Becoming the Evidence-Based Manager
I am pleased to say that, in the upcoming weeks, I will be sharing with you some short excerpts from my most recent book: Becoming the Evidence-Based Manager: How to Put the Science of Management to Work for You. Each post will feature a section from one of the seven chapters.
Excerpt from Introduction
Think back to when you first became a manager. Whether it was two weeks or twenty years ago, most likely the thrill and exhilaration of the promotion quickly gave way to the sinking realization that leading people is a lot harder than it looks. In fact, it is so hard to be an effective manager that a third or more of new managers fail in their job in less than two years. And while management gets easier as one learns the ropes, it never gets easy—I’ve spent a good deal of my working life with senior managers who still struggle with people problems. So, though experience helps, becoming an effective manager isn’t simply a matter of years on the job. What, then, does make for effective management? Effective management is both an art and a science: It results from using solid, proven, tested techniques (the science of management) in an inspiring and engaging way (the art of management). The principles of management science can be taught. They are replicable. The art is in how you apply them.
Most books on management focus only on the art. Although the techniques presented in those books often appear factual and promise results if you use a given step-by-step methodology, the techniques themselves are not well researched or grounded in science. Instead, they are based on the authors’ personal experiences as managers, their particular best practices, or plain old-fashioned intuition. Sometimes these methods are transferable to you, the reader; typically they are not. In sum, the advice is hit or miss. Why? Because art and intuition are usually unique to an individual. What works for one manager in one environment (experience and best practices) may not work in another environment, let alone for another manager. The bottom line is that most management books just have too much art and too little science. Though the art and intuition of management do have value, they can seldom be taught or transferred. In contrast, the science of management can be taught and transferred. So it makes a lot more sense—and gives you more return for your time—to focus on tips and techniques for managing others to high performance that are grounded in empirical research. This book was written to underscore the scientific aspect of effective management what is called evidence-based management in an artful way. Here, I aim to
● Share management techniques that have been proven by valid and reliable research studies to work
● Share this information in an engaging way that makes sense to you, the manager
My goal is to share with you everything I’ve learned about evidence-based management over the past thirty-six years as an organizational psychologist with one foot planted in the real world of the private and public sectors and the other in the academic arena.
Becoming the Evidence-Based Manager covers six key lessons of management, all backed by research and proven in practice. No longer needing to rely on intuition alone, managers now have a model for decision making that is based on measurable, scientific fact.
Here’s to your growth as an evidence-based manger and to using management techniques that truly work!
To order a full copy, you can purchase this book from Amazon.
Photo of coffee mug by TheMuuj. Licensed under CC.
[...] so you can get a preview of his course if you’re interested. You can read his first blog post here and his second one [...]