This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "High Output Management" by Andrew S. Grove. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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Are you looking for management exercises to help you improve your skills? How can the principles in High Output Management help?
There are a few key management exercises that can help you learn the concepts presented in High Output Management. These exercises focus on assessing performance and using the strategies.
Keep reading for management exercises from High Output Management.
Management Exercises
These management exercises focus on high output management and what you can do to make it happen.
Assess Performance
There’s a step by step process to assessing performance.
Choose an employee to evaluate. Where could you find data on her performance? Consider looking at progress reports, meeting notes, and so on.
Write down every thought you have about your employee’s performance.
What broad themes do you see on the list? (For example, the employee might consistently miss details: Her emails are full of typos, she misses items in lists, and she skips agenda items when she runs meetings.)
If you give the employee too much feedback at once, she’ll probably be overwhelmed and won’t remember any of it. What are the most important three themes from your list above? Why?
Use Manufacturing Strategies
Manufacturing strategies work well in a business environment too.
All tasks involve set-up time, so it’s most efficient to do similar tasks all at once than to set-up multiple times. What activities do you do that you could batch?
What leading indicators could you use to predict your future output? What will each indicator tell you?
Think of a project that you monitor. What kind of tests could you do to check its progress?
Chose a Control Mode
The appropriate behavioral control method depends on your circumstances.
Choose an employee you manage and reflect on one of her tasks. Is she motivated to complete this task by self-interest or group interest? How do you know?
Describe the circumstances she does this task in. What is the complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity (CUA) of her work situation?
Keeping your above answers in mind, should you use free-market forces, contracts, or culture to control the behavior of this employee? Why?
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Here's what you'll find in our full High Output Management summary :
- How to increase your managerial output and productivity
- The 11 activities that offer a higher impact on output
- How meetings can be used as a time management tool
