Shortcuts For Smart Managers - Checklists, Worksheets and Action Plans For Managers by Lisa Davis

In the Introduction section of this book the author Lisa Davis writes, “This book is written for real people who happen to be managers. And when real people get worried and confused, they need encouragement and practical advice, and they need it fast.” She keeps her implied promise.

Background

Author Lisa Davis is a UK-based management consultant, training designer, and training developer who clearly drew on first hand management experience in creating this resource. Published by AMACOM (American Management Association Publishing), this book does not betray any bias for the European market (not that I could tell anyway).

My Thoughts On The Book

My expectation when I picked up this book was that it would be a compendium of the most sophisticated strategy and project management tools around. It was not. However, what this book manages to be is the ultimate cheat sheet for dozens (maybe hundreds) of the mundane tasks and responsibilities that might trip up the hurried and harried front line manager or supervisor.

It should have been called the “Ultimate collection of frontline manager cheat sheets”. For reference purposes, Ms. Davis manages to compile (and create) a massive list of checklists, worksheets, action plans and mini-tutorials that are categorized in the Contents page under intuitive and recognizable chapters like:

Appraisals, Budgets, Business Ethics, Change Management, Coaching, Dealing with Difficult People, etc.

She covers 30 distinct areas in this way.

There is also a nifty little list of “organizer sheets” right at the front of the book. It is clear that this book is meant to be a reference library of resources to be picked up, adapted and implemented quickly. Fortunately, the author also shares a significant amount of practical and straight-forward advice; enough information that this book can be read from cover-to-cover like a conventional business book.

Every single chapter of this book is designed to help you think about the managerial activity you are undertaking and convert the information into a clear and actionable sequence of “To Do” items. For instance, many sub-sections within the chapters lead with a “key questions” section that focuses your attention on the key objective for that sub-section and every chapter ends with a simplified action plan in the form of a checklist.

Another excellent aspect of the book has to do with the sheer scope of the management job functions the book covers. I think it says a lot about the author that in a management book that is as “nuts and bolts” as it gets, a well-thought out chapter was dedicated to the somewhat ephemeral (but important) subject of “Business Ethics”.

Some things I would have liked to see

Overall, I was very impressed with the resource value of this book. It definitely belongs in the reference library of every frontline manager and supervisor. However, I would have liked to see maybe a more sophisticated treatment of project management with some tools like PERT charts and maybe a chapter on “Problem solving” with some graphic tools like Affinity diagrams and “Cause and effect” trees.

Although there was a section on “project planning” I found the content and the worksheet tool to be a bit lightweight. Continuing on the subject of “lightweight” worksheets, I also thought a few of the worksheets to be a bit unnecessary…somewhat contrived.

Conclusion

Like I mentioned earlier, the overall effect of the book is one of tremendous value. If you are a front-line supervisor or manager, this book will get you out of one or two pickles by the time all is said and done.

Shortcuts For Smart Managers - Checklists, Worksheets and Action Plans For Managers by Lisa Davis