Stop Spending, Start Managing

Strategies to Transform Wasteful Habits

Business & Finance, Human Resources & Personnel Management, Organizational Behavior, Finance & Investing, Finance, Management & Leadership, Management
Cover of the book Stop Spending, Start Managing by Tanya Menon, Leigh Thompson, Harvard Business Review Press
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Author: Tanya Menon, Leigh Thompson ISBN: 9781625270559
Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press Publication: July 26, 2016
Imprint: Harvard Business Review Press Language: English
Author: Tanya Menon, Leigh Thompson
ISBN: 9781625270559
Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
Publication: July 26, 2016
Imprint: Harvard Business Review Press
Language: English

Stop Wasting Precious Time and Money

You have a complex problem at work, and you know the standard solutions: hire a consultant, enlist a superstar employee, have more meetings about it. In short, spend money and hours to dig your way out. But you’ve been down this road before-the so-called solution consumes your time, dollars, and resources, and yet the problem still reappears.

There is a way out of this cycle. Organizational researchers Tanya Menon and Leigh Thompson, experts in collaboration and creativity, identify five spending traps that lead to this wasteful “action without traction”:

The Expertise Trap: recycling old solutions on current problems
The Winner’s Trap: investing additional resources into failing projects
The Agreement Trap: avoiding conflict to feel like a team player
The Communication Trap: communicating too frequently over too many channels
The Macromanagement Trap: assuming your employees don’t need your direction

Menon and Thompson combine their own research with other findings in psychology to provide strategies to break these unproductive habits and refine your skills as a manager. From shaping problems in new ways and learning from failure through experimentation, to stimulating productive conflict and structuring coordinated conversations, you can escape these traps and discover the value hidden in your organization-without spending a dime.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Stop Wasting Precious Time and Money

You have a complex problem at work, and you know the standard solutions: hire a consultant, enlist a superstar employee, have more meetings about it. In short, spend money and hours to dig your way out. But you’ve been down this road before-the so-called solution consumes your time, dollars, and resources, and yet the problem still reappears.

There is a way out of this cycle. Organizational researchers Tanya Menon and Leigh Thompson, experts in collaboration and creativity, identify five spending traps that lead to this wasteful “action without traction”:

The Expertise Trap: recycling old solutions on current problems
The Winner’s Trap: investing additional resources into failing projects
The Agreement Trap: avoiding conflict to feel like a team player
The Communication Trap: communicating too frequently over too many channels
The Macromanagement Trap: assuming your employees don’t need your direction

Menon and Thompson combine their own research with other findings in psychology to provide strategies to break these unproductive habits and refine your skills as a manager. From shaping problems in new ways and learning from failure through experimentation, to stimulating productive conflict and structuring coordinated conversations, you can escape these traps and discover the value hidden in your organization-without spending a dime.

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