Truth About Managing People, The: Proven Insights to Get the Best from Your Team

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Discover today's quick, practical, proven guide to overcoming "killer" management problems and succeeding brilliantly as a leader! Unlike other management books, The Truth About Managing People, Fourth Edition is 100% practical and completely based on tested evidence, not mere anecdote or opinion. Top management author Stephen P. Robbins has distilled thousands of research studies, meta-analyses, and Big Data investigations into a set of 63 proven, tested solutions for today's make-or-break management challenges. Each solution is presented quickly and concisely, in just 2-3 pages, so you can absorb them fast, and use them immediately. Robbins' fully updated truths cover every key aspect of management, including hiring the right people and building winning teams; designing high-productivity jobs and rewarding the right behaviors; managing diversity, change, conflict, turnover, and staff cuts; overcoming self-serving bias, groupthink, and digital distractions, and much more. This edition adds nine all-new chapters, covering the crucial importance of people skills, building emotional intelligence, loyalty expectations, employee engagement and mentoring, managing face-to-face vs. virtual teams, overcoming the downsides of teams, handling unacceptable workplace behavior, promoting creativity and innovation, and more. Whatever your management role, Robbins has compiled indispensable practical truths you can and will apply, every single day.

Preface vii

PART I THE TRUTH ABOUT HIRING

Truth 1 The Importance of “People Skills”      1
Truth 2 First Impressions DO Count!      5
Truth 3 Forget Traits; It’s Behavior That Counts!      9
Truth 4 Brains Matter; or Why You Should Hire Smart People     13
Truth 5 When in Doubt, Hire Conscientious People!     17
Truth 6 Want Friendly Employees? It’s in the Genes!     21
Truth 7 Don’t Ignore Emotional Intelligence     25
Truth 8 Throw Out Your Age Stereotypes     29
Truth 9 Match Personalities and Jobs     33
Truth 10 Hire People Who Fit Your Culture: My “Good Employee” Was Your Stinker!     37
Truth 11 Good Citizenship Counts!     41
Truth 12 Realistic Job Previews: What You See Is What You Get     45
Truth 13 Manage the Socialization of New Employees     49

PART II THE TRUTH ABOUT MOTIVATION

Truth 14 Why Many Workers Aren’t Motivated at Work Today     53
Truth 15 Telling Employees to “Do Your Best” Isn’t Likely to Achieve Their Best     57
Truth 16 Professional Workers Go for the Flow     61
Truth 17 Not Everyone Wants a Challenging Job     65
Truth 18 When Giving Feedback: Criticize Behaviors, Not People     69
Truth 19 You Get What You Reward     73
Truth 20 It’s All Relative!     77
Truth 21 Recognition Motivates (and It Costs Very Little!)     81
Truth 22 There’s More to High Employee Performance Than Just Motivation     85
Truth 23 So Long Loyalty, Hello Employee Engagement     89

PART III THE TRUTH ABOUT LEADERSHIP

Truth 24 Five Leadership Myths Debunked     93
Truth 25 The Essence of Leadership Is Trust     97
Truth 26 Experience Counts! Not Necessarily!     101
Truth 27 Effective Leaders Know How to Frame Issues     105
Truth 28 You Get What You Expect     109
Truth 29 Charisma Can Be Learned     113
Truth 30 Charisma Is Not Always an Asset     117
Truth 31 Make Others Dependent on You     121
Truth 32 Successful Leaders Are Politically Adept     125
Truth 33 Ethical Leadership     129
Truth 34 Virtual Leadership: Leading from Afar     133
Truth 35 Leading Across the Generational Gap     137
Truth 36 Becoming a Mentor     141
Truth 37 Adjust Your Leadership Style for Cultural Differences, or When in Rome…     145

PART IV THE TRUTH ABOUT COMMUNICATION

Truth 38 Hearing Isn’t Listening     149
Truth 39 Listen to the Grapevine     153
Truth 40 Men and Women Communicate Differently     157
Truth 41 What You Do Overpowers What You Say     161
Truth 42 The Value of Silence     165
Truth 43 Watch Out for Digital Distractions     169

PART V THE TRUTH ABOUT BUILDING TEAMS

Truth 44 What We Know That Makes Teams Work     173
Truth 45 2 + 2 Doesn’t Necessarily Equal 4     177
Truth 46 The Value of Diversity on Teams     181
Truth 47 We’re Not All Equal: Status Matters!     185
Truth 48 When Teams Are Appropriate, and When They’re Not     189

PART VI THE TRUTH ABOUT MANAGING CONFLICTS

Truth 49 The Case for Conflict     193
Truth 50 Beware of Groupthink     197
Truth 51 How to Reduce Work-Life Conflicts     201
Truth 52 Negotiating Isn’t About Winning and Losing     205

PART VII THE TRUTH ABOUT PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

Truth 53 Annual Reviews: The Best Surprise Is No Surprise!     209
Truth 54 Don’t Blame Me! The Role of Self-Serving Bias     213
Truth 55 Judging Others: Tips for Making Better Decisions     217
Truth 56 Coping with Deviant Workplace Behavior     221

PART VIII THE TRUTH ABOUT COPING WITH CHANGE

Truth 57 Most People Resist Any Change That Doesn’t Jingle in Their Pockets!     225
Truth 58 Use Participation to Reduce Resistance to Change     229
Truth 59 Creating Creative Employees     233
Truth 60 Employee Turnover Can Be a Good Thing     237
Truth 61 In Cutbacks: Don’t Neglect the Survivors     241
Truth 62 Beware of the Quick Fix     245

References 249