SuperVision

When you became a manager, you assumed a responsibility for which you might have had little or no training: the art of public speaking. It's a skill needed to lead meetings, make business presentations, pitch ideas, deliver speeches or teach in workshops. Some managers find it painful; it's foreign territory. Even those who aren't intimidated by public speaking want to know they're doing it well.

So, let me share some tips for you. The tips are drawn from my background as a broadcast journalist and Poynter faculty member, and from the coaching I have done for folks ranging from aspiring TV news anchors to nervous newspaper editors. Here we go ...

Should bosses play favorites? Should they give plum work assignments, opportunities for growth, better schedules or personal attention to some staff members over others? My answer is yes, provided they do it for all the right reasons, and make those reasons transparent to everyone in the organization.

The term "playing favorites" has a ring of unfairness to it, no doubt because of all the bosses who favored certain employees over others for reasons that are clearly wrong. 

Here are some of the WORST reasons a boss might anoint a staffer as a favorite...

A manager recently touched base with me about a challenge. She's frustrated by a new boss who is, in her words, "a serious micromanager" -- far different from her previous boss who was "completely hands-off, except in a crisis." Our exchange about that situation led me to today's column: a look at micromanagement and how to minimize it.

Here's my definition of micromanagers: Supervisors who exercise a high degree of scrutiny of, control over and participation in the work of those they manage.

That's probably a kinder definition than some would offer, especially those who feel oppressed, stressed and second-guessed by micromanagers, day after day. But as I told the person who contacted me, there are a variety of micromanagers, and most don't have sinister motives. Here are six types...

My last post, "What Great Bosses Know about Introverts," was designed to help leaders understand their employees who get their energy from the life of the mind and prefer to pause and think before they speak.

Today, we look at extroverts, who actually think by talking and who get energy from interacting with people. First, a caveat: I am an extrovert. According to the ethics code that accompanied my training in administering and interpreting the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, I need to make certain I don't inject a bias for my own type into my teaching.

That's important. Because whether we're teachers or managers in an organization, it's common for us to think that what works for us is the norm. That's why I often title my teaching sessions on personality differences, "Why Can't We Just Do Things My Way?"

But my way doesn't work for everyone. In fact, my way may not always work as well for me as I assume. When it comes to extroversion, (which, by the way, in MBTI parlance is spelled "extraversion") there are benefits and there are drawbacks...

Kissin' Cuzzins Country Candy store, where I worked in high school, was across the street from the Riverside Theater in downtown Milwaukee. Customers who stopped in for our sweet specialties and fun atmosphere (our motto: "Our licorice is made from the finest overshoes and inner tubes") were often buying treats to take along to the movies.

Sometimes, theater-bound shoppers came in alone. I remember feeling so sorry for them. I assumed they were lonely. I assumed they longed for someone to share the film experience with them but had no one. They'd leave. I'd sigh.

Now I realize I was wasting my breath. My assumptions were probably wrong. Why? Because I was thinking like the extrovert I am...