The Managerial Moment of Truth: The Essential Step in Helping People Improve Performance - Hardcover

Bodaken, Bruce; Fritz, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0743288521 ISBN 13: 9780743288521

Publisher: Free Press, 2006

Synopsis

Citing the long-term consequences of unchecked, substandard worker performance, a guide for managers shares strategies on how to address minor mistakes and ineffective work habits at their earliest stages while building fairer, interdependent employment teams. 35,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Authors

Bruce Bodaken is Chairman, President, and CEO of Blue Shield of California, a 3.3 million-member not-for-profit health plan that serves the commercial, individual, and government markets in California. During Mr. Bodaken's five-year tenure as CEO, Blue Shield's membership has more than doubled and company revenues have risen from $3 billion to nearly $7 billion. Before embarking on a career in health care, he taught philosophy at the college level. In addition to his work at Blue Shield, Mr. Bodaken serves on numerous professional and civic boards, including the board of directors of the California Business Roundtable; America's Health Insurance Plans; and the University of California, Berkeley's Health Services Management Program. He lives in Mill Valley, California.

Robert Fritz has for more than twenty years been developing the field of structural dynamics through his work, first in the area of the creative process, and then in the area of organizational, business, and management issues. At least eighty thousand people throughout the world have participated in courses Fritz has created. He is the author of several books, including the bestseller The Path of Least Resistance. As a consultant, Fritz has helped numerous organizations put the structural approach into practice, and his clients include Fortune 500 companies, many midsize firms, as well as governmental and nonprofit organizations. Fritz is also a composer and a filmmaker. He lives in Newfane, Vermont.

Reviews

The inherent awkwardness of evaluating an employee's or team's performance may cause managers to avoid confrontation altogether, resulting in work not done right, tension between employees and unnecessary strain on high performers. In this guide, Bodaken, CEO of Blue Shield of California, and Fritz (Corporate Tides) delineate a methodology of "truth telling'' in order to curb bad habits early on and institutionalize good behaviors. A proper approach to "managerial moments of truth" (MMOTs)—which the authors define as a manager's awareness of her unmet expectations, followed by the decision about how to handle them—will add capacity without cost, Bodaken and Fritz claim. Their four-step technique first requires manager and employee to "acknowledge the truth" or agree on what happened. Then they analyze together how the situation occurred, establish an action plan and finally put a feedback system in place. The book provides a variety of case studies, which show how to provide individual feedback and team evaluations, plus how to deal with repeat offenders or an employee/team mismatch. With dozens of sample conversations throughout, the authors present an action-oriented communication technique they believe will improve the managerial process and thus a company's "performance, productivity, and creativity." (May 2)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The truth, or so the maxim goes, will set you free. Blue Shield of California CEO Bodaken and author (The Path as Least Resistance, 1999, among others) Fritz take that statement quite a few steps further, emphasizing that only fact-based conversations about issues--among individuals, teams, leadership, and organizations--with three follow-up actions will change substandard or wrong performances. In fact, for CFO types, they point to truth as a competitive advantage; with Blue Shield as the Managerial Moment of Truth (MMOT) guinea pig, the results added anywhere from 25 to 40 percent to organizational capacity. Three case studies in dialogue format and very explicit directions throughout provide good models to adapt; furthermore, Bodaken and Fritz anticipate possible resistance--"I have no time" or "The behavior wasn't bad enough" (add your own here)--and demonstrate practical, realistic responses. From this and other newly added books to the business shelf, the trend in thought leadership seems to be moving from the obscure and jargon filled to simple, straight, and comprehensive. Barbara Jacobs
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Free Press
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0743288521
• ISBN 13: 9780743288521
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208