Managing People Paperback – 11 November 2021

This is a real gem of a book for both the new/ aspiring manager and more seasoned people managers. Simon’s experience makes this relevant for startups and corporate environments, and offers key principles and formulae to successfully manage a team. The book is a practical guide on managing people, focusing on developing a highly successful team, rather than the usual leadership books that tend to focus on brand and vision. Simon’s 5 pillars of a good people manager are easy to remember and contain a lot of practical examples and questions that can be used immediately with a team. He also includes many of the traps I am sad to say I recognised in myself and how best to avoid them. Having managed teams in a large corporate for the last 7 years across different countries and cultures, I found the tools and advice he lays out are relevant in any setting. The prose is to the point and makes for easy reading. A must read for managers!

This book is really well written and it definitely ranks as one of the top 3 management books I've read. It has a clarity of thought and simplicity of expression to give every reader the opportunity to be successful.It'll be useful for both newly appointed managers and employees who are ambitious enough to want to prove themselves when they are given a new team to manage. It guides the reader through the essential aspects of managing a team and gives them key insights into how motivated individuals can quickly become high-performing teams. I was also pleased to see that it also covers the difficult conversations all managers must have with unmotivated staff, which is a daunting topic for the inexperienced manager.I thought it was so good I bought another copy for my nephew who has just started a new job.

This is a fantastic book, very easy to read but packed full of simple and practical tips to support managers on their journey to build a high-performing team. From developing the team’s star performers to handling difficult conversations, from understanding the psychology and motivation of each individual to showing how to create a clear and consistent team culture, there is plenty here to benefit managers at all stages of their careers. The additional downloads available from links provided within the book were particularly helpful – covering areas such as a culture audit, expected standards of behaviour and motivation surveys (amongst others). I highly recommend this book.

Very much enjoyed this easy to read guide to successful management . Working in a public sector job I found it easy to apply and accessible. Great!

Great practical approach and well written: clear takeaways and succinct. Exactly what I was looking for.