Book Description

Whether you call it a team, a task force, a committee, a congregation, a crew, a board, or a council, chances are you belong to or are responsible for leading a group. Together, you can make magic happen.

If you are involved with a group that wants to get something done, the organizational development experts of Howick Associates wrote The New Compleat Facilitator for you. This easy-to-use book is a reliable, everyday reference for both and new and experienced facilitators. Useful for everything from training to troubleshooting, this unique guide can help you become a "fearless facilitator.' This second edition is chock-full of tips and tools.

Discover what thousands already know: The New Compleat Facilitator is the practical, indispensable handbook for facilitating group work! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An excellent primer for facilitating group work
For people who lead and/or work in groups, this is a terrific little how-to book, practical and readable.I sit on a number of non-profit boards, and I've given it as a gift to all my board members to help us have more effective meetings. I also gave it to everyone in my department -- the book's advice on groundrules and agenda-building has helped us cut our meeting times in half.The book is so well-organized that I can take it into meetings with me and access information and tips quickly and easily.It doesn't load the reader down with theory and jargon.I'm an experienced meeting-manager, and I've read lots more advanced books on the topic, but I still like The Compleat Facilitator the best of all the facilitation books I own -- it's just so useful! ... Read more

Book Description

This innovative worktext covers the workplace readiness skills identified by the SCANS project and the National Health Care Skill Standards. It includes information on communication, critical and creative thinking, medical ethics, and interpersonal development to help prepare students to enter the work force in health care. The worktext emphasizes portfolio development, self-assessment, and role-playing to engage students.(workplace readiness, health occupations, health careers)ALSO AVAILABLE - INSTRUCTOR SUPPLEMENTS CALL CUSTOMER SUPPORT TO ORDER Instructor's ManualISBN: 0-8273-7783-5 ... Read more

Book Description

The creator of Dilbert, the fastest-growing comic strip in the nation (syndicated in nearly 1000 newspapers), takes a look at corporate America in all its glorious lunacy. Lavishly illustrated with Dilbert strips, these hilarious essays on incompetent bosses, management fads, bewildering technological changes and so much more, will make anyone who has ever worked in an office laugh out loud in recognition.

The Dilbert Principle: The most ineffective workers will be systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage — management.

Since 1989, Scott Adams has been illustrating this principle each day, lampooning the corporate world through Dilbert, his enormously popular comic strip. In Dilbert, the potato-shaped, abuse-absorbing hero of the strip, Adams has given voice to the millions of Americans buffeted by the many adversities of the workplace.

Now he takes the next step, attacking corporate culture head-on in this lighthearted series of essays. Packed with more than 100 hilarious cartoons, these 25 chapters explore the zeitgeist of ever-changing management trends, overbearing egos, management incompetence, bottomless bureaucracies, petrifying performance reviews, three-hour meetings, the confusion of the information superhighway and more. With sharp eyes, and an even sharper wit, Adams exposes -- and skewers -- the bizarre absurdities of everyday corporate life. Readers will be convinced that he must be spying on their bosses, The Dilbert Principle rings so true!

Reviews (82)

A much needed parody with some decent advice hidden inside
If there's a mascot for Internet users, it's the nerdy engineer Dilbert from Scott Adams' comic strip of the same name. No other character in the mass media combines the feelings of technological superiority and wage-slave hopelessness present in the lives of most computer users. But the play of computer users versus management is only part of Adams' comic ouevre; his hilarious take on everyday blue-collar workers touches not only on computer use in companies, but the combined forces of Total Quality Management, endless meetings, doughnuts, cubicles, business plans, and all the other aspects of working in a modern office. Although most of Adams' strips play on the plight of the nameless cubicle worker against an uncaring and oblivious management, he also covers the flip side of work where managers are unable to motivate employees beyond using the office LAN for Doom and the fine art of making sleep look like work. Given all of this familiarity with business, and the increasing popularity of business books, it makes sense that Adams' most recent book, The Dilbert Principle isn't a collection of Dilbert strips but a incisive look at the frailty and foibles of self-help management books under the guise of being one itself.

Business books were overdue to move from the bestseller list to the parody shelf. What was once simply just a few "feel-good"self-help psychology books for managers like Stephen R.Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Kenneth Blanchard's The One Minute Manager is now a plague, including books like The Management Secrets of Attila the Hun and The Star Trek Guide to Management. What these books spend so many words doing that Adams deconstructs so brilliantly is to take what is common sense to anybody else and grafting the buzz words of business schools and management training on it. Take, for example, this wonderful bit of normal business communication that might have come straight from Management 101:

"Perform world-class product development, financial analysis, and feet services using empowered team dynamics in a Total Quality paradigm until we become the industry leader.

Take out the double-speak, and what you have is a mission statement that says:

"Do the best work to provide the best product with the best people until we become the best in our field."

Unfortunately, the first statement probably took ten people who get paid in the high five figures (if not more) at least three days at an exclusive resort in Florida to write. Even more than mission statements such as this, business double-speak of the nineties has centered around terms such as "downsizing" and "re-engineering". By putting a different spin on the timeless tradition of firing and re-organization, today's companies act more like politicians than producers.

Ninety-five percent of Adams book is examples such as this, cartoons illustrating the examples, and email from Dilbert readers telling how their companies have fallen into the Dilbert Zone. All of this is great reading, although sometimes disconcerting when you see your own company being portrayed. The last five percent of The Dilbert Principle is Scott Adams' own philosophy for managers. He says, in the introduction to unveiling his company model OA5 (standing for "Out at Five O'Clock"), that:

"In this chapter you will find a variety of untested suggestions from an author who has never successfully managed anything but his cats. (And now that I think of it, I haven't seen the grey one for two days.) ... I doubt that anything you read here will improve your life, but I'm fairly confident that it won't hurt you either, and that's better than a lot of things you're doing now."

Although humble, his suggestions have much merit because they return the business of work to common sense. When a company remembers, as Adams suggests, that it has three main reasons for being (its customers, its employees, and its stockholders), and treats all three fairly, then the rest will fall into place. If all the management consultants and business book authors condensed their theories into brief summaries such as this, it would be tough to charge [amt]an hour and [amt] per book for it. Which means that there will always be consultants and treatises for the clueless, and an endless supply of material for Adams' cartoon.

Dilbert 101
The reason for the remarkable success of Scott Adams' Dilbert cartoon strip is obvious; he has captured the flavor of modern business and held it up to the light of truth, revealing all of its quirks, crazy strategies, and downright insanity for all to see. Dilbert is the working man's hero; while we toil away in our little cubicles, waiting for quitting time and weekends, Dilbert and his pals are fighting back - well, not fighting, but they are doing all kinds of complaining, the same complaining most office workers do, albeit not so forthrightly. The Dilbert Principle is the book that made a cult comic strip a treasury of American humor; taken outside the frames of his heralded daily comic strip, Scott Adams is even funnier and more insightful than even many a Dilbert fan would have thought possible. He's been there, and he knows what he is talking about.

In this bestselling book, Adams basically defines corporate culture; telling us many things we already know yet doing so in a fashion that is brilliantly funny. His explanation for the craziness of business today is a simple one: People are idiots, which is something I've been saying that for years. Adams includes himself among the idiot population. We all do stupid things from time to time, and those who do more stupid things than others wind up in corner offices with windows and a secretary while the majority of folks toil away in their sensory deprivation chambers (or cubicles). Adams explains the nature of this beast we call the workplace, illustrating his points with the help of over 400 Dilbert cartoons and reinforcing even the most seemingly inane assumptions he makes with actual case reports of real people who have written to him of their own experiences.

The Dilbert Principle covers almost every aspect of the workplace: management, performance reviews, marketing, business plans, budgets, sales, those awful meetings, projects, etc. He shows you how to get ahead at the expense of your co-workers, delineates the lies of management so that you can be on the lookout for them when they come, defines modern terms such as downsizing in the simple, more direct meanings of days gone by. He describes the process by which one becomes a leader, exposes team-building exercises and group projects as the useless vehicles they almost always are, and provides advice on keeping afloat in the business world by means of hoarding information, avoiding doomed projects, and surviving those you can't avoid; from there, he goes on to offer his knowledge on topics such as: how to participate in a meeting based on the things you want to get out of it, and (as if most of us even need a refresher on this) how to avoid actually working while at work.

The whole book is just brilliant, hysterical satire built on things millions of us know all too well, and one finds oneself nodding or agreeing with far too many of the silliest notions and business practices Adams rakes over the coals. The book is a fountain of knowledge, with each page containing terrific quotes along the lines of three of my favorites: 1) The best thing about the future is that it isn't here yet, 2) The great thing about the truth is that there are so many ways to avoid it without being a "liar," and 3) The only constructive criticism is the kind you do behind people's backs. If you are a Dilbert-type worker (and odds are pretty good that you are), you will find comedy and a sense of comradeship with Dilbert and his cohorts. If you really want to get ahead and assume the increased lack of intelligence needed to become a manager, though, you should pick this book up for one chapter alone: Machiavellian Methods penned by Dogbert himself.

Another good Dilbert book
For sheer humor, the Dilbert books and strips are great. The way Scott Adams is able to illustrate the insanity of many common business practices in a few scenes or sentances is incredible. On the bright side, because there are so many stupid things being done commonly, almost everyone can relate to Dilbert. On the down side, there are so many stupid things being done commonly.

Relative to other Dilbert works, The Dilbert Principle is almost as good as Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook and considerably better than Dilbert and the Way of the Weasel.

Sad & True, Dilbert embodies life of todays' office techie!
I've worked as an engineer or technician, both for big companies and small. Before Dilbert, in all but the most restrictive environments, a small office underground poked the same kind of fun at management. Some offices even have their own cartoonists. A mega-sized company in Texas had a talented, cartoon artist, who did satirical office cartoons, with great caricature likenesses. He signed his work "The Phantom", and because I think even management knew who he was, he stayed restrained enough to keep it funny, but not too insulting. One possible exception, was a cartoon that mimicked the classic road gang movie, "Cool Hand Luke". He depicted an office corridor which as management walked by each office, they would say "Still shaking that work order there, boss". It did not go over too well with management.

The Dilbert Principle is loosely based on the long discussed phenomena, called the "Peter Principle". Which I always thought means the biggest "prick" rises the highest. Usually it's the most unqualified as well. In this age we pay CEO's millions in salary, and then give them massive stock options. In return, they bankrupt the company with shady accounting practices, and sometimes, outright theft. You have to wonder if the term "business ethics" is an oxymoron. It's good that most offices have people like Dilbert, and we all have artists like Scott Adams. The humor allows many of us to survive the droll, office existence day after day. The unrewarding existence, of working in a system where incompetents profit, often on our good works.

Prior to Dilbert, I may have considered myself unique, or just unlucky to be employed by some of these bozo's in suit and tie. I've been through the improvement meetings, sensitivity, and those focus groups. The "one on one" carpet sessions with my boss, which accomplished nothing, except to try my patience, and then waste my time. Still, management needs to feel they do something, and if it can't make a new report to show their own boss this week, it may be time to try out the latest management fad. Adams collection of cartoons, groups these into common categories of management tactics. If you look hard enough, you may even find a cartoon, that help you avoid experiencing the same Hell in your own office. It's too bad the managers don't seem to read these books, or if they do, they don't seem to be telling.

Perhaps the most important thing found in The Dilbert Principle, is that it gives some of us a better understanding of what's really going on. Unless you're fairly astute, you will occasionally find yourself buying into a lot of management disinformation. Information, that could clue you into a "downsizing", a company sale, management change, or other "issues", that may give you reason to brush up the old resume. At the very least, if gives you a chance to know what's probably going on behind the scenes, and decide how to best keep your own house.

Another thing that is uncanny about Scott Adams, is his depiction of the characters. It seemed like, the company I worked for in Texas, was chock full of those little balding management guys. Middle managers with overly short wide ties, and always carrying a cup of coffee in their right hand, as they walked about. They'd ask us about what we were doing, and when we told them they'd look confused, say something cleverly non-committal, and move on. It used to be a competition to see who could confuse them first, and move them on to the next persons office or cubicle.

Classic Dilbert for any fan!
I may just be a kid, but I am a big fan of workplace scenarios and, especially Dilbert. I read straight through this book and never failed to agree with Scott Adams's perspective of modern work life.

The only concept I did sort of disagree with was the "hoteling" method. I think that if we are to rent a "thing" that we will be using for a long portion of time, then we should keep it. I have no problem renting a movie, because I "use" it for barely a eighth of a day.

But to close my review, I agree with pretty much everything Scott Adams has to say about these common workplace situations. He is very funny when writing about these, and that it the reason you should get this book. ... Read more

Book Description

Communicating Effectively For Dummies shows you how to get your point across at work and interact most productively with bosses and coworkers. Applying your knowledge and skill to your job is the easy part; working well with others is often the hard part. This helpful guide lets you maximize your personal interactions, even when resolving conflicts, dealing with customers, or giving difficult presentations.

Whether you’re the CEO of a major corporation, a small business owner, or a team manager, effective and clear communication is imperative to your success. From keeping your listener engaged to learning to become a better listener, Communicating Effectively For Dummies offers all the strategies, tips, and advice you need to:

• Learn how to become an active listener
• Accentuate the positive in negative situations
• Find win-win solutions for conflicts
• Stay on track when writing e-mails and letters
• Handle presentations, interviews, and other challenges
• Speak forcefully and assertively without alienating others

Management consultant Marty Brounstein — author of Handling the Difficult Employee and Coaching and Mentoring For Dummies — gives you the keys to a thriving career with expert advice on effective verbal and nonverbal communication. From mastering your own facial expressions (and reading them in others) to being a happy boss, Brounstein covers all the angles:

• Becoming aware of your own assumptions
• Dealing with passive-aggressive communicators
• What to say to help someone open up to you
• Communicating through eye contact and body language
• Maintaining a positive attitude
• Dealing with sensitive issues
• Effective conflict resolution models
• When to use e-mail, the phone, or a face-to-face meeting
• Dealing with angry customers
• Coaching your staff to communicate better

Reviews (4)

Good Reference but Keep your common sense
In the last two years my company has been using Mr. Bounstein's advice to develop various management tools. "Communicating Effectively" has been a corner stone of new policies and everyone has been required to read the book. It is a decent one stop reference when you want to review your communication skills.

While supervisors and low level manages are working better, the Sr. Staff is utilizing the author's tools in a micromanagement-fest. For example, the review process has become a long drawn out process that requires several hours a week for the employee to revise their personal "assignment sheet". At the end of every three months you then have the employee summarize all their previous tasks for time, issues, schedule, etc. The quarterly review takes about 2 weeks with several cycles of review and rewriting with Sr. Staff members. Every detail is gone over and over. It is not uncommon to loose a week of productivity.

Read the book but maintain some common sense about how you apply the information.

A Very Useful Book
This is a great book with a wealth of very useful information. As a project manager, communicating is a large part of my job. This book will definitely make my life a lot easier -- especially the chapters on conflict resolution.

I wish I had bought this book 2 years ago, when it first came out -- I could have avoided a lot of headaches.

Communications Made Simple
With this book, Marty Brounstein breaks down communications into bite-size morsels that are easily digested. This book covers a broad range of territory from speaking clearly, using active listening techniques for better understanding, dealing with conflict, and appropriate uses for email, telephone and other forms of communication.

There's a tremendous amount of information, and I find myself going back to review the material often, especially when a meeting or conversation goes badly.

There is nothing here you can't find in other books, but it's all collected neatly under one cover, and the author presents the material in interesting ways that make it easier to absorb and put into practice.

Definitely a worthwhile read!

Top-notch title on effective communication
I really liked this book. One of the rare "for dummies" books that is low on fluff and high on substance. What the author presents here is an entire training course and then some on how to communicate effectively. This book will help you clearly get your message across to people at work, in social circles, in relationships. I was notoroious for being a very abrasive communicator. This book is already helping me smooth out some of the sharp edges. I listen far better now, and when I speak I no longer beat around the bush. ... Read more

Book Description

Because the edge you need begins with the space you occupy . . .The Office Interior Design Guide enables facilities professionals with little or no design experience to become knowledgeable, active partners with consultants and designers in developing efficient, flexible office spaces that work. It is also intended to serve as a general overview of the office environment for the design or engineering professional.

This practical book covers the entire planning and management process for both conventional and alternative officing, with important information on The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, indoor air quality, fire safety, and more. From building support systems to key elements of interior design, this comprehensive guide shows you how to:

• Create a strategic facilities plan
• Put together an effective in-house team
• Define project needs and objectives
• Build solid relationships with management, technical, and creative consultants
• Choose the right design firm
• Select appropriate facilities
• Develop an on-target schedule and budget
• Achieve adaptable, cost-effective design solutions.

Complete with sample letters for requesting proposals and qualifications, plus a detailed programming questionnaire to help you specify project requirements, The Office Interior Design Guide enables you to create hardworking environments equipped to handle today's business challenges and tomorrow's organizational needs. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Intelligently Presented and Extremely Useful
After sourcing out dozens of books on office interior design, I found Julie Rayfield's Guide To Office Interior Design more than helpful. It was a real gift from heaven! I'm totally new to the world of design and about to start a job in sales and management for an international office furniture supplier and designer. I needed some information quickly. And I wanted it in a user-friendly, comprehendible manner. Reading the Gudie to Office Interior Design was like doing a crash-course in interior design without the heavy technical approach you would normally be subjected to.

The book recognises that office design and execution is no simple task. It does what few books do -offers numerous ideas and tools to get the job done perfectly in a step-by-step guide that makes sense. It's a real life saver because using the outlines and project-oriented structure it offers, you can't go wrong. It's like a map that will get you exactly where you want to go without the sweat, drama, and disappointment that you could face if you weren't sure what to do or which direction to take.

If you need a simple, easy to understand and very useful guide to office interior design, you can't get a better book than this. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Book Description

Shows how to enhance our performance and improve our organizations by developing healthier self-concepts of ourselves and in others. A personal development and leadership guide to creating a work environment where self-determination and openness are the rule, offers strategies for heightening our awareness of ourselves and others as a key factor in shaping our relationships to work.

Offers a field-tested approach to improving organizational effectiveness, introducing innovative tools and exercises--including the concordance model of decision making, the Team Compatibility Index for team building, the Work Relations Index for improved individual performance, and the leader as completer concept of leadership--to promote creativity and openness at work.

... Read more

Reviews (3)

What a helpful book!!
I found this book completely helpful to know myself better and to know how the relationships work. Although my native tongue is spanish, I find it very easy and friendly to read it in english.I have answered the most of the questions aboutinclusion, control, openness and now I try to have a better quality of relationship every day.I understand the reactions that come from me and the different groups around me.This book helps me to be a better woman every day. Thanks Will Schutz for this gift!!!

A clear read on interpersonal behaviors.
This book is easy to read and the concepts are key in teams, groups, andone-on-one relationships. Shutz creates many opportunities to apply theconcepts to real life and use the information to improve the way in whichpeople relate to one another.

Schutz's Magnum Opus...a phenomenal workplace breakthrough.
The best exposition of how to truly succeed in business.Will Schutz strips away the myths of personal dynamism and strategic planning as foundations of leading workers in business today.Schutz, writing with elegance, simplicity and stark clarity builds a compelling case for basing business success on telling the truth,with personal awareness, in every situation.The author mixes the rational, scientific approach to business leadership with a superbly crafted series of right-brained activities such as imagery and drawing on memories.Highly recommended for anyone tired of trying to achieve higher productivity through successive reorganizations and "downsizing.&quot ... Read more

Book Description

Ideal for those with no prior manufacturing background or knowledge, this book provides an exceptionally "real-world" exploration of manufacturing principles, the functioning team, and basic improvement practices -- showing how operators and technicians actually work in manufacturing today.Uses actual case studies -- from operators and technicians in manufacturing -- describing modern-day dilemmas of manufacturing firms -- often with no right or wrong answer. Covers the statistics and probability needed by an operator or technician in manufacturing -- rather than those that are more appropriate for engineers or statisticians. Uses a manufacturing example to show how to manually plot a Statistical Process Control (SPC) chart. Covers manufacturing improvement programs; manufacturing teams; the process; sources of process waste; improvement; continual improvement; basic statistics for improvement; Statistical Process Control Charts; interpreting SPC charts for team action; process capability and improvement.For technicians and operators interested in the process of manufacturing. ... Read more

Book Description

What could an elephant and a giraffe teach people about working together? Some very important lessons, it seems, about the complex--and critically important--issues of dealing with diversity in the workforce.

Building a House for Diversity begins with a short fable about how a friendship between the two animals is threatened when the house built for a tall, skinny giraffe cannot accommodate his invited guest, a broad, bulky elephant. Using this story as a vivid metaphor for the difficult issues inherent in diversity, the book goes on to demonstrate how managing diversity can be seen as a set of skills that anyone can learn--and use.

In a way that makes diversity management "up close and personal," Building a House for Diversity offers compelling, real-life stories of individual experiences at work. It includes:

* the perspective of both "insiders" (usually white males) and "outsiders" (usually minorities or women) * insightful commentary illuminating what these experiences tell us about the challenges and opportunities of diversity * a particularly interesting segment on Phil Jackson, legendary Chicago Bulls coach, and how he dealt with diversity issues in his relationships to Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman, Scottie Pippin, and others * hands-on guidance to help readers become "diversity mature" and take personal responsibility for their attitudes and actions.

Throughout, the book reflects the seminal thinking of R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr., a pioneer in articulating the concepts of managing diversity. In this book, he has produced his most creative and practical approach to this continuing challenge. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Good intro to diversity in organizations
I have used this as a supplement to a textbook in a class on industrial organization psychology. Just about every student finds it helpful and sees it as a fresh perspective on diversity. It sets a tone for thoughtful discussions on diversity through the semester.

Finally a book that pulls it all together
Cheers to Dr. Thomas for providing a book that is one of the first -- in my opinion -- to present a clear picture of the need to address workforce, workplace and marketplace diversity. I came away understanding that to address one or two of these components without addressing the third is like commissioning a two to three mile dig, when all the geological reports tell you that oil is six miles down. Half and quarter steps will not lead to success. In the most simple straight-forward way, starting with a powerful parable, Dr. Thomas drives home the point that for true strategic benefits organizations need to make a balance commitment to the all three components.

Another great take-away from this book is Dr. Thomas's model for identifying and differentiating between business requirements and preferences.

All in all this is an extremely powerful book that should be in every manager's library. Thank you Dr. Thomas.

Joe Santana
Co-author of Manage I.T.

A Disappointing Reflection of Limits on Diversity-Thinking
I anxiously looked forward to reading this book. Given the titles of Thomas's previous books, Redefining Diversity and Beyond Race and Gender, and the title of this one I expected more than passing reference to the disability community. I was disappointed.

We are told (p.84) that "I'm becoming more aware of sexual preference and physical ability diversity as well." Although I'm not one to get hung up on word choice, others are, and those locutions aren't popular in gay, lesbian, or disability-preference communities. In the latter are millions of people with ADHD and psychiatric disabilities, and for these millions to be excluded from a "house for diversity" would make it a "house divided against itself."

A tipoff for readers is the Personal Diversity Maturity Index. The reader is asked "What is the most important reason to respond to diversity?" The preferred answer has nothing to do with justice and social change, or even with building a house that will include your neighbors, your parents, your kids, and possibly you. It's "The diversity-mature manager recognizes that diversity is good for business."

INTRODUCES THE IDEA OF DIVERSITY MATURITY & EFFECTIVENESS.
Using a short fable as metaphor and a springboard, shows how managing diversity relies upon building skills and changing mindsets. Most of the book presents case studies of how people who face diversity challenges on the job address them. Closing chapters provide some general guidelines for individuals and organizations for achieving diversity maturity-knowledge about and comfort with the dynamics of diversity-and diversity effectiveness-the ability to deal with people distinctly diverse from you. An interesting work that is nearly on a par with the author's most outstanding contribution, "Beyond Race and Gender." Reviewed by Yvette Borcia, co-founder, Stern & Associates, co-author of Stern's Sourcefinder: The Master Directory to HR and Business Management Information & Resources, Stern's CyberSpace SourceFinder, and Stern's Compensation and Benefits SourceFinder. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Competently managing a group of peers is unquestionably among the most difficult of workplace tasks, but key steps that produce success are laid out so clearly by consultants Patrick J. McKenna and David H. Maister in First Among Equals that even those who completely lack experience should find the process feasible and effective. McKenna and Maister focus on leading teams of professionals--often composed of people who don't feel like they are part of a team or in need of leadership--by transforming the way managers assume responsibility and direct members. "Success in helping your group succeed is mostly about you. Not them," they write. Their book starts by explaining how to prepare for the job ahead, for example, by meeting informally with participants and displaying sincere interest in things that matter to them. It then explores coaching the individuals involved (offering methods for gaining acceptance, building rapport, assisting underperformers and dealing with prima donnas) and guiding the collective group (by developing rules, building trust, invigorating meetings, and resolving conflicts). Finally, it proposes measures for continued success, such as integrating new hires and gauging performance. Dozens of self-assessment questionnaires and diagnostic tests help make this an exceptionally practical guidebook on a critical but oft-neglected topic. --Howard Rothman ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Packed with Knowledge!
This book is essentially a collection of practical checklists interspersed with quotations and anecdotes. It certainly meets its objective of collecting everything you need to know about managing a professional service firm's practice group. Patrick McKenna and David H. Maister present the nuts and bolts in a straightforward format. If you feel like you could use some help to do a better job of leading your group of highly trained individuals, if you've just been promoted to the ranks of management and want some guidance or, worse, if you feel like you are herding cats - in Maister's phrase - instead of leading a committed team of professional people, we are pleased to recommend this complete toolbox to you.

weLEAD Book Review
FIRST AMONG EQUALS is more than a catchy title of a book promoted as a guide to managing others in professional environments. When you finish reading this book and the depth of knowledge presented by its authors, you will agree that it is first among equals. Often times books written by two authors come across as disjointed or unconnected. However, McKenna & Maister seem to complement each other's skills very well and the end result is clearly evident.

FIRST AMONG EQUALS was written to fill a large need in most modern organizations. Its premise is how to manage a group and lead them to peak performance without possessing formal authority. Today, it is common to be leader of a group of individuals without possessing any real power or authority over the embers of the group. Wise leaders also know that even if they do have formal authority over others, the high performance leader doesn't act like they do. Instead, the way to get the most out of the individuals we serve with is to be primus inter pares, the first among equals. The authors then boldly take you step by step through an enlightened process of how to interact with and manage groups as an individual group leader. McKenna & Maister state in the introduction that, This is a book about "doing." It is not concerned primarily with theories, concepts, or insights. It's a book we wish we had read when we were first given the challenge of leading a group!" This is achieved by providing frank observations, stirring questions, and wise advice from two respected consultants. FIRST AMONG EQUALS is also replete with quizzes, sidebars and checklists to enhance your personal growth as a group leader.

Part one of the book deals with the issue of how to prepare or "get ready" for your role as a group leader. It discusses how you add value to the group as its leader, and your rights and responsibilities within this important role. It discusses how you can build valuable relationships with other members and examine your essential people skills. It also deals with the question of what it means to be an inspirational leader.

Part two is a section dedicated to help you to learn to be a superior personal coach. It shows you how to get others to accept your guidance. Why unscheduled, informal "one-on-one" coaching is the most powerful way to improve a group's success. It deals with issues of building support for change, helping the underperformers who need assistance and dealing with the proverbial "prima donnas" or difficult people.

Part three of FIRST AMONG EQUALS moves on to the skills needed to coach the team. This part of the book deals with diverse team leadership topics such as developing group rules & goals, building trust among members, presenting an exciting challenge and how to energize group gatherings with good meeting discipline. This part of the book concludes with a discussion of how to resolve interpersonal conflicts and how to respond to a group crisis!

Part Four of the book looks to the future and how to prepare for it. It will show you how to nurture the next generation of junior staff and insure the success of newly hired personnel. It also discusses problems associated with group size, and how to properly measure the groups' success. The final chapter in the book entitled "Why Bother" concludes with a summery of the various lists provided throughout the text grouped by category in an effort to help you implement and synthesize much of the material.

If you are involved with managing or leading groups you should buy this book! No matter what level of experience or expertise you possess, FIRST AMONG EQUALS is a winner and is guaranteed to broaden your perspective on leading your group to peak performance.

Some great material that I can share & use as a refresher
Gripe no. 1 : I hope its not going to become a common occurrence in business books, but there were 7 pages of 35 advance reviews (but 5 of them were only 2 lines which said little). Let me decide for myself if the book is any good - show me the product. Also, I work in IT, but there didn't seem to be a single reviewer with an IT background?

The book looks at the leader/manager/coach of a disparate group of professionals, assuming a mix of seniors & juniors.

I think the book isn't just for the leader/manager/coach - because in many such groups today, there can be rotation (time-based or task-based) where any of the group of professionals might be called upon to perform the leadership / coaching / mentoring role. So the book should be read by all members of the team. Also the leader is human - they might not be 'doing it right as per the book', and it could be useful for the others (they are all equals after all) to be informed to provide that guidance/correction.

The Sections are laid out well : getting ready; coaching the individual; coaching the team; building for the future.

It classes individuals into 4 styles : amiable, analytical, driver, expressive (I tend more towards the expressive), and how to work with each.

I also like the way it addressed underperforming members, how to correct the problem rather than try to rationalise it out of existence.

Because professionals jealously guard their autonomy, reserving the right to work as they see fit, professional groups have a greater-than-average tendency to become ill-disciplined - and thus a whole chapter is dedicate to how to run a meeting of such individuals.

I work in such a group, where there are 20 of us, probably 50:50 seniors & juniors (though we don't refer to ourselves in those terms).

Gripe no. 2 : However, one thing missing explicitly from the book is if there are any strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats from a geographically disparate or culturally diverse group?

My group is spread across 2 continents, 5 different timezones, with only 2 hours in the day when our extended workday (8am-6pm) coincides. We comprise at least 5 different nationalities & religions, and it seems many more political viewpoints. But time and time again, this material seemed to assume that this was a relatively homogeneous group, everyone was coming together physically in the same room, or at least, didn't even consider that people might be in the same geographical locations but be on the phone, and thus unable to see each others body language. My group only get together in the same room twice a year. We've evolved techniques over the 7 years we've been together to accommodate this, but I would have appreciated it more if this modern reality had been addressed?

I also liked the discussion on the maximum size of the group, and one correspondents rule of thumb that the group is too big if he can't tell you the name of everyone's spouse/significant other & what that person does for a living (assuming its OK culturally to ask for that information - in some cultures it's a no-no).

There's an excellent wrap-up where the dozens of checklist (don't let the apparent volume put you off - it's not that bad) are summarised and classified, and you are reminded in which chapters they are to be found.

Overall I think my group is doing quite well 80% of what is in the book, with maybe 10% that we wouldn't agree with, leaving us 10% that we could improve upon. I'm going to recommend it to everyone else.

I am building my futures and options practice-this helped!
I am the author of the book Futures For Small Speculators and Single Stock Futures For Small Speculators as well as the president of Liverpoolgroup.com.

Our focus is in the futures, commodities, and option business. We trade oil, cattle, gold, currency etc. And each one of our employees is an "independent" contractor. The problem with that is the fact that often times these very independent entrepreneurial group have a hard time working together. Everyone is competing against everyone else. There is little to no synergy or teamwork.

This book showed me MANY examples of how to guide and direct the individuals of the group to be more cooperative with one another I was astonished that I was doing somethings right, but the things that I was doing right were being negated by the actions I was doing wrong. This is a great book and was a joy to read. One reading is not enough. This book must be read three to four times with a highlighter and a notepad- so you can write down the numerous ideas that will occur to you as you read the book.

Not as good as the ADV
I had high expectation from this book. However, after reading the first couple of chapters, I'm disappointed. This book, in a lot of parts, repeats what other books say, in particular "Managing the Professional Service Firm". If you read Maister's book before, you will be disappointed. ... Read more

Book Description

The ability to learn faster than your competition may be theonly sustainable competitive advantage! A learning organization is onewhere people continually expand their capacity to create results theytruly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking arenurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people arecontinually learning how to learn together. This compilation of 34powerful essays, written by recognized experts worldwide, is rich inconcept and theory as well as application and example. An inspiringfollow-up to Peter Senge's groundbreaking bestseller The FifthDiscipline. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Perspectives on Learning Organizations
As far as I can see it is a book all about different perspectives, a book that adds on to the list of books that focus on the theoretical and/or philosophical sides of learning organizations. As such it is a good book, with contributions from 40 acknowledged authors/researchers.
The book is built up around four parts:
- Guiding ideas
- Theories/Methods/Processes
- Infrastructure
- Arenas of Practice
The book is packed with lots of good ideas that may form a base for further exploration in the field. Most of it is well edited, even though there is some extra "fluff" in some of the articles.
It is a good introduction to "learning organizations", but I will hesitate to call it a "how-to"-book . . . .

strong collection of essays
I've had to read a slew of leadership books for my doctorate -- as for a collection of thoughtful essays, this is one of the best. It's well organized, well laid out and has almost every major thinker represented. It's got theoretical parts, practical parts and questions for down the road. The essays span all types of learning organizations: schools, hospitals, companies, etc... It's a bit long, but if you take it piece by piece, this is a very enjoyable and informative collection. Highly recommended and well-conceived.

Excellent combination of ideas, theory, and practice!
What is a learning organization? What are the principles upon which a learning organization is built? What is needed to develop a culture that embraces these principles? The concept of the learning organization began several decades ago, but only recently has it gained widespread recognition among business people and academics alike. This is in part due to the success of Peter Senge's 1990 book The Fifth Discipline and his pragmatic, step-by-step guide, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook (1994).

Thirty-nine of the most respected scholars and practitioners come together to share a comprehensive explanation of the ideas, principles, attitudes, skills, systems, and infrastructure needed to create the ideal workplace of the future. Authors including MIT's Fred Kofman and Peter Senge, Harvard's Rosabeth Kanter, and London Business School's Charles Handy are recognized worldwide for their work in teaching organizations about change, systems thinking, organizational development, diversity, and total quality management.

The author's essays are categorized into five main parts. Part One: Guiding Ideas primes our intellect by posing questions and sharing ideas about what learning organizations represent. Part Two: Theories/Methods/Processes presents how stories, dialogue, coaching, systems thinking, and other learning tools facilitate the creation of learning organizations. Part Three: Infrastructure identifies some of the ways we must change what we do to achieve maximum learning potential. Part Four: Arenas of Practice identifies various workplaces and takes a look at how to build learning organizations within them. Case studies are used to describe how learning organizations are working in various organizational settings.

This book is written for practitioners, scholars, and active participants of adult learning environments. The principles and practices can apply to any organization that wishes to increase its learning potential, including businesses, schools, health care, and governmental organizations.

The rate at which organizations and individuals learn must keep up with the ever-changing environment that surrounds them. This is a global environment that requires us to communicate and learn from our co-workers, customers, clients, competitors, investors, friends, and family. Our world is becoming increasingly interconnected and it would be prudent to take advantage of that fact. We are not islands and as such, we cannot learn alone. The more skilled we become at applying the breadth of knowledge and skills that are presented in this book on becoming a learning organization, the more prepared we will be for competing in the Knowledge Era. ... Read more

Book Description

The diverse workforce is not only the future; it is here and now.And, with the help of The Diversity Toolkit, managers of all levels can learn easily to adapt and be sensitive to the new workforce realities.The "diversity toolkit" features easy-to-use tips for improving communications skills, practical guidance for perfecting team relationships, and helpful suggestions for attaining leadership skills.This practical guide will ensure that readers will achieve tangible results effectively and efficiently.

Reviews (1)

Practical guide focused on leadership and communication.
Sonnensschein has written something very useful, with concise definitions and practical advice. He spends the reader's time judiciously by getting to the practical aspects of diversity in a hurry, and then by articulating the practices that can best be employed to capitalize on the reality of an increasingly diverse world. He makes good distinctions about what matters...for example, focusing on significance rather than mere style issues. This is a well-written primer on an important subject. ... Read more

Book Description

Whether in business, politics, or the community, today's leaders have more in common with their legendary predecessors than they may realize. Intensely scrutinized by their constituents, colleagues, the media, and the public, leaders make decisions that affect lives far beyond their immediate surroundings. Perhaps no figure in recent memory more fully personifies leadership than President John F. Kennedy. Leading the nation in a time of unprecedented turbulence, challenge, and opportunity, Kennedy led his administration (and the country) with a courage and determination that even his harshest critics respected.

John F. Kennedy on Leadership identifies eleven core principles that made Kennedy, both before and during his presidency, a unique and dominant force who would serve as the standard by which future leaders would measure themselves-and by which they would be judged.Current and aspiring leaders would do well to adopt these principles, which include:

* Questioning the status quo: Progress is change, and no leader ever became great without breaking rules.
* Turning liabilities into pluses, making the best of miscalculations and misjudgments, and staying educable: There is value in mistakes, and there is always more to learn.
* Making decisions: Although you solicit and incorporate many viewpoints, know that the buck stops with you.
* Presenting an idealized view of what the future can be: Some may feel that "vision" is a tired concept, but properly crafted and communicated, it is a powerful motivator.
* Finding your own "Bobby": In building your team, surround yourself with people who not only are trustworthy and competent but who also make your job easier.
* Being the coolest person in the room: In times of crisis, take the reins. Your people will be looking to you; give them confidence.

John F. Kennedy on Leadership doesn't shy away from the well-documented darker side of Kennedy's life: the seemingly nonstop parade of lovers and the chronic and multiple illnesses. Every leader faces personal challenges that affect the ability to lead. This book shows how legendary leadership can exist even in the face of substantial limitations.

Kennedy led his nation through some of its most extraordinary challenges, from the volatile civil rights movement to the nearly catastrophic Cuban missile crisis. The extraordinary skills he exhibited in bringing America and the world into a new era are yours to embrace, emulate, and employ as you take your people and your vision forward. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Superb new work on JFK
This is a really thought-provoking work. Just when you thought there could be nothing new to say about JFK, here's a really well-written & intelligent new take on JFK, which is somewhat different from the conventional. He emphasizes the role of Churchill as JFK's role model and mentor. (Interestingly, they never met.) Actually, like George W. Bush, JFK had a "father" problem. Just as George W. had to effectively "divorce" himself from his father's political legacy and become the political foster son of Ronald Reagan, so did JFK. Joe Sr.'s money was indispensable to Kennedy's political success, but it came with some seriously heavy baggage. (Appeaser, anti-Semite, etc.) So Kennedy had to "divorce" his actual father and "adopt" a "political" father: Winston S. Churchill. (For a decade after 1940, the navy blue pinstripe suit JFK had made in imitation of Churchill's was the only suit Kennedy owned.)

Useful for anyone in a high-profile leadership position
This is perhaps one of the best books I've read on leadership.Of course I always like learning a little history along with some business skills, which makes this particularly appealing (having not been around for the Kennedy years in person).The book takes us through the Kennedy years and shows how JFK changed the rules of compaigning, challenged tradition, turned weaknesses into strengths, worked positively with the media, wrote speeches that reached his audience, and crafted a particular image.At the end of each chapter is a summary of lessons to be learned if you want to do the same.For anyone doing anything entrepreneurial, political and otherwise high-profile, this is a very useful guide for building a following. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

The author understands our situation and how to fix it
I'm an internal consultant at Fiskars, Inc. For the past two years I've been reviewing books about how to implement teams, but everything I read contained the same old traditional ideas that haven't worked for us (i.e. give employees some basic skills training, then ask them to take turns doing various supervisory functions). The Journey To Teams is a completely different approach. The most important point is that most supervisors do too much of the thinking for their subordinates, which causes them to turn off their brains while at work, which in turn frustrates everything management does to create teams. I gave copies of this book to several shop-floor supervisors in our Alabama plant and they came back all excited saying that the author must be sitting around the corner watching us, because the book describes exactly the problems we've had implementing teams at our plant. I've started reading this book for the second time now, and I'm taking lots of notes. If you want to implement teams, you've got to read this book.

Fresh, clear, logical thinking about team implementation
This book is easily readable by everyone at every level of the organization. That said, I've read it nine times and each time I learned something new. Don't expect any of the traditional team-building stuff that treats teams as the objective. This book treats teams as a means to real objectives - more capable people, producing better business results. The most important concept in the book is called "the bridge of confidence", a technique for building trust and confidence between supervisors and employees, allowing supervisors to let go of control gradually, without losing control.

We bought a copy of this book for each of the 450 employees at Cape Canaveral Group (we maintain the launch pads and related facilities for Atlas, Titan, and Delta rockets) and contracted with Everest Consulting Group (Regan's company) to help us implement our teams. If you are implementing teams, this book is a "must read."

An effective (and different) approach to implementing teams
This book effectively argues that unless you transform your supervisors from babysitters into coaches, they will negate all the team training you give your employees. It gives very specific coaching techniques that help both employees and supervisors overcome the initial fears of trusting each other. Michael Regan's methods for getting people to develop ideas and take responsibility for implementing them are excellent. His chapters on how to set up and measure teams so they share ownership and accountability for results are critical for anyone who wants to set up a team organization.

I successfully implemented teams at Alcatel before I read this book, but only after four years of dead ends and wrong turns - a result of reading traditional team books and using traditional team consultants. This book would have saved us a couple of years. Subsequently, I used it as our team implementation road map when I was hired as Director of Manufacturing at Sumitomo Electric Lightwave. Within two years we were making record profits, and I was promoted to VP of Manufacturing. I recently accepted a position as Director of Operations at another organization, with responsibility for three plants and a distribution center. The Journey To Teams will be required reading for all my managers. ... Read more

Book Description

A Groundbreaking Look at One of the Most Important Issues Facing Businesses Today Often overlooked, yet vital to an organization’s overall operations and productivity, how work space is used is becoming an increasingly critical issue for businesses to address. Based on a four-year research project conducted by members of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning’s Space Planning and Organization Research Group (SPORG), Excellence by Design examines this important issue. The book explores how the workplace interacts with work practices, introducing proven strategies and providing a sound framework for creating the workplace of the future. Covering a wide range of essential topics, from the interpersonal and political dimensions of workplace making to the art of using tools for workplace and organizational transformation, Excellence by Design introduces the "process architecture" approach to creating workplaces. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

SPARKS THINKING ON TOPIC OVERLOOKED IN ORGANIZATION CHANGE.
Explores the design of the physical workplace and the role this factor plays in improving productivity and operational effectiveness. Based on a four-year research project conducted by the MIT School of Architecture and Planning's Space Planning and Organization Research Group, this book introduces the concept of Process Architecture, meaning engaging a wide array of stakeholders in rethinking the dynamic relationship between work processes and the spatial, technological, financial, and organizational environments with which these processes occur. The authors provide a comprehensive explanation of the approach and framework with cases from the field. For those concerned with organizational strategy and design, this work introduces a key aspect-the workplace-often overlooked in organization change initiatives. This is an thoughtful book with original thinking. Highly recommended. Reviewed by Gerry Stern and Yvette Borcia, founders, Stern & Associates and HR Knowledge Network, authors of Stern's Sourcefinder: The Master Directory to HR and Business Management Information & Resources, Stern's CyberSpace SourceFinder, and Stern's Compensation and Benefits.

essential for AI, TQM, board gurus, systems planners
a new field - or major branch - of Architecture is now upon us. As Senior Advisor for Arificial Intelligence, i recommend quickscan of this matter. Graphs & color pgs help speed input, comprehenshun. Recommend translation to video, etc. Read w hiliter & make notes freely...Do it in team-read fashion. ... Read more

Book Description

Essential reading for building owners, facilities managers, architects and surveyors, this book will also prove useful on business management and facilities management courses, and for those studying architecture, surveying and real estate management.

First book to address this important and topical subject area
Use of Case Notes to illustrate topics
Focuses on correlation bertween work and workplace; between workplace and work effectiveness ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Facilities Management and the Business of Space
Don't be misled by the apparently narrow title of this book - it is actually a very comprehensive text which addresses many pertinent areas to Facilities Management.

The material is excellent and up to date, offering useful case studies.

I shall be adopting this excellent book for my intermediate level and final level undergraduates. ... Read more

Book Description

Collaborative skills have never been more important. At work, you can't afford to be defensive, hostile, or even too cynical. It's never easy, but getting along with your colleagues or customers is imperative, whether you're on a long-term assignment, a temporary project, or a virtual team where you're connected to colleagues only by cell phone and e-mail.

Radical Collaboration: Five Essential Skills to Overcome Defensiveness and Build Successful Relationships is a how-to manual for anyone who wants to be more skillful at building relationships, both professional and personal. James W. Tamm and Ronald J. Luyet will show you how to gently look inside yourself for the answers, with page after page of thoughtful exercises and probing tools that will increase your skills. The four introspective skills you will learn are: Collaborative Intention, Truthfulness, Self-Accountability, and Self-Awareness and Awareness of Others.

You also have to get what you need from the world around you. That's why Radical Collaboration teaches a critical fifth skill: Problem Solving and Negotiating. Tamm and Luyet teach you how to negotiate using the highly effective interest-based approach to problem solving.

At the heart of the book is a theory of human relationships called Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation, or FIRO. It explains how unmet emotional needs can sabotage our efforts to collaborate.

How does the online profile work? When you get to chapter 7, you will be directed to a unique code number printed on a sticker on the inside back flap of this book. Take this number to the Web site for the book, www.radicalcollaboration.com. Here, you will be able to take a free relationship profile called the FIRO Element B. This profile will increase your awareness of how you behave in relationships and give you information about your behavior in three areas that strongly influences your ability to collaborate. The test will measure how important control is to you, how important it is for you to be included, and how comfortable you are being open about yourself.

Are you are defensive and fearful? Is that preventing you from collaborating? Use the exercises in this book to identify your habits, and then learn how to moderate them. You will quickly become more effective at work and at home.

Book Description

Today’s new breed, eXtreme projects are different. They feature high speed, high change, high complexity, high risk, and high stress.  While traditional projects follow the classic model of ready, aim, fire, eXtreme project managers succeed by shooting the gun and then redirecting the bullet while not loosing sight of their moving target. eXtreme Project Management provides a practical guide for leaders working under high risk and high pressure while producing the desired bottom-line results.  Based on Doug DeCarlo’s extensive experience in working with more than 250 project teams, his eXtreme project management model is built around an integrated set of principles, values, skills, tools, and practices proven to consistently work under conditions of rapid change and uncertainty. eXtreme project management is based on the premise that you don’t manage the unknown the same way you manage the known.  It’s a people-centric approach to high performance that makes quality of life a fundamental part of the project venture. ... Read more

Book Description