Every manager has to deal with difficult employees. However, what separates the great managers is their ability to turn them into productive team players. Control freaks. Narcissists. Slackers. Cynics. Their outbursts, irrational demands, gripes, and countless other disruptions need to be dealt with, and you are the unlucky one with that job description. This book turns this seemingly difficult chore into a straight-forward process that gently, yet effectively, improves behaviors. It all begins with understanding a core truth: most people actually want to contribute results, not cause headaches. When the manager resets to that fundamental principle, the potential for change can reveal itself in even the most hopeless situations. Written by tech industry expert Alan Willett, Leading the Unleadable explains how to: Master the necessary mindset Explain the problem calmly in a short feedback session Get a commitment to change, then follow up Coach others to replicate the process Develop the situational awareness required to spot future trouble before it hits Are you a great manager? Of course you believe you are. So don’t just put up with your difficult employees. Anyone can do that. Turn them into the tremendous team players everyone wants them to be!

Unlike other career books, this book offers managers a team-focused approach to neutralizing a not-so-pleasant—or productive—working atmosphere. Instead of isolating the one problem employee, relevant teams are considered as part of the solution. The result? Solutions stick and there's less likelihood of the bad apple ruining the bunch. Complete with situational advice and case studies taken straight from the trenches, this simple and straightforward guide teaches managers how to: Calm down combatants Motivate wasters Silence gossips De-arm backstabbers Convince passive-aggressives to open up Teach narcissists the importance of the team This book helps managers decide what the right course of action is—whether it means chastising negative behavior, encouraging positive outlooks, separating certain folks, creating teams for success, giving employees warnings, and/or firing the ones who are pretty much rotten through and through. This book is essential reading for any manager looking to ensure a pleasant, productive—and fruitful—work environment.

Managing Your Scarcest Resources Business leaders know that the key to competitive success is smart management of scarce resources. That's why companies allocate their financial capital so carefully. But capital today is cheap and abundant, no longer a source of advantage. The truly scarce resources now are the time, the talent, and the energy of the people in your organization--resources that are too often squandered. There's plenty of advice about how to manage them, but most of it focuses on individual actions. What's really needed are organizational solutions that can unleash a company's full productive power and enable it to outpace competitors. Building off of the popular Harvard Business Review article "Your Scarcest Resource," Michael Mankins and Eric Garton, Bain & Company experts in organizational design and effectiveness, present new research into how you can liberate people's time, talent, and energy and unleash your organization's productive power. They identify the specific causes of organizational drag--the collection of institutional factors that slow things down, decrease output, and drain people's energy--and then offer a pragmatic framework for how managers can overcome it. With practical advice for using the framework and in-depth examples of how the best companies manage their people's time, talent, and energy with as much discipline as they do their financial capital, this book shows managers how to create a virtuous circle of high performance.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 It’s not just a matter of making decisions on a daily basis. The very essence of being a leader and how you lead is a choice. You must actively choose to embrace the many good things that come with leadership, and choose not just the call to leadership, but exceptional leadership. #2 The essence of being a leader is a choice. You must actively choose to embrace the many good things that come with leadership, and choose not just the call to leadership, but exceptional leadership. #3 Leadership is a choice. You must actively choose to embrace the many good things that come with leadership, and choose not just the call to leadership, but exceptional leadership. #4 The essence of being a leader is a choice. You must actively choose to embrace the many good things that come with leadership, and choose not just the call to leadership, but exceptional leadership.

"Managing Difficult People" helps readers identify and deal with personality types such as the bully, the complainer, the know-it-all, the silent type, the social butterfly, the rookie, the manipulator, and more.

How to Manage Work Relationships in a Constructive Way that Leads to Success. Learning how to maintain strong, harmonious work relationships is essential. Unfortunately, at some point in your career, you'll have to work with people whose personalities or habits make every interaction with them a trial. Communications expert Renee Evenson has written the definitive phrasebook on how to confront the situations that can arise when dealing with difficult personalities and bring about a positive outcome. Powerful Phrases for Dealing with Difficult People is packed with practical and easy-to-use tactics such as: 325 powerful phrases to communicate effectively, as well as powerful actions to take in support of those phrases. 30 common personality traits, behaviors, and workplace scenarios along with the phrases that work best with each. Nonverbal communication actions to back up your words. Sample dialogues that demonstrate how phrasing improves interactions. A five-step process for moving from conflict to resolution. "Why This Works" sections that provide detailed explanations. Often, an employee who can interact well with others and feels comfortable handling conflict will be promoted over an employee who possesses greater job or technical knowledge. From egotistical bosses to meeting monopolizers, you'll learn how to develop the skills to handle any type of conflict with anyone.

In an increasingly globally diverse workforce, it's vitally important that leaders understand their team inside and out. This takes a new toolbox of skills for the 21st century. "Managing the Unmanageable" will give readers practical tips and proven techniques to show them how to develop new strategies for attracting and retaining the most talented employee before they become unmanageable, learn key words that will allow them to clearly communicate with every generation on their team, and much more.