Resolutions are not solutions

It's NEW YEARS EVE and I am always stunned by the number of resolutions people make at this time. Resolutions are merely wishes hopes and dreams that people could not set goals for all and suddenly find support to do it TODAY! As a manager and trainer I find that the people who didn't set their goals all year long are probably not going to succeed with those goals at this time of the year. Great Managers are the opposite of New Years Resolution people. Great Managers always have to be looking ahead, by days, weeks, months and even years. They have to be planning for their people, their departments, the goals that they have set and that their superiors have set.
Great Managers are influential in helping their people be proActive rather than reactive. Great Managers help their people establish themselves as leaders, as movers and shakers and as great followers.
The one great failure for most managers is their lack of vision. Their lack of being able to see the bigger picture and how to conquer and succeed in that picture.
What will you be doing in 2011 to establish your department as the primo department for the year? What will you be doing to make your department the envy of your company or organization.
Here's to an amazing and prosperous 2011.
http://www.stevesapato.com/
Where I don't motivate your people to change but I inspire them to become.

Great managers utilize great people

What makes you a great manager? Are you? Find out in todays video blog -

Great Managers- Finding Your Center

Great Managers – Finding your center!

I watch managers struggle every single day and wonder.. is it because they truly don’t know? Don’t understand? Or have never been taught!

I watch managers every day who don’t know how to delegate or are afraid of the consequences, repercussions or reactions of their staff. I watch supervisors react in situations instead of acting upon those situations.

A GREAT MANAGER should be trained, informed, held accountable for their staff, the training of that staff, the motivating of that staff, the effectiveness of that staff. It is the managers duty to involve their people, create in their people a desire to not only be effective but to excel at their jobs and even superset and help others succeed at their jobs also.

GREAT MANAGERS ARE MADE by seeing the problem or challenge before it happens and planning how they will handle the situation if and or when it arrives. A great manager is made into someone who will face their boss and deliver an effective solution to a problem or at least acknowledge and share with them the problems they are facing so that they can get help fixing the problem if they are not prepared or trained for that situation.

Staying focused and not getting out of balance in a crucial moment can make all the difference in resolving a situation and not exacerbating it. FIND YOUR CENTER and know that you can handle any situation even if it involved asking for assistance from your boss or your staff.

Remember, you hired your staff for their excellence. Don’t be afraid to call upon it.

Need additional management training to turn your supervisors and managers into GREAT MANAGERS? Call upon www.stevesapato.com for some real answers and excellent training for your people.

Want to be a better speaker?

Would you like to be a better speaker in front of a group?

It used to be said that the fear of speaking in public was the number one fear people had. While that made little sense to many of us it was very true for those who had that fear. Well, somewhere along the way from 1950 until today we have found in the computer age that we find ourselves speaking to groups fairly frequently. So while it may not be as frightening as it once was it is an area where we now want to excel.

As a wanna-be manager, supervisor and manager we need to be better speakers. We need to know how to garner followers, give confidence, show strength, reduce stress and anxiety and show us as capable individuals.

If this is true then what are you doing to become a better speaker? I taught public speaking for seven years at the college level and have continued to teach and instruct on a contractual level for many years.

What I have found is that most of us really do not understand the subtleties of speaking in front of a group. We think we know. Most managers THINK they are great speakers but when you ask their staff most just roll their eyes. After all, we can’t speak badly of our boss, they might hear about it and take revenge.

When I ask people if they really know how to speak in front of a group, most say of course, and blow me off. But then I ask, really? So you practice making faces in front of your mirror? Answered 100% of the time… no! of course not. That’s stupid.

And then I ask, but you know what your face and body language are saying?

And again, unequivocally YES!

So have you ever had someone ask you if you were OK? Or if you were having a bad day? And you weren’t?  Then you don’t always know what you r face or body language is saying. And it’s THAT type of thing that we all need to improve.

If you are speaking in front of a group and you don’t realize that you are raising an eyebrow, or that your mouth moves a certain way, or that when you speak you tug at your lip… then you have no clue what message you are sending to your audience.

Want to get better at speaking in front of a group? Sign up for some private/group training. Have your company contact a professional. Someone who KNOWS how to train speakers. Someone who will not tippy toe around you because you have a position but will tell you what you need to improve upon and make you improve, allow you to make mistakes, video tape you and show you the flaws so you can ‘understand’ emotionally what you need to work on. And believe me when I say, the video taping is MANDATORY for your improvement.

Want to be a better speaker in front of a group? Call someone today.

www.stevesapato.com

Learn about your people to become a great manager

As I was working away the other day someone asked me, "how many hours a week do you work"? I responded with, gee I don't have a clue. They asked again incredulous, "you don't even know?" I replied, what difference does it make? And they said, "well, I work forty hours a week and that's all this company is getting out of me."
And I suddenly remembered something I had read. If you are working your passion then it's not a job. Some say I work tirelessly. Other say, maniacally. I say, I work.
But I enjoy what I do and I enjoy doing it. For me to work 50 or 60 hours a week is no big deal. But as a great manager I understand that most of my people never want to work over 40. The difference is,

I work my passion while they work their job.

Should I be upset with them? Of course not. As a great manager part of my job is to know my people. Understand what motivates them. Understand their modus operandi and how they work, play and succeed. Know their strengths AND their weaknesses. Be able to utilize their strengths and reduce the effects their weaknesses have upon how they do their job, their coworkers and the company.

If I know what rewards them, a personal compliment? A mention in front of a meeting? A handwritten note? A plaque? Monetary? Non-monetary? then I understand my people and how I can help them achieve superior results.
Because some work their job and some work their passion. Some live for what their job brings to their lives and some work for what the financial reward from their job brings to their lives.

How are you learning about your people? What are you doing to understand them in order for you to achieve great results in your job and for your organization?

I am www.stevesapato.com and I live to help you become a better manager because GREAT MANAGERS ARE MADE NOT BORN.

Great Managers Know their people

Pay it Forward

I m watching a move called Pay It Forward and I remember having seen it and that it impacted me but don’t remember much about the specifics of the movie.


I do know this though, and that the concept is what indeed we should all live by.

And then I received a friend request on LinkedIn and I remembered why I Blog. I am paying it forward. I remember why I am working on Sunday to design lesson plans so I will be the best trainer tomorrow and that all of my students will walk away with at least the opportunity to be better at their jobs.

And I remembered that I Blog about managers, management, and what it takes to be a better manager is because I am paying it forward. If I make someone, just one someone, a better manager, then I have changed the loves of so many others! How many people does that manager touch? Control? Supervise? How many other supervisors will learn from the Manager. How much of a difference am I making?

I don’t know. And that isn’t even important. What is important is that one manager, one person wrote to me and said they were looking forward to learning from my Blog. That means I can reach ONE person no matter who subscribes to my Blog! ONE PERSON who wants to get better. One person who wants to learn. I can make a difference to ONE PERSON!

And after all, isn’t that what YOUR job is all about? Being such a great manager that you make everyone’s job just a little easier? I little less stressful? I little more successful? Isn’t it your job to pass on many of your abilities so that others can learn from you? So they can help the company and other people that they touch become better?

If I have reached one person who makes a difference to one other person. I am paying it forward. And that, my friends, is what life is all about.

Steve Sapato www.stevesapato.com

What makes great managers? INVOLVEMENT!

Having been involved in dozens of projects, some were successful and others were not. But somewhere in that scenario was the involvement of great teams of people, the result of great management. It takes a great manager to put together a great team. Sometimes it happens by accident but most times it is out of the knowledge a great manager brings to the department. If a manager is allowed to hire or bring together their own team that will be the true test of a great manager.

Want to bring a new person into your management team? Watch how they perform the small jobs. Watch how they react to intent and see how they react under pressure. Do they show their temper when upset? Do they question the intent of a project that is not going in the right direction? Do they stand and ask questions or do they simply acknowledge and allow?
What makes a great manager is how they perfrom and then the type of people they perfomr with? When they form small teams before they become managers who do they select? How do they select? Ask them. Ask and ask again?
A great manager will put together a great team because they know and understand what it takes to get a great job done in a great way.
Now that you know what makes a great manager... are you a great manager? Look at your team and let me know. I would be very curious as to your selections, your reasons and possibly your excuses.
-Steve Sapato  training management specialist

Great Managers Are Made Not Born: Poor Manager Creates Bad Press!

Great Managers Are Made Not Born: Poor Manager Creates Bad Press!: "A recent stay by a friend at the HOLIDAY INN on 2001 Clearview Avenue, Atlanta, GA prompts an amazing response! That is WHAT THE HECK? Yes, ..."

Poor Manager Creates Bad Press!

A recent stay by a friend at the HOLIDAY INN on 2001 Clearview Avenue, Atlanta, GA prompts an amazing response! That is WHAT THE HECK? Yes, the friend booked a room on the second floor and upon returning at about 10:30pm discovered that a band was playing in the banquet room directly below their room with a loud thumping base making it difficult to watch TV much less get some sleep. Now we all expect hotels to book receptions and parties and we all should be understanding about these types of things but after midnight my friend thought the festivities from the pounding base speakers that were vibrating the room should cease! How about you? What time do you think other hotel guest should be entitled to their rest? Two phone calls to the desk and two hours later - Houston! We have a problem!
OK, the first response is.. who the heck booked a room above the banquet hall ANYWAY when there were other rooms available, at least they appeared available by the lack of cars in the parking lot.
And upon a first phone call why didn't the properly trained night clerk/manager take control and either shut the music down or if they were booked to go to 2am inform the guest that the music was going until 2am and that the hotel would be more than happy to relocate them to a much quieter room? Oh yes... I know now, they were NOT properly trained to handle these situations.
At 12:51 when the occupant telephoned the front desk again, nothing was done and when the music finally shut off at 2am, well, you can imagine the evenings rest was already past the point of no return.
How about you? Would you have handled this situation differently? Would your staff?
And now of course we get to the next morning when the guest came down to confront the Hotel Manager at 11 am and you guessed it... no manager on duty. After a brief telephone conversation where the manager enlightened the guest that they had booked through Expedia and therefore there was nothing they could do about a refund or any other course of action the guest was left holding the proverbial bag and while vowing to never return, simply disappeared into the daylight of another day of terrible management.
Is this how great managers are made? Trial and error? Frustrating your guests? Alienating potential clients? Getting bad write-ups on the Internet?
I seriously doubt it.
Now take this into your consideration.. so many things went wrong in this situation. 1) Poor room fulfillment 2) Poor reception room planning  3) Poor night staff training  4) Bad lack of knowledge about potential solutions  5) Either bad night staff with no insight for the guest OR bad general management because the staff was afraid of consequences if they had taken action without consulting the manager. 6) Poor general management for not satisfying the guest the next morning resulting in bad press and a bad rating online for that hotel via Expedia.
The only solution is to retain the staff and management to take positive and pro-active steps to avoiding these situations to begin with.
This is your MANAGEMENT Guru, http://www.stevesapato/ hoping you train your staff ever day every week every month every year with proactive management training and outside ideas and enlightenment.

Work out Manager - everything is a lesson.

The lessons are out there and waiting for you. Find your own path. Great Managers Are Made Not Born

Manager at the bottom of the pole

A recent 'political' cartoon came across my desk showing a bird at the top of the pole pooping down on all the birds underneath and we, the people (as birds), were at the bottom being pooped upon. That does not seem to political does it? Is it Fun? Expressive? Damaging? Corruptive? But as a manager, what would you do if one of your people was passing that around about your organization? What would you do? How would you react? What action would you take? Even more importantly what would you think? Would it change what you think about that person? Would you treat them differently? Would you look upon it as a challenge for your authority?


In actuality it's a terrific opportunity to demonstrate that you are a GREAT MANAGER! Think about the problem for a minute right now... what is right and wrong with this scenario, the cartoon being passed around the office, the implications.

Is it an attack upon authority? Is it a cry for help? Is it a statement of office perceptions? Is it an unhappy employee? Is it a temoprary situation? Is it a long term problem? Is it just in fun? Is it about you? Is it about your boss? Is it about company policy? Is it about a particular department? A particular supervisor or manager?

What are you going to do about it?

And it really depends on HOW Do You Perceive it. Take this scenario and talk about it in your office today. Share it with your people. See how everyone feels about it.

Learn from what you hear. Grow from what you see.

The actuality is this is neither negative or positive but it IS all about how it is perceived.

Grow on today. Grow on and rememberGREAT MANAGERS ARE MADE NOT BORN

http://www.stevesapato.com/
--

Give me 60 minutes and I will change your life.
Author of the book: Great Managers Are Made Not Born
Author of the forthcoming book - The Twenty, things you need to learn in order to find the love of your life
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Great Managers Are Made Not Born: Being Good At Your Job Can Save A Life!

Great Managers Are Made Not Born: Being Good At Your Job Can Save A Life!: "Recently in the news was the story of a University of Virginia man who killed himself. Why? He killed himself as the result of being bullied..."

Being Good At Your Job Can Save A Life!

Recently in the news was the story of a University of Virginia man who killed himself. Why? He killed himself as the result of being bullied in his job. And who was his nemesis? His MANAGER! And the man who committed suicide had talked to his boss, his bosses boss and written numerous letters and made dozens of phone calls to report the situation.
What went wrong? Why was nothing done?
Because all of the ‘managers’ involved were not trained to be great managers. They were only filling a slot, holding a position and none of them could or would make any kind of decision that would have remedied the situation. Maybe they were incapable of responding. Maybe they did not know how? May they were also afraid of the bully? Maybe .. maybe … maybe …

And the truth is, none of them were GREAT MANAGERS! And someone died.

We seldom put such emphasis on doing our jobs at a GREAT level but the truth is out there. Your job can make someone’s life or take someone’s life.
Maybe you and your company should make arrangements for additional training today.

Maybe you should invest in yourself and become that GREAT MANAGER that would have saved someone's life.

Great Restaurant Management! Mykonos!

Talk about PLEASURE! I had a wonderful dining experience on Friday night! Drew Williams of the Mykonos Taverna in Atlanta was a terrific host and his people gave me amazing service and authentic Greek food that was the best in Atlanta! But to understand what made it so good is to understand management. The restaurant bustles with staff who know their jobs and perform it flawlessly. Drew has trained his staff, manages them with clarity and authority and most of all with respect that they knew their jobs. He watched over the restaurant and made sure all guests were taken care of, happy with their meals and the overall dining experience.
If you understand management, you understand how important it is that your people know their jobs and that your responsibility it to make sure they do their jobs, not do them for them, not hover over them, not to watch every movement or make them nervous.
Your job as a manager is to make their jobs easier, keep them happy at their job, and train the next generation so that your organization continues to run flawlessly for the future.
If you are doing these things and your staff feels comfortable sharing with you about your job al well as theirs then you are on the right track.
Just keep learning and growing and your will understand that Great Managers Are Made and Not Born!
http://www.stevesapato.com/

Great Managers

When I started my book, called Great Managers Are Made Not Born, it was simply to work into many of the seminars I had been asked to do to help so many people who were promoted into a supervisory or management position without significant training.

For some reason many employers seem to think that what makes a great employee translates into making a great manager. And as we have discovered this is usually not the case.

So what we need to know is how does someone who is promoted but not gone through extensive management training, become a great manager?

The answer to that is not simple but it can be a a place that can be overcome. The first thing we need to know is that SELF DEVELOPMENT, automobile university as Zig Ziglar calls it, is an exceptional way to learn and grow into becoming a great manager.

It almost doesn't matter who's material you train from, most of us can learn from anyone who is knowledgeable enough to either write a book, manual or produce a CD or e-learning.

The first step and key to becoming a GREAT MANAGER is to start your education on how you can become a better manager.

www.stevesapato.com