525 ways to be a BETTER Manager (2nd ed.)

Ron Coleman and Giles Barrie

I am always dubious about books which reduce management to a set of simple clichés - if it were so easy. then why can't everybody do it well? Having said that, Ron Coleman and Giles Barrie have forced me to reconsider my own prejudices and to accept that there is at least one exception to this rule.

Ron Coleman is CEO of Invicta Training and the book distils the key points of the many training programmes he has led. Working through a series of 12 main performance areas (like Recruitment and Selection, Planning, Delegation, etc.) he summarises the main features of effective managerial performance in a series of concise statements that, were every manager to adhere to them, would produce a nation of effective managers.

Some are quite simple, but are nonetheless important, such as:

335: Be pleased that members of your team are better at their jobs than you would be. Make the talents of individuals work for everyone's benefit.

Others may well challenge custom and practice in may organisations - not to mention the demands that they place on managerial competence, such as:

168: Discuss management accounts with non-management staff to keep them involved and alert them to the need to control expenditure.

If you accept your responsibility as a manager for improving your own effectiveness, then this book provides a sensible, accessible (if slightly expensive) and highly achievable set of benchmarks for you to use.

by Ropn Coleman and Giles Barrie (Gower £32.50)

Review from 'Progress' published by NEBS Management, February 1999