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DK Essential Managers: Achieving High Performance
Maximize your impact in the workplace with Achieving High Performance. It will show you how to get the best out of your job by working smarter, not harder.
- GenresProductivity
72 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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49 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 30, 2024
It's a book issued as part of the Essential Managers series, which it addresses the Professional Management knowledge and best practices, where this book was about (and titled) "Achieving High Performance", it was written by Mike Bourne and Pippa Bourne in 2009 (1st copy), yet the copy i read was published in 2015.
The book was fill of condens useful information, knowledge and best practices guidelines in addition to the tools and techniques accompanied with some useful statistical (high level) information.
It is actually a good read for beginners and professional in the field of management and Project Management, and for any employee who wants to develop his/her skills and seek better opportunities.
Quotes:
"Achieving high performance is about developing your skills further into management and leadership, broadening your horizons, and making use of what other people have to offer you." Page 7
"Being aware of how others see you will enable you to change the signals you send out." Page 10
"Myers-Briggs Type Indicator positions people against four pairs of factors:
• Extroversion and introversion.
• Sensing and intuition.
• Thinking and feeling.
• Judging and perceiving." Page 10
"Many International companies use a process called 360-degree feedback, which is a formal means of eliciting comment from colleagues, staff, and bosses. It is often used to develop senior management teams." Page11
"It's too easy to focus on criticisms when you see them in black and white, so make sure that you value and reflect on the positive points that emerge, and use them in your planning for the future." Page 11
"80%of people in one survey admitted that they lacked a goal in life." Page 12
"When you ask yourself what you are really good at, your answer should encompass three important areas - your basic technical ability, your innate personal, or soft, skills, and the knowledge and experience that you have acquired throughout your career." Page 14
"We have looked at the importance of how other people see you and of understanding yourself, your strengths and limitations, and your ambitions. Developing your brand is about how you bring these facto together, use them to differentiate yourself from other people, and develop your career." Page 16
"Your "brand" has to be something that you are completely comfortable with. It should reflect your values and be uniquely yours." Page 16
"But without the process of planning, you won't prepare for the future. You do need to plan, but don't stick to your plans so rigidly that you miss opportunities." page 18
"Having a plan gives you a framework against which to measure your progress." Page 18
"20% of people write New Year goals; they are 10 times more likely to achieve them than those who do not." Page 21
"A success map is a useful tool for thinking through the key actions you need to take to achieve your goals and for representing these in a single picture." Page 22
"When writing your plan, prioritize your tasks objectively - it often helps to categorize tasks according to importance and urgency. Give priority to those that are both urgent and important (for example, producing up-to-date figures for the next day's sales meeting). Tasks that are important but not urgent (such as completing segments of your large projects) take second priority. Tasks that are not important but urgent (such as dealing with someone else's request for information) take third priority, and those that are neither important nor urgent should be delegated or not done at all." Page 28
"Running the meeting: The role of the chairperson is to ensure the meeting achieves its aims. There are a number of key techniques for doing this. One of the main characteristics of a successful chairperson is being able to make everyone feel they have been able to air their views, that their opinions have been valued, and that they have achieved something." Page 35
"The keys to success in any negotiation are having clear objectives and being thoroughly prepared." Page 36
"Structuring your approach
Break down your thoughts into three areas:
• The must-haves: these are the essential aspects of the deal - if they are not available, you will walk away.
• The ideal: this describes your perfect deal and defines all the elements that contribute to it.
• The give-aways: these are the aspects of the deal that you would be prepared to trade for your "must-have or ideal components." Page 38
"We are bombarded with information all day. The key to success is to be able to identify what is important and then remember it. Recalling an important fact can make the difference between success or failure in the heat of a negotiation or an important meeting." Page 52
"There is a process for reading a text book. Start by reading the introduction, then read the last chapter. At this point you should know what the book is about and how it's structured; now, you can decide whether it's worth reading the rest. If you think you would benefit from reading the book, begin by looking at the headings and diagrams on each page." Page 52
"Try scanning the whole document first. Then read it at your normal pace. You will be surprised how much you pick up." Page 52
"A mind map is an effective way to record information in a succinct format that you can easily remember." Page 53
"If you want to be sure that you will remember the content of your map, review it the day after you have drawn it, one week later, one month later, and finally one year later." Page 53
"Benchmarking is about comparing processes. It is about weighing up the way your organization does something against the way in which another organization performs the same function." Page 55
"To help overcome this, build a bank of achievements and positive comments that you can contemplate and reflect on whenever you feel uncertain about yourself and your abilities. Take some time to yourself and sit down with a pen and paper, and answer the following simple questions:
• What have I achieved in the last year and in the last five years?
• What am I most proud of? What did it feel like when I did it?
• What am I good at? Create a list of your talents and skills.
• What compliments have I received from others?" Page 56
"The place that you have reached in your career or your personal life is the result of the decisions you have made. Every decision closes off some opportunities and opens others. Life is full of difficult choices and that is why making good decisions is essential." Page 60
"How to make a decision: 1. Establish Evaluation Criteria. 2. Collect Appropriate Data. 3. Develop Alternatives. 4. Evaluate the Alternatives. 5. Make the Decision. 6.Implement the Decision. 7. Evaluate the Outcome." Page 60
"Decisions are usually choices between alternatives; so successful decision- making depends on identifying the best possible set of alternatives to evaluate." Page 62
"Communication is about sharing and receiving information through a variety of channels, from formal presentation to general conversation, emails, reports, and letters. How you communicate, and the channel you use, say something about you - so take care." Page 68
"Communication is a two-way process and your job is to make it easy for them to understand and focus on what you are saying or writing." Page 68
"Getting your message right:
- Hit the Right Level.
- Keep it Simple.
- Be Consise
- Highlight Key Points.
- Check your Punctuation.
- Be Direct." Page 70-71
"A leader has the personal characteristics that make people want to follow them, the ability to create and communicate a purpose, and the personal touch to deal with people. To be a leader, you must want to become a leader and be committed to learning and practising leadership skills." Page 76
"The first lesson of effective leadership, therefore, is that you must surround yourself with good people with the right skills, whom you can trust to deliver." Page 76
"When you become a leader you will usually have three main aims, which often overlap and sometimes conflict with one another:
• To create a vision for the organization
• To ensure team cohesiveness to deliver the vision.
• To satisfy the needs of the individuals within the team.
Juggling these balls is your task: if you drop any one, the organization or team is likely to stumble. Teams and individuals do not work well without a purpose or goal to achieve. This is because most individuals find it hard to achieve goals if they do not work as a team; and teams usually fail to achieve their goals without motivated individuals." Page 77
"CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESS:
HIGH-PERFORMING ORGANIZATIONS
• Are very clear about where they want to be and the measures of success.
• Know where they have come from and respect their past.
• Understand where they are now and where they stand against their competitors.
HIGH-PERFORMING TEAMS
• Have clear and realistic objectives.
• Share a sense of purpose.
• Create an open atmosphere.
• Regularly and objectively review progress.
•Build on their experiences.
• Work through difficult times together.
HIGH-PERFORMING PEOPLE
• Feel valued and respected.
• Know what is required of them at work.
• Have the tools and resources to do their jobs well.
• Know how what they do helps the organization to be successful.
• Are nurtured and developed." Page 77
"The role of the manager is to implement the organization's strategy through his or her stewardship of the available resources. Just like the leadership role, there are conflicts and tensions that have to be resolved, and all managers need to be leaders to some extent." Page 78
"As a manager, your focus is on the delivery of tasks, on the efficient use and coordination of resources, and on developing capabilities of people within your team or organization. You must quickly realize that you cannot do everything yourself, and develop skills in setting objectives for yourself and for others, in delegating tasks, and in managing your team" Page 78
"Develop skills in setting objectives for yourself and for others, in delegating tasks, and in managing your team." Page 78
"Delegation is about giving responsibility to others for part of a project, so freeing time for you to co-ordinate the work of all members of the team, like the conductor of an orchestra. It's also a good way of developing people of growing their skills, experience, and confidence. You need to be clear in communicating the tasks to be delegated, the standards and goals to be achieved, and the boundaries of what can and can't be done. Not all tasks are suitable for delegation." Page 78
"Don't delegate unless the objectives of a task are:
• Clear, specific, and measureable.
• Targeted and achievable in a set time.
• Worthwhile and realistic, but also challenging.
• Written and recorded.
• Consistent with the goals of the organization.
• Set participatively." Page 78
"Networking is about establishing groups of contacts that will add value to your business and career. It is a two-way process in which you must give to receive. Building good relationships will give you a competitive edge." Page 89
"Mentors are people who guide others through periods of change towards agreed objectives. They can help you in a number of ways." Page 86 * the role of a mentor
"77% of companies in one survey claimed that their mentoring programmes helped to increase their employee retention." Page 86
"Qualities of a good mentor:
The attributes of a good mentor depend on your circumstances and on your specific role, but he or she should always be:
• Someone you respect and trust, and who won't always just agree with what you say.
• Someone you consider to be a role model.
• Someone who listens, probing what you say in order to understand you.
• Someone who is genuinely interested in you and what you want to do, and who is available when you need help." Page 87
"Seeking opportunity:
Prospective employers are looking for evidence of five attributes:
01 Appropriate qualifications.
02 A relevant range of experience.
03 Specific skills required for the post.
04 Previous positions held.
05 How successful you have been.
At the interview stage employers will also assess your attitude and "fit" with the organization. Examine any job advert and try to decode it in the context of these attributes." Page 89
"A great way to learn something is by teaching it to someone else." Page 90
The book was fill of condens useful information, knowledge and best practices guidelines in addition to the tools and techniques accompanied with some useful statistical (high level) information.
It is actually a good read for beginners and professional in the field of management and Project Management, and for any employee who wants to develop his/her skills and seek better opportunities.
Quotes:
"Achieving high performance is about developing your skills further into management and leadership, broadening your horizons, and making use of what other people have to offer you." Page 7
"Being aware of how others see you will enable you to change the signals you send out." Page 10
"Myers-Briggs Type Indicator positions people against four pairs of factors:
• Extroversion and introversion.
• Sensing and intuition.
• Thinking and feeling.
• Judging and perceiving." Page 10
"Many International companies use a process called 360-degree feedback, which is a formal means of eliciting comment from colleagues, staff, and bosses. It is often used to develop senior management teams." Page11
"It's too easy to focus on criticisms when you see them in black and white, so make sure that you value and reflect on the positive points that emerge, and use them in your planning for the future." Page 11
"80%of people in one survey admitted that they lacked a goal in life." Page 12
"When you ask yourself what you are really good at, your answer should encompass three important areas - your basic technical ability, your innate personal, or soft, skills, and the knowledge and experience that you have acquired throughout your career." Page 14
"We have looked at the importance of how other people see you and of understanding yourself, your strengths and limitations, and your ambitions. Developing your brand is about how you bring these facto together, use them to differentiate yourself from other people, and develop your career." Page 16
"Your "brand" has to be something that you are completely comfortable with. It should reflect your values and be uniquely yours." Page 16
"But without the process of planning, you won't prepare for the future. You do need to plan, but don't stick to your plans so rigidly that you miss opportunities." page 18
"Having a plan gives you a framework against which to measure your progress." Page 18
"20% of people write New Year goals; they are 10 times more likely to achieve them than those who do not." Page 21
"A success map is a useful tool for thinking through the key actions you need to take to achieve your goals and for representing these in a single picture." Page 22
"When writing your plan, prioritize your tasks objectively - it often helps to categorize tasks according to importance and urgency. Give priority to those that are both urgent and important (for example, producing up-to-date figures for the next day's sales meeting). Tasks that are important but not urgent (such as completing segments of your large projects) take second priority. Tasks that are not important but urgent (such as dealing with someone else's request for information) take third priority, and those that are neither important nor urgent should be delegated or not done at all." Page 28
"Running the meeting: The role of the chairperson is to ensure the meeting achieves its aims. There are a number of key techniques for doing this. One of the main characteristics of a successful chairperson is being able to make everyone feel they have been able to air their views, that their opinions have been valued, and that they have achieved something." Page 35
"The keys to success in any negotiation are having clear objectives and being thoroughly prepared." Page 36
"Structuring your approach
Break down your thoughts into three areas:
• The must-haves: these are the essential aspects of the deal - if they are not available, you will walk away.
• The ideal: this describes your perfect deal and defines all the elements that contribute to it.
• The give-aways: these are the aspects of the deal that you would be prepared to trade for your "must-have or ideal components." Page 38
"We are bombarded with information all day. The key to success is to be able to identify what is important and then remember it. Recalling an important fact can make the difference between success or failure in the heat of a negotiation or an important meeting." Page 52
"There is a process for reading a text book. Start by reading the introduction, then read the last chapter. At this point you should know what the book is about and how it's structured; now, you can decide whether it's worth reading the rest. If you think you would benefit from reading the book, begin by looking at the headings and diagrams on each page." Page 52
"Try scanning the whole document first. Then read it at your normal pace. You will be surprised how much you pick up." Page 52
"A mind map is an effective way to record information in a succinct format that you can easily remember." Page 53
"If you want to be sure that you will remember the content of your map, review it the day after you have drawn it, one week later, one month later, and finally one year later." Page 53
"Benchmarking is about comparing processes. It is about weighing up the way your organization does something against the way in which another organization performs the same function." Page 55
"To help overcome this, build a bank of achievements and positive comments that you can contemplate and reflect on whenever you feel uncertain about yourself and your abilities. Take some time to yourself and sit down with a pen and paper, and answer the following simple questions:
• What have I achieved in the last year and in the last five years?
• What am I most proud of? What did it feel like when I did it?
• What am I good at? Create a list of your talents and skills.
• What compliments have I received from others?" Page 56
"The place that you have reached in your career or your personal life is the result of the decisions you have made. Every decision closes off some opportunities and opens others. Life is full of difficult choices and that is why making good decisions is essential." Page 60
"How to make a decision: 1. Establish Evaluation Criteria. 2. Collect Appropriate Data. 3. Develop Alternatives. 4. Evaluate the Alternatives. 5. Make the Decision. 6.Implement the Decision. 7. Evaluate the Outcome." Page 60
"Decisions are usually choices between alternatives; so successful decision- making depends on identifying the best possible set of alternatives to evaluate." Page 62
"Communication is about sharing and receiving information through a variety of channels, from formal presentation to general conversation, emails, reports, and letters. How you communicate, and the channel you use, say something about you - so take care." Page 68
"Communication is a two-way process and your job is to make it easy for them to understand and focus on what you are saying or writing." Page 68
"Getting your message right:
- Hit the Right Level.
- Keep it Simple.
- Be Consise
- Highlight Key Points.
- Check your Punctuation.
- Be Direct." Page 70-71
"A leader has the personal characteristics that make people want to follow them, the ability to create and communicate a purpose, and the personal touch to deal with people. To be a leader, you must want to become a leader and be committed to learning and practising leadership skills." Page 76
"The first lesson of effective leadership, therefore, is that you must surround yourself with good people with the right skills, whom you can trust to deliver." Page 76
"When you become a leader you will usually have three main aims, which often overlap and sometimes conflict with one another:
• To create a vision for the organization
• To ensure team cohesiveness to deliver the vision.
• To satisfy the needs of the individuals within the team.
Juggling these balls is your task: if you drop any one, the organization or team is likely to stumble. Teams and individuals do not work well without a purpose or goal to achieve. This is because most individuals find it hard to achieve goals if they do not work as a team; and teams usually fail to achieve their goals without motivated individuals." Page 77
"CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESS:
HIGH-PERFORMING ORGANIZATIONS
• Are very clear about where they want to be and the measures of success.
• Know where they have come from and respect their past.
• Understand where they are now and where they stand against their competitors.
HIGH-PERFORMING TEAMS
• Have clear and realistic objectives.
• Share a sense of purpose.
• Create an open atmosphere.
• Regularly and objectively review progress.
•Build on their experiences.
• Work through difficult times together.
HIGH-PERFORMING PEOPLE
• Feel valued and respected.
• Know what is required of them at work.
• Have the tools and resources to do their jobs well.
• Know how what they do helps the organization to be successful.
• Are nurtured and developed." Page 77
"The role of the manager is to implement the organization's strategy through his or her stewardship of the available resources. Just like the leadership role, there are conflicts and tensions that have to be resolved, and all managers need to be leaders to some extent." Page 78
"As a manager, your focus is on the delivery of tasks, on the efficient use and coordination of resources, and on developing capabilities of people within your team or organization. You must quickly realize that you cannot do everything yourself, and develop skills in setting objectives for yourself and for others, in delegating tasks, and in managing your team" Page 78
"Develop skills in setting objectives for yourself and for others, in delegating tasks, and in managing your team." Page 78
"Delegation is about giving responsibility to others for part of a project, so freeing time for you to co-ordinate the work of all members of the team, like the conductor of an orchestra. It's also a good way of developing people of growing their skills, experience, and confidence. You need to be clear in communicating the tasks to be delegated, the standards and goals to be achieved, and the boundaries of what can and can't be done. Not all tasks are suitable for delegation." Page 78
"Don't delegate unless the objectives of a task are:
• Clear, specific, and measureable.
• Targeted and achievable in a set time.
• Worthwhile and realistic, but also challenging.
• Written and recorded.
• Consistent with the goals of the organization.
• Set participatively." Page 78
"Networking is about establishing groups of contacts that will add value to your business and career. It is a two-way process in which you must give to receive. Building good relationships will give you a competitive edge." Page 89
"Mentors are people who guide others through periods of change towards agreed objectives. They can help you in a number of ways." Page 86 * the role of a mentor
"77% of companies in one survey claimed that their mentoring programmes helped to increase their employee retention." Page 86
"Qualities of a good mentor:
The attributes of a good mentor depend on your circumstances and on your specific role, but he or she should always be:
• Someone you respect and trust, and who won't always just agree with what you say.
• Someone you consider to be a role model.
• Someone who listens, probing what you say in order to understand you.
• Someone who is genuinely interested in you and what you want to do, and who is available when you need help." Page 87
"Seeking opportunity:
Prospective employers are looking for evidence of five attributes:
01 Appropriate qualifications.
02 A relevant range of experience.
03 Specific skills required for the post.
04 Previous positions held.
05 How successful you have been.
At the interview stage employers will also assess your attitude and "fit" with the organization. Examine any job advert and try to decode it in the context of these attributes." Page 89
"A great way to learn something is by teaching it to someone else." Page 90
April 15, 2021
فوق العادهههه یعنی از اون کتاب های که خط به خط اش راهکار داره و کاربردی هست . داخل ایران هم ترجمه شده به اسم عملکرد حرفه ای انتشارات آریانا قلم شدیدا توصیه میکنم اگر به این سبک کتاب ها علاقه دارید مطالعه کتید 📚👌
March 7, 2024
This is a great book for new managers, leaders, or anyone in those positions looking to sharpen the basic skills. While you can read it cover to cover, it’s really a fantastic reference book with checklists, flowcharts, etc.
My only criticism is that some of the tech is a bit dated. The latest edition was updated in 2015 and doesn’t mention anything about chat/teams/slack when discussing communications or distractions.
Still a recommended read and reference!
My only criticism is that some of the tech is a bit dated. The latest edition was updated in 2015 and doesn’t mention anything about chat/teams/slack when discussing communications or distractions.
Still a recommended read and reference!
May 16, 2017
All of the major points are covered for goal setting/achieving. I liked that this book used info graphics, charts and colourful boxes as teaching mediums, it broke up the redundancy of this topic. 👌🙂
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews