The 27 Challenges Managers Face: Step-by-Step Solutions to (Nearly) All of Your Management Problems

Bruce Tulgan Outlines 27 Biggest Challenges and Provides Expert Solutions to Management Problems in New Book

Leading and managing productive teams requires laying the groundwork for success and following through effectively. We all know that we are imperfect at work just like we are imperfect at home. For some who study management, accepting intractable imperfection is part of achieving managerial excellence. But that’s not the only challenge. With growing resource constraints, relentless change, and high turnover, today's business climate poses many difficulties. 

So what great can good-enough managers do to adjust their leadership style to maximize team's performance? How do managers balance conflicting expectations from their boss, peers, and direct reports?

With The 27 Challenges Managers Face: Step By Step Solutions to All of Your Management Problem (WILEY; September 2014; Hardcover & e-book; ISBN 978-1-118-72559-7; $27.95) Bruce Tulgan shows any manager how to master the fundamental practice of effective management. Drawing on 20 years of his management experience, Tulgan has observed that regardless of industry or job title, managers cite the same core issues—the 27 recurring challenges: be it the superstar whom the manager is afraid of losing, the slacker whom the manager cannot figure out how to motivate, the one with an attitude problem, and the two who cannot get along, to name just a few. These challenges are enumerated not in order of frequency or difficulty, but rather according to the bigger-picture human capital issues in which [they] fall.

Most managers believe that they already communicate with their direct-reports daily, but it's precisely the ad hoc manner in which these conversations take place that create the difficult employee situations that can plague the workplace. The 27 Challenges Managers Face: Step By Step Solutions to All of Your Management Problems is a step-by-step guidance on building a culture of structured one-on-one dialogues to provide advice, direction, feedback, troubleshooting, and coaching, with every single employee.

By making effective ongoing conversations an ingrained part of their routine, managers will boost performance of their whole team--and make their own job easier. The 27 Challenges Managers Face will prove an indispensable back-to-basics resource for managers at all levels.