Business Resource Center › Todd's Results 2008

Ah-Ha! Moment — "Employment relationships are transactional by nature. If you want to get the work done very well and very fast on favorable terms, you have to be very good at negotiating all the terms — schedule, location, resources, and compensation. ... In fact, if you are going to get good at negotiating with employees, the first thing you have to consider is what is not negotiable. ... You have to be very clear with your employees and remind them on a regular basis: 'Okay. Here's the deal. For coming in to work on time, for not leaving early, and for getting a lot of work done very well all day long without causing any problems, you get paid. And you get to keep working here!"
— Bruce Tulgan, It's Okay to Be the Boss, pages 160 and 161.

Ah-Ha! Moment — "The truth that everybody knows but nobody likes to acknowledge is that one high-performing employee is worth more to the business than three or four mediocre employees. ... Yet in the world of undermanagement, most managers gravitate to 'sameness' because it's easier. ... Managers often have a great deal of discretion when it comes to things like schedules, assigning tasks, setting work conditions, allocating supplies, and so on. ... So many managers simply cannot or will not dedicate the time and energy necessary to make the tough performance-based distinctions and then follow through to reward people based on what they deserve. ... If you are going to do more for those who deserve more, by definition you must do less for those who deserve less."
— Bruce Tulgan, It's Okay to Be the Boss, pages 144, 146, and 147.

Ah-Ha! Moment — "If you find yourself needing to get rid of an employee but stuck in one of these situations [where it is almost impossible to fire someone], what do you do? Pressure. Keeping up the intensity of your hands-on management and shining a bright light on their performance will usually be enough pressure to cause stubborn low performers to want to escape. ... Low performers don't like to be managed closely. They don't like scrutiny and don't like to incur consequences for their low performance. So manage that low performer very, very closely. Do everything in your power to impose consequences, however slight, for the person's low performance, every step of the way."
— Bruce Tulgan, It's Okay to Be the Boss, page 141.

Ah-Ha! Moment — "One of the most difficult performance issues with which managers commonly struggle is conflicts between and among team members. ... You can make these conflicts a whole lot less likely to emerge by being the kind of boss who keeps every employee focused on getting work done. ... When conflicts do happen, if you are all over the details, you will know what's in character and out of character for each person, what rings true and what doesn't. You will be in a better position to evaluate and make appropriate decisions."
— Bruce Tulgan, It's Okay to Be the Boss, page 131.

Ah-Ha! Moment — "It is never helpful to "name" a behavior if you are trying to get someone to change it. Instead, describe behavior...connect the behavior with concrete work outcomes...then spell out the behavior you want to see instead. ... You'll be amazed at how many seemingly intangible issues can be made tangible just by doing the hard work of clarifying expectations."
— Bruce Tulgan, It's Okay to Be the Boss, pages 129 and 131.

Ah-Ha! Moment — "If you are talking with employees about the details of their work on a regular basis, then talking about small problems — whatever they may be — should be something you do as a matter of course. ... Zeroing in on small problems is about constant improvement. In the course of regular guidance and direction, addressing one small problem after another is what ongoing continuous improvement actually looks like. ... 'Revise and adjust. Practice and fine-tune.' That is the mantra of continuous improvement."
— Bruce Tulgan, It's Okay to Be the Boss, pages 127 and 128.

Ah-Ha! Moment — "You hate confrontations with employees. ... When it comes to small performance issues, you don't come down like a ton of bricks; instead, you hint at a problem, making suggestions that will indirectly improve the situation — you hope. ... If small problems are dealt with at all, they are dealt with lightly and in passing, which means these problems are likely to recur."
— Bruce Tulgan, It's Okay to Be the Boss, pages 124 and 125.

Ah-Ha! Moment — "When you are the manager who is 'all over the details,' you will be respected and powerful due, if nothing else, to the very fact you track performance so closely. ... In the real world, growth and development follow when a person's concrete actions are subjected to rigorous and honest evaluation on an ongoing basis and the person is able to use that information to practice and fine-tune. In order to do that, you have to keep score — in writing."
— Bruce Tulgan, It's Okay to Be the Boss, pages 107 and 110.

Ah-Ha! Moment — "Some managers make the mistake of thinking that delegation is about letting go. Sadly, delegation is not at all about letting go of work. Delegation is all about getting work done through others — and that is an intense, hands-on endeavor. Delegation is the true art of empowerment, but it turns out to be a rather mundane art: it is simply clearly articulating goals, specifications, and deadlines."
— Bruce Tulgan, It's Okay to Be the Boss, page 102.

Ah-Ha! Moment — "If you truly believe in being a facilitative manager rather than a directive one, then you need to be a very aggressive facilitator. ... That means you need to ask really good questions."
— Bruce Tulgan, It's Okay to Be the Boss, page 92.

Ah-Ha! Moment — "You want them to have a hard time looking you in the face and saying, after you've spelled out clearly what is expected of them, 'No. I didn't do it.'"
— Bruce Tulgan, It's Okay to Be the Boss, page 88.

Ah-Ha! Moment — "The voice of performance coaching is steady and persistent, relentlessly methodical and hands-on, enthusiastic and pushy. It is the constant banter of focus, improvement, and accountability."
— Bruce Tulgan, It's Okay to Be the Boss, page 47.