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The Six Conversations of a Brilliant Manager
In The Six Conversations of a Brilliant Manager, Alan J. Sears distils over 20 years’ experience as a management consultant and coach into six simple conversational structures that cover every management situation. A natural storyteller with a great narrative gift, Sears delivers his message in an entirely unique manner – as a work of business fiction. In this compelling and highly instructive tale you can follow the journey of newly promoted Operations Manager Sam Mitchell as he faces the everyday pressures and challenges of managing a team, and then relate his experiences to real life scenarios in your workplace. Conversation #1 – What can you do about that? Conversation #2 – Who should really own this? Conversation #3 – How should we be behaving? Conversation #4 – Who’s really doing this? Conversation #5 – Where are we heading? Conversation #6 – How are we doing? This highly practical guide concludes with a simple how-to chapter, explaining why and how each conversation works, and when to use them, as well as providing accompanying tips and techniques. The Six Conversations of a Brilliant Manager is an instantly-applicable and hugely powerful toolkit for every manager and HR department looking to get the very best out of their people.
107 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 6, 2019
109 people are currently reading
201 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
March 1, 2022
An interesting read and certainly covers the fundamental elements of how to engage with your staff as a manager.
This book covers six conversations that you may have with different people as a manager. The way the theories and ideas are put across is by a fictional scenario which offers some context as to how these conversations could come about. The conversations vary from being about accountability to how to deal with a difficult staff member.
As someone looking to take the next step into management in the near future I wanted to get an idea of some of the fundamentals in terms of how to deal with people. This book certainly covered that and had very useful points that I will take on board. The summary is very useful at the end, and I have no doubt I will refer to that on a regular basis.
The creation of the fictional company and team was a bit cringey at times but I did find it useful to have some context behind how these conversations could arise and when to implement the methods of dealing with them. The book certainly emphasised several keys points with my main takeaway being to ensure that you stay flexible depending on the scenario and person
Overall, a useful insight into some different methods that gives you an idea of how best to approach management.
This book covers six conversations that you may have with different people as a manager. The way the theories and ideas are put across is by a fictional scenario which offers some context as to how these conversations could come about. The conversations vary from being about accountability to how to deal with a difficult staff member.
As someone looking to take the next step into management in the near future I wanted to get an idea of some of the fundamentals in terms of how to deal with people. This book certainly covered that and had very useful points that I will take on board. The summary is very useful at the end, and I have no doubt I will refer to that on a regular basis.
The creation of the fictional company and team was a bit cringey at times but I did find it useful to have some context behind how these conversations could arise and when to implement the methods of dealing with them. The book certainly emphasised several keys points with my main takeaway being to ensure that you stay flexible depending on the scenario and person
Overall, a useful insight into some different methods that gives you an idea of how best to approach management.
February 3, 2020
The core content at the very end was really good, but the 27 small chapters of story form leading up to it was a less than stellar way to present it.
January 1, 2020
Needing a bit of inspiration at work I found this easy read in the Kindle store.
The 6 conversations are fairly obvious, but what is different about this business/self-help book is that it is written as a story with the conversations, or lessons, forming each chapter. That can help to contextualise the content if the typical style doesn't appeal.
Unfortunately the storytelling allowed the old stereotype of husband works hard, so wife has to deal with home and children issues. That really grated with me, that the main character comes home and his wife (after coming home from her own job) has to cook dinner and tend to raising their child because he was too focussed on his problems with his team at work to want to help with anything in his own family. So that kind of lost me and left a bad taste in my mouth and means that I will stick to the typical business management texts now.
The 6 conversations are fairly obvious, but what is different about this business/self-help book is that it is written as a story with the conversations, or lessons, forming each chapter. That can help to contextualise the content if the typical style doesn't appeal.
Unfortunately the storytelling allowed the old stereotype of husband works hard, so wife has to deal with home and children issues. That really grated with me, that the main character comes home and his wife (after coming home from her own job) has to cook dinner and tend to raising their child because he was too focussed on his problems with his team at work to want to help with anything in his own family. So that kind of lost me and left a bad taste in my mouth and means that I will stick to the typical business management texts now.
September 14, 2024
An average business fable that can’t get past its traditional gender stereotypes.
I stopped reading at paragraph 9 which starts: “Laura got on well with Bob’s wife Jean and the conversation, both before and after lunch, often separated along gender lines, with the two women more interested in children and family affairs while Bob and Sam always seemed to float back to business”.
Eugh.
I tried to give the benefit of the doubt to the seeming misogyny of the fact that Sam’s predecessors (who obviously left behind a failing team) were both women, how the first “conversation” with Rosie (a “bouncy” woman - have you ever heard a man be described in this way?) came across as though Sam was speaking with a child, how his wife is badged as a home maker despite having a job of her own, and how Sam’s “mentor” in all of this is once again, a traditional, presumably white middle aged man.
Take away the author’s clearly deeply routed ideas that man = clever and good and women = frivolous children, you’re left with some basic management truths which even the most junior manager should understand as a matter of common sense. Nothing new, nothing revolutionary.
If you’re looking for a great business table, read Pig Wrestling instead.
I stopped reading at paragraph 9 which starts: “Laura got on well with Bob’s wife Jean and the conversation, both before and after lunch, often separated along gender lines, with the two women more interested in children and family affairs while Bob and Sam always seemed to float back to business”.
Eugh.
I tried to give the benefit of the doubt to the seeming misogyny of the fact that Sam’s predecessors (who obviously left behind a failing team) were both women, how the first “conversation” with Rosie (a “bouncy” woman - have you ever heard a man be described in this way?) came across as though Sam was speaking with a child, how his wife is badged as a home maker despite having a job of her own, and how Sam’s “mentor” in all of this is once again, a traditional, presumably white middle aged man.
Take away the author’s clearly deeply routed ideas that man = clever and good and women = frivolous children, you’re left with some basic management truths which even the most junior manager should understand as a matter of common sense. Nothing new, nothing revolutionary.
If you’re looking for a great business table, read Pig Wrestling instead.
August 30, 2020
Pretty quick read.
It introduces the conversations using a newly promoted manager, feeling his way through the handling his new team. Initially, I thought the story structure was brilliant as these things tend to be a bit dry, although admittedly it began to grate after a while. Like children's educational books... it's going to then spell everything out and repeat it in its entirety just so you can't misinterpret anything, so ultimately you've then got a few predictable pages every time ZzzZz. Of course, it's super convenient that everything works out so nicely from a story size, and oh you can apply it then to family relationships, ah look, so great he can come home late and inspire a fix into the mother-daughter arguments..
Cynicism aside, from someone early on in their line management responsibilities I thought the core content was very good and it's a really good basis for considering how you are going to manage people and being aware of your approaches. The summary at the end is where the value is.
It introduces the conversations using a newly promoted manager, feeling his way through the handling his new team. Initially, I thought the story structure was brilliant as these things tend to be a bit dry, although admittedly it began to grate after a while. Like children's educational books... it's going to then spell everything out and repeat it in its entirety just so you can't misinterpret anything, so ultimately you've then got a few predictable pages every time ZzzZz. Of course, it's super convenient that everything works out so nicely from a story size, and oh you can apply it then to family relationships, ah look, so great he can come home late and inspire a fix into the mother-daughter arguments..
Cynicism aside, from someone early on in their line management responsibilities I thought the core content was very good and it's a really good basis for considering how you are going to manage people and being aware of your approaches. The summary at the end is where the value is.
April 16, 2021
Apparently there are just six types of conversation a manager needs to master to be successful, and this book attempts to teach them.
It uses a storytelling approach (similar to the Phoenix project) which I’m generally not a fan of, but it’s a quick enough read, and gets to the point quickly enough (something other books in this genre don’t tend to), so I’m willing to give it a pass, even if it did feel a little self congratulatory and cheesy.
To me, the best bit was when the “story” ended, and it recapped the conversations, explaining why the conversations work, and reminding of the technique. I think it’s this part of the book which is going to be frequently referenced.
I can’t speak to the quality of the advice given, as I’m very early in my management career, but it at least sounds like contains six good approaches to the different conversations I’ll need to have, so it’ll find a prominent place on my bookshelf, and will be referenced frequently.
It uses a storytelling approach (similar to the Phoenix project) which I’m generally not a fan of, but it’s a quick enough read, and gets to the point quickly enough (something other books in this genre don’t tend to), so I’m willing to give it a pass, even if it did feel a little self congratulatory and cheesy.
To me, the best bit was when the “story” ended, and it recapped the conversations, explaining why the conversations work, and reminding of the technique. I think it’s this part of the book which is going to be frequently referenced.
I can’t speak to the quality of the advice given, as I’m very early in my management career, but it at least sounds like contains six good approaches to the different conversations I’ll need to have, so it’ll find a prominent place on my bookshelf, and will be referenced frequently.
August 1, 2021
This is a short book that you can read in an afternoon. It is a refreshing format for a management book in the form of a story of a new manager that on his appointment gets given a challenging task to sort the team out. Six team members all need a different type of conversation and some of these conversation strategies spill over into his home-life. This story is told in part I of the book and in part II these six conversations are briefly analysed and a recommended structure for each of these conversations is systematically given along with some tips and pitfall warnings.
I thought there were some useful suggestions in this book, but nothing too ground breaking. It does read very easily because of the story telling format. Thought that was very cleverly chosen.
I thought there were some useful suggestions in this book, but nothing too ground breaking. It does read very easily because of the story telling format. Thought that was very cleverly chosen.
December 2, 2023
This book positively surprised me with how engaging it was. There are lots of similar books out there, but many are long and deal with things in quite a matter of fact way. By using a storytelling approach, this one is easy to read and contextualise the advice, even if in places, it is indeed a bit cringey as others have commented.
Anyway, a useful way of structuring different types of 1 to 1 conversations as a leader in any part of life (most obviously work). The kindle version says reading time of 1hr 45, so it isn't too long. Worth a read if you are managing/leading or soon will do
Anyway, a useful way of structuring different types of 1 to 1 conversations as a leader in any part of life (most obviously work). The kindle version says reading time of 1hr 45, so it isn't too long. Worth a read if you are managing/leading or soon will do
April 24, 2021
Brilliant read, highly recommended
I'm a new manager and I'd say working with people comes relatively naturally to me, however , this book has given me so much more confidence in how to deal with team members and different personalities and needs. It is a very easy and enjoyable read that gives some great structure to some difficult conversations. I'd highly recommend this to any manager looking to get their team working really well.
I'm a new manager and I'd say working with people comes relatively naturally to me, however , this book has given me so much more confidence in how to deal with team members and different personalities and needs. It is a very easy and enjoyable read that gives some great structure to some difficult conversations. I'd highly recommend this to any manager looking to get their team working really well.
February 14, 2022
This book sets out to outline six essential conversations a manager should be having in the context of a short story about a new manager and how he integrates into his new role, uncovers issues and develops his team.
The 6 conversations; coaching, accountability, difficult conversations, delegation, career development and appraisal.
Nothing particularly groundbreaking and the story was quite cringy.
The 6 conversations; coaching, accountability, difficult conversations, delegation, career development and appraisal.
Nothing particularly groundbreaking and the story was quite cringy.
February 23, 2021
The book is layed out like a case study. I find it very interesting to hear Sam's experience of moving into a management position, and a great basis for people to also learn. Perhaps not a book that I would suggest if you are wanting to explore deeper into the mind/psychology of a manager/leader, but a good read nonetheless!
April 13, 2020
If you are strapped for time, skip straight to the second section of the book as you get the same value without reading through the story setup that delivers the conversations.
The story itself does help formulate how you can go about applying what the book teaches
The story itself does help formulate how you can go about applying what the book teaches
October 28, 2020
Very handy, I'll definitely be referring back to this one again and again
November 30, 2021
Simple and effective. I’ll try to use these.
December 25, 2021
Contrived yet invaluable.
Read
April 9, 2022Excellent book. Kept me gripped throughout and gave me a platform for changing my conversations with staff
March 27, 2023
It is easy to read a book with great basic management coaching methods topics. It is written in a simple style. But it covers basics so don't expect to learn anything new.
January 4, 2020
You can summarise this book in one sentence: Different conversations serve different purposes. If you really want to know some more then read Part II - a few good pointers in the latter pages. All of Part I can be discarded or else transformed into a short sit-com. Don't waste time on this book there are far better ones.
April 5, 2020
The story...yikes...
January 4, 2022
A quick read that gives a decent introduction to effective coaching conversations that are mostly based around the GROW model. Despite some of the reviews, I actually enjoyed the 'story' style of part 1 and found the concepts more enjoyable in this form. Part 2 is the nuts and bolts breakdown which is an effective synopsis of the key principles.
I do feel both parts compliment each other and helps deliver and reinforce the narrative. However it is fairly simplistic and perhaps a useful 'entry-level' on management conversations. But then again perhaps we are all over complicating management?
I do feel both parts compliment each other and helps deliver and reinforce the narrative. However it is fairly simplistic and perhaps a useful 'entry-level' on management conversations. But then again perhaps we are all over complicating management?
December 18, 2020
In terms of the managerial / leadership lessons this book covers, there’s nothing especially new if you have been a manager and had coaching or management training.
But the way those lessons are conveyed, through telling more of a story of a new manager and the types of conversations he has to have in different situations is at least a different way of approaching what could otherwise be quite a dry topic for some. Made it quite a quick and easy read and quite relatable to work situations.
The only other book I’ve come across that used this style was The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt which was more about operations and supply chain, but worked in a very similar way.
The actual ‘story’ itself was a but forgettable and did rely a little bit on stereotypes and cliches, but served the purpose of bring the core lessons to life which I think was the point of writing the book.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews