[...]... most bosses are not so great Many struggle to be better Some don’t even bother to struggle Most bosses are so hands-off they mostly don’t manage unless they absolutely must Why is that? It’s Getting Harder to Manage People It’s always been hard to manage people Managers have always been stuck in the middle between the employer and the em- 6 IT’S OKAY TO BE THE BOSS ployee, trying to negotiate their... managing people Then there is the surprisingly widespread phenomenon of “false nice guy complex.” The “false nice guy” managers refuse to make decisions, give orders, and hold people accountable They tell themselves that they are doing so because they don’t want to be a “jerk,” or they want to be “nice.” They convince themselves that it is somehow not okay to be the boss The wielding of authority by one person... hand when it comes to managing They almost always give me the same 14 IT’S OKAY TO BE THE BOSS reasons—I call them the top seven management myths in today’s workplace #1 The Myth of Empowerment: The way to empower people is to leave them alone and let them manage themselves This is false empowerment, the number one myth in the workplace What is the reality? Almost everybody performs better with more... solve them before they grow into larger problems You don’t need permission to try your best to steer more rewards to people who go the extra mile #6 The Myth of the Natural Leader: I am not “good at” managing The underlying theory here is that some people are natural leaders and therefore the best managers, whereas others are not natural leaders and are destined to be not-so-great managers What is the. .. Employees do not have the “power” to do things their own way in the workplace They are not free to ignore tasks they don’t like They are not free to do as they please Rather, employees are free only to make their own decisions within defined guidelines and parameters that are determined 10 IT’S OKAY TO BE THE BOSS by others according to the strict logic of the enterprise at hand Responsibility without... realizing that they are caught in a vicious cycle Are they really being “nice guy” managers by failing to provide the direction, support, and coaching that employees need in order to succeed? In truth, they are simply letting themselves off the hook, to avoid the uncomfortable tension that comes with being stuck between the boardroom and the front lines the one who has to negotiate the competing needs and... take the easy way out, which is rewarding nobody specially The result: Low and mediocre performers enjoy roughly the same rewards as the high performers Limited resources for rewards are 18 IT’S OKAY TO BE THE BOSS further watered down by trying to spread them around equally High performers grow frustrated and angry The upshot: Managers fail to give the best employees the flexibility they need to continue... employee failures Employees should be made to feel they “own” their work and should be set free to make their own decisions Managers are merely facilitators, there to align the natural talents and desires of employees with fitting roles in the workplace Managers should not tell people how to do their jobs, but rather let employees come up with their own methods The idea is, make employees feel good inside... More managers are managing employees working in locations remote from the manager Plus the breadth and complexity of the work being done by the employees reporting to each manager have also expanded in most cases Taken together, the changes in the workplace have brought about a fundamental shift in norms and values that go to the core of the employer-employee relationship Here’s the problem: Most managers... Buckingham’s best-selling books such as First, Break All the Rules What makes this book so great, like The One Minute Manager, is its intensive focus on the immediate supervisory relationship—that is, on the role of the boss The problem with Buckingham, like most in this genre, is the naive insistence that employees do their best work when they are free to manage themselves The best way to get employees . alt="" IT’S OKAY GUI THE MANAGER YOUR EMPLOYEES NEED TO BE THE BOSS THE STEP- BY -STEP DE TO BECOMING BRUCE TULGAN This book is dedicated to Debby Applegate Contents e The Undermanagement. people. Managers have always been stuck in the middle between the employer and the em - 6 IT’S OKAY TO BE THE BOSS ployee, trying to negotiate their competing needs and expecta- tions. Most managers,. managing. They almost always give me the same 14 IT’S OKAY TO BE THE BOSS reasons—I call them the top seven management myths in today’s workplace. #1. The Myth of Empowerment: The way to em- power