Gary Winters

Coach  Workshop Facilitator Author

Win one for the Gipper?

You look around, and you realize it’s going to be another one of those days. Everyone – you, your staff, your boss, your peers – just about everyone seems to be stuck in a rut. Same stuff, different day.

Ever wish you could channel a little Knute Rockne?

“Well, boys … I haven’t a thing to say. 
Played a great game…all of you. Great game.
(Rockne tries to smile.) 
I guess we just can’t expect to win ‘em all.


I’m going to tell you something I’ve kept to myself for years. None of you ever knew George Gipp.
It was long before your time. But you know what a tradition he is at Notre Dame.

And the last thing he said to me, “Rock,” he said “sometime, when the team is up against it – and the 
breaks are beating the boys – tell them to go out there
with all they got and win just one for the Gipper.”

Knute’s eyes become misty and his voice is unsteady as he finishes. 
”I don’t know where I’ll be then, Rock,” he said. “but
 I’ll know about it – and I’ll be happy.”

Of course, all the players roar and charge out into the stadium.

It’s not that simple.

Despite all the talk about vision and mission and purpose and goals and strategy and continuous improvement and employee involvement and all of that stuff, people get bored, they get tired, they get burned out, they get complacent, and they become less productive.

We’re not machines. We’re human and we get distracted or moody or anxious or angry or disillusioned. And when we do, a pep talk probably won’t turn the tide.

But there are four practices you can engage that can minimize the impact of ruts. They can help people refocus, recharge, and recommit.

  1. Remind your people how what they do has an impact on the larger aims of the organization – and how these aims help make the world a better place.
  2. Be hands-on only as much as needed and hands-off as much as possible.
  3. Look for opportunities for people to expand their capabilities and assume more responsibility.
  4. “Catch ‘em doing something right,” as Ken Blanchard was fond of saying. Remember, what gets rewarded (with a little recognition) tends to get repeated.

You might not prevent the occasional rut altogether, but you can create an environment which fosters achievement and commitment.

 

“What ELSE Your Boss Never Told You” is the sequel to the very popular “What Your Boss Never Told You.” Packed inside are more tips, techniques, and insights about the challenging, but rewarding leadership position.

“What ELSE Your Boss Never Told You” is written in a conversational tone, as though you and the author were enjoying a cup of coffee and talking about the issues that emerge for new leaders. It stands alone, and/or could be read before or after the first volume, “What Your Boss Never Told You.” You can start with any chapter and read in any order you like.

if you search for a book on management, you’ll find a staggering 600,000+ books currently available. How can you narrow that down? “What Your Boss Never Told You” is the best place to start.

No textbook here – this book is short and sweet. It’s designed to help you “unpack” your new job and be effective from the first day with your new team. It contains twenty-one chapters filled with the wisdom Winters has gathered from real managers – effective, successful leaders in organizations much like yours.

Leaders make decisions every day – big and small. Most know that if they include others in the decision-making process, the quality of those decisions – and the commitment to them – will likely improve. That said, they also know it’s impractical, if not impossible, to include others in every decision they confront.

“To Do or Not To Do” tackles the question of when to make decisions on your own, and when to involve your team. It gives you a deceptively simple but proven method to determine, when you are facing a difficult decision, how to decide how to decide.

Far too many meetings are dreadful, mind-numbing, energy-draining, productivity-sapping, colossal wastes of time. As someone once said, “To kill time, a meeting is the perfect weapon.”

Here’s the deal: if you’re willing to learn and apply the techniques in “So, How Was Your Meeting?”, you’ll call fewer meetings, while vastly improving the ones you do lead. They’ll take less time, have more balanced participation, produce better decisions, and result in concrete action items for follow-up afterwards.

While there are thousands of books written for people about to retire, this may be the only book for people who manage soon-to-retire employees. Written in a casual, conversational style, “Managing the Soon To Retire Employee” will give you everything you need to know to move forward with confidence and grace.

You can be successful with Sooners. It won’t happen by chance, and it’s not a matter of pulling some management “trick” out of your hat. But you can learn how to do it, and you can apply what you’ve learned right away.

Managing friends or former peers can be awkward. When you become the boss, everything about these relationships can suddenly be uncomfortable. There’s a new set of ground rules to establish – as manager, you are going be accountable for the work performance of friends or former co-workers on the team, and they are going to have to adjust to the fact that they now report to you. Everyone involved can feel awkward and hesitant about the future. 

Have you been approached by management with an offer to promote you to supervision? Or, are you mulling over the possibility for the future? Find yourself not sure whether to accept the promotion?

If so, you’ve come to the right place. Help! They Want to Make ME a Supervisor will help you sort out a very big question: Should you accept the offer to become a supervisor? Once you’ve read this book, you’ll be confident that you’ve made the best decision for you and for your organization.