Management Assessment
Checking your Farm Business Management Skills – Purdue University Extension – Rate your skill and ability.
Are Your Farm Business Management Skills Ready for the 21st Century? – Purdue University Extension -- Self-Assessment Checklists to Help You Tell?
What is Your Management Action Style - Small Business Administration -- Many times managerial success is directly tied to your own personal strengths and weaknesses as well as your personal action style.
Management Skills
Managing your Farm and Ranch Operation – Texas A & M University Extension – A discussion of the characteristics of managers.
Farm and Ranch Business Management Functions – Texas A & M University Extension – Discusses a variety of management functions.
New Game, New Rules: Developing Managers for a Competitive World – HBS Working Knowledge -- Gaining competitive advantage in the 21st century will be a very different game than it has been in the past, as companies confront issues from the rapid-fire expansion of the service-based economy to the impact of deregulation and globalization.
How to Succeed With Your New Boss – HBS Working Knowledge -- We all know it's true: Managing up is as important as managing down. That's especially true when you are starting a relationship with a new boss. The importance of clearly defining goals with your superior.
Horse Sense: D. Wayne Lukas on Managing – HBS Working Knowledge -- Should managers be treated like high-performance racehorses? This top trainer has experience with both.
Think You Manage Creativity? Here's Why You're Wrong – HBS Working Knowledge -- The rational rules of management don't apply when it comes to fostering creative types.
Business History around the World – HBS Working Knowledge -- One way to understand management trends and ideas today is to look at yesterday.
How New Managers Become Great Managers – HBS Working Knowledge -- Newly minted managers must commit themselves to lifelong self-improvement.
You're Not Fired! (Yet) – HBS Working Knowledge -- Apologies to Donald Trump, but sometimes a helping hand for your apprentice is better than a termination notice.
Four Keys of Enduring Success: How High Achievers Win – HBS Working Knowledge -- What is success to you?
Bringing the Master Passions to Work – HBS Working Knowledge -- Ambition, envy, self-deception. These "master passions" are everywhere. What master passions mean for you.
Taking Feedback to Heart (and Action) – HBS Working Knowledge -- Encouraging feedback is one thing—putting it to good use is quite another. Step number one is to free yourself from knee-jerk reaction to criticism.
When Silence Spells Trouble at Work – HBS Working Knowledge -- Being nice can lead to disastrous results.
Maximum Success – HBS Working Knowledge -- Even the most talented executive can be tripped up by an "Achilles' heel" that holds him or her back from real success. How executives can recognize and remedy self-limiting behaviors in themselves and in the people they manage.
The Art of the Apology – HBS Working Knowledge -- Done right, an “I’m sorry” can enhance both reputations and relationships. Done wrong, it can compound the original mistake. Here’s how to make sure your apology hits the mark.
Leading with Your Funny Bone – HBS Working Knowledge – A well-honed wit can sometimes be your best asset as a business leader.
Is Your Job Just Work? – HBS Working Knowledge – Or is it just work?
Work, Family, Private Life: Why Not All Three? – HBS Working Knowledge – Mention work-family balance and you think of a trade-off: something gained for something lost. What are some more positive ways both men and women can handle the balancing act?
Understaffed and Overworked: What Now? – HBS Working Knowledge --- When resources are scarce, you need to plan for managing your career, your team, and even your boss. Here’s what works: balance, focus, and effective communication.
Management During Change
What it Takes to Lead Through Turmoil – HBS Working Knowledge -- What are the characteristics of companies that successfully transition in times of dramatic change?
Managing Change – Manager’s Notebook -- Evaluates the resistance to change and ways to reduce this resistance with strategies such as: selling the benefits, creating a sense of urgency among employees, developing a 90-day plan, and educating employees.
Stuck in Gear: Why Managers Don't Act – HBS Working Knowledge -- Most top executives are smart and far sighted, so why can't they change gears fast enough to meet change?
Five Missteps to Avoid When Times are Turbulent – HBS Working Knowledge – Uncertainty in the environment can cloud strategic judgment. But there is more clarity on what companies should no do.
Change Management – It Starts at the Top - Small Business Administration -- It is important that you possess strong change management skills if you want your business to be a success.
Staying Informed
Staying Informed – Business.gov – We must learn to cultivate our own methods for staying abreast of developments in our particular field, and we must learn to ignore information we can't use.
Staying Alive by Staying Informed - Small Business Administration -- We must learn to cultivate our own methods for staying abreast of developments in our particular field - and we must learn to ignore information we can't use.
Overconfidence
Keep Your Big Head in Check – HBS Working Knowledge -- Too many leaders let power go to their heads. A social psychologist explains how to keep your feet on the ground.
Optimism: Don’t Let it Run Away with You – HBS Working Knowledge -- Many M&A decisions may be the result of hubris. Here’s a technique to help executives avoid the bad kind of optimism.
Mentoring
Mentoring, What Goes Around Comes Around - Small Business Administration -- How can new entrepreneurs learn from the experiences of others? The answer is mentoring.
Manager or Mentor? Why You Must Be Both – HBS Working Knowledge -- Why managers need to do more than just mentor.
Delegating
The Trap of Overwhelming Demands – HBS Working Knowledge -- A work hazard that managers often confront.
Delegating – Kansas State University Extension -- Think about your reasons for not delegating some of your tasks at work or in the context of a volunteer role. If you are like most of us, you have some standard reasons.
Delegating with Comfort – West Virginia University Extension – The failure to delegate is a common pitfall.
You Cannot do it All – Learning to Delegate - Small Business Administration -- There is not a single management skill more critical to your personal and professional success as an entrepreneur than learning to delegate.
Do You Know When to Delegate? – HBS Working Knowledge – Afraid to delegate too much authority? Afraid not to delegate?
Perplexing Problem? Borrow some Brains – HBS Working Knowledge – You’re smart but not that smart! Teams often defer to their best decision maker, but more is better than less when it comes to brain power.
Company Focus
Do You Want to be a Business Coach - Iowa Small Business Development Centers -- A business coach is a business professional or successful business owner who oversees, assists and guides a protégé business owner in developing, starting, and growing a successful small business.
The New CEO's Wrong Message – HBS Working Knowledge -- Any new CEO who tries to wield power unilaterally will pay for it.
A Fast Start on Your New Job – HBS Working Knowledge -- Your first ninety days in a new position are fraught with peril—and loaded with opportunity.
Should You be a Global Manager? – HBS Working Knowledge -- Why work abroad?
Waking Up a Sleeping Company – HBS Working Knowledge -- What do you do when you’re the new CEO and your employees tell you, "But that’s the way we’ve always done it"?
The Plight of Middle Managers -- The demise of the corporate pecking order is a myth. Middle managers are the ones who bear the brunt when an organization pretends that everyone is equal.
The New Global Business Manager – HBS Working Knowledge -- What are the critical skills global managers need today compared to ten years ago?
Sometimes Success Begins at Failure – HBS Working Knowledge – Projects that appear to be duds may have unintended upsides – Viagra started life and failed as a drug for hypertension. Here are tips for turning negative test results into gold.
Woman Managers
Women Leaders and Organizational Change – HBS Working Knowledge -- Merely expanding the number of women in leadership roles does not automatically induce organizational change.
Secrets of the Successful Businesswoman – HBS Working Knowledge -- What are the secrets of successful women in business?