welcome to the nonlinear library, where we use text-to-speech software to convert the best writing from the rationalist and ea communities into audio.
this is: Notes on Managing to Change the World", published by Peter Wildeford on the effective altruism forum.
The book “Managing to Change the World: The Nonprofit Manager's Guide to Getting Results” by Alison Green and Jerry Hauser comes highly recommended from a wide variety of top executive directors of non-profits, and after reading it, I can say these positive recommendations are entirely justified.
Don’t let the title fool you - while talk of “changing the world” may sound pie-in-the-sky or even hippyish, this book was relentlessly practical. The principles also matter more than just for non-profits. I think anyone managing others should read this book, regardless of whether they are working in non-profits or not. So far this is my favorite management book that I have ever read.[1]
The density of information is amazing and it will be difficult for me to do the book justice with a summary, and the book is short enough that I encourage everyone to read the actual book cover-to-cover rather than just my summary here. Nevertheless, I will persist with summarizing.
Note there may be some things in this book that I disagree with, or at least don’t fully agree with. I’d be careful to read the book critically. There is also a lot of good advice that is not in this book. In these notes I mainly aim to summarize what I find as the key takeaways of the book, from my understanding and as applied to my personal context, rather than try to present my all-things-considered view on how best to run a non-profit organization. Also note that this post is a personal post and does not necessarily represent the views or practices at Rethink Priorities.
Summary of the Summary
Management is about getting things done through other people and your job as a manager is to get results.
Good managers set goals, are clear about what those goals are, hold people to those goals, help people meet those goals, are clear with people about when they aren’t meeting goals, and are not afraid to tell some employees they aren’t right for the job. Good managers ensure people are in roles where they will excel and get everyone aligned around a common purpose. Good managers delegate, but don’t disappear after - they don’t do the work themselves but do ensure implementation happens and help employees do their work.
Most managers should spend less time actually doing work than they probably spend, but more time guiding other people through their work than they probably spend.
The best way to ensure delegation goes successfully is to (1) be clear from the start about what you expect, (2) stay engaged enough along the way to make sure you and the employees are on the same page and to ensure the ongoing quality of the work, and (3) hold people accountable for what they deliver.
The most common way managers fail at delegation is by not staying involved throughout to check on progress. You should have a regular (typically weekly) 1-on-1 meeting with each employee you manage to connect personally, review progress against the plan, ask probing questions, provide feedback, help the employees adjust priorities, and create connections between employees.
When giving feedback, be specific. When asking questions, be specific.
Delegation usually starts by handing off specific tasks and projects, but the true power of delegation emerges when you can hand off broad responsibilities.
When interacting with your own boss (managing up), have empathy and remember they are a person. Guide them toward doing the right thing and make managing easy. When asking for input from your manager, apply the one hand rule - keep questions to yes/no or multiple choice, make an initial recommendation / default, and make everything clear upfront but provide background at the end as necessary.
What is management?
The point of management is to get more ...
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