/would-you-hire-ed-hochuli/

Hat tip to GL Hoffman at jobdig.com

[milehighpixie]

Thanks for the link to this! This is the kind of thing that the interns in my seminar series should be learning.

[Steve Roesler]

MHP,

Pleased to know that it will go to a good cause.

[gl hoffman]

It is amazing, isn't it, how one little story can be used to help others so far away.
Kudos to you both.

[Eric Go]

Hi Steve,

I do believe that the steps would sum up as to what we say extreme or entrepreneurial employees. Employees who create things and decisions as if they were on the shoe of the owner or manager perhaps.

Eric