Welcome to our resource library! Below you’ll find numerous tools that we hope will help in your work – samples, worksheets, and other tools and tips. For more information on how to use any of these resources, please check out our book, Managing to Change the World.
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Check out these tips for managers and leaders to get their teams through this election season (even if your work isn't directly related to electoral work, politics, or organizing).
Everyone is dealing with the uncertainty, divisiveness, and urgency of this election season. We’re also all experiencing the stakes and effects of it differently. Acknowledge what’s happening, hear how your people are doing, and inject purpose, empowerment, and support by using this add-on in your next check-in.
As managers, we can’t end the pandemic or undo racial and intergenerational trauma, but we can influence how our staff experience this moment. We owe it to ourselves, our teams, and our communities to manage towards resilience and results. At TMC, we’re using PAC (Purpose, Agency, Connection) to get us through this election season.
Not sure what to say to your team in the days leading up to Election Day? One of our clients kindly shared an email she sent to all staff as a sample. Check it out!
Planning to gather your team post-election day? Here’s how you might structure your agenda to help your staff feel cared for and connected.
We recently created an #election-season channel in our TMC Community Slack to share questions, tools, ideas, and innovations on how to effectively manage through this election season.
In this article, we offer a new definition for effective management—one rooted in equity, sustainability, and results.
While we—The Management Center—can’t undo the harms of nearly half a millennium of the degradation and dehumanization of Black people in the United States, we can help envision a path forward for managers and leaders. In this article, we share our best thinking on supporting your staff at a time when things are not okay (and haven't been for a long time).
Making a statement is not enough. Our public displays of anti-racism are only as authentic as our private actions, mindset shifts, and interventions. In this article, we share five things for leaders to consider doing to live by their Black Lives Matter solidarity statements.
When you’re moving from equity-neutral goals to goals with equity and inclusion considerations baked in, practice these tips to stay on track.
In response to the anti-Black racism and violence of the last few weeks, our CEO Jerry Hauser reflects on standing in solidarity with Black folks, The Management Center's journey in becoming an anti-racist organization, and how management can be a force for social justice.
Use this starter kit to help you create and use your own hiring rubrics—template and samples included. By using a rubric to mitigate bias, you can lay the groundwork for equitable hiring.
Goals are a concrete way to drive results, but without an explicit equity and inclusion component, goals won’t produce better outcomes for marginalized communities, address disparities, or create belonging. Introducing SMARTIE goals!
Check out some examples of PTR in action, and how to manage towards your requirements with your preferences and traditions in mind.
Need inspiration for goal-setting? Check out our goals bank of sample SMARTIE goals for common areas in the progressive and education equity sectors.
Here’s our quick-start guide for FAIR, a four-step decision-making approach that gives those most impacted by a decision the opportunity to help shape it.
Check out these examples of fair process, a four-step decision-making approach that gives those most impacted by a decision the opportunity to help shape it.
Check out these examples of how key decision-making opportunities, known as "choice points," can be used to advance racial equity and inclusion.
Use this template to reflect on your interactions with team members, help you spot disparities, check for bias, and focus on equity and inclusion.
Here is a list of some of the most common choice points, or key decision-making opportunities, managers face that may have equity and inclusion impacts.
We believe that relationship-building is a core competency for effective management (equitable, sustainable, and results-driven). This guide is for managers looking to build (more) supportive and functional relationships with their staff.
Create a more inclusive workplace for your transgender, agender, gender non-conforming, genderqueer, and gender non-binary team members with a regularly updated, comprehensive Transgender Inclusion Policy. Use this sample as a reference for your own policy.
Receiving feedback about power, difference, and inequity can be challenging.
A case study that illustrates the steps outlined in Part 2 of our series on receiving feedback: Listen, Engage, Learn.
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As we enter a new phase of the pandemic, with vaccines more readily available and more states “reopening,” we are standing squarely at the gateway between one world and the next. As managers, it’s our job to lead our teams forward from crisis to reinvention, while balancing or even harnessing tensions. And it all starts with questions.
This sample survey is intended for leaders to adapt as needed to assess the needs, concerns, and circumstances of their staff as they consider reopening the office.
Things were not okay in 2020 and the jury’s still out on 2021. Many of you are weighing myriad complexities and will need to use your best judgment as you consider performance on a case-by-case basis. While we can’t offer a comprehensive guide, here are some tips for your 2020 evaluations.
Struggling with the exact language to use when giving feedback for your 2020 performance evaluations? Check out our samples.
In the midst of the pandemic, a presidential election, innumerable acts of state-sanctioned violence on Black and brown bodies, and raging fires everywhere, goal-setting might feel like an insurmountable task. The good news is that goal-setting doesn’t have to add to the chaos; it can help you move through it. Here are five tips for 2021 goal-setting.
Many of us are getting out of rapid response mode from the pandemic and entering the restabilization phase. As you’re making more plans, the challenge is twofold: keeping track of the different threads for yourself, and communicating them in a way that inspires confidence and isn’t confusing to everyone else. Read on for the key components you need to communicate about your organization moving forward, plus sample language and a simple worksheet to get started.
Scenario planning is the process of constructing narratives about what the future might look like, and considering what you might do if that future comes to pass—which is especially important during a pandemic. You can avoid being unprepared when the future arrives, even if it's not exactly what you imagined. Learn about the basics of scenario planning, our best guidelines and tips, and our easy-to-use 5-Box Scenario Planning tool.
It’s not news that whether you’re the head of an organization, the leader of a team, or an individual contributor, our current context of COVID-19 requires you to reprioritize your work. Of course, like most things, the process of reprioritization is easier said than done. Here are six tips for doing it successfully.
Your one-on-one check-ins are essential. Here are a few tips for checking in during the pandemic (and any other extended crisis).
One step every team head and staff member can take to deal with our COVID-19 anxiety is to create a plan for who will take over key responsibilities if one or more of our team members is out. Use our tips and Back-up Planning Tool to figure out the most important responsibilities that need to be covered, who could do them if the current owner is out, and what that person needs to do now to prepare. You can make huge progress in as little as 60 minutes.
During uncertain times, even the best-laid plans need to shift. Instead of updating your budget to get a handle on your financials, turn your attention to cash flow. Use this tool to keep track of your anticipated expenses and revenue.
This sample survey is intended for leaders to adapt as needed to assess the needs and circumstances of their staff as they navigate the COVID-19 crisis. Use the survey results to identify trends, so that you can make and prioritize policy changes and forecast costs.
Even those of us who fancy ourselves virtual hiring aficionados are finding ourselves faced with unique challenges because of the added uncertainty of a global pandemic. We’re here to help!
Assuming your organization has gone remote, how do you onboard at a distance in the middle of a pandemic? If you’re among the lucky few organizations that are still bringing in new people, read on for some tips on how to tweak your standard onboarding process to adapt it for these times.
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Project leaders and managers: use this worksheet when delegating a new project or responsibility to get aligned on expectations, resources, constraints, and how you'll check in about progress.
For complex projects, it's helpful to have a written plan that lays out "who will do what by when," including interim deadlines for smaller components.
Try our "MOCHA" model (Manager, Owner, Consulted, Helper, Approver) to articulate who should play what role throughout the course of work.
When looking for work you can delegate, ask yourself: what are the areas where your impact is much greater than your staff's, not just a bit better? Here's a worksheet that will help.
By debriefing at the end of a project, you can capture lessons learned to ensure even better results next time. This template will help you ask the right questions.
To help you monitor progress and understand how work is really going, here are some probing questions that will help you get beneath the surface.
Here's an email you can use to introduce our MOCHA terminology for managing projects to your staff and get everyone using the same vocabulary.
Check out some examples of PTR in action, and how to manage towards your requirements with your preferences and traditions in mind.
Here is a list of some of the most common choice points, or key decision-making opportunities, managers face that may have equity and inclusion impacts.
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It's often helpful to create a one-page description of a staff member's role that considers not only what the staff member should do, but also how they should approach their work. This resource contains a template and two sample role expectation sheets.
Goals are the driving force behind results, but goal-setting can feel laborious and unwieldy. Whether you’re working on goals at the organizational, team, or individual level, follow these tips to get past the pain points and ease the process.
In the midst of the pandemic, a presidential election, innumerable acts of state-sanctioned violence on Black and brown bodies, and raging fires everywhere, goal-setting might feel like an insurmountable task. The good news is that goal-setting doesn’t have to add to the chaos; it can help you move through it. Here are five tips for 2021 goal-setting.
When you’re moving from equity-neutral goals to goals with equity and inclusion considerations baked in, practice these tips to stay on track.
Goals are a concrete way to drive results, but without an explicit equity and inclusion component, goals won’t produce better outcomes for marginalized communities, address disparities, or create belonging. Introducing SMARTIE goals!
Use the Goal-Setting Worksheet to draft team or individual goals. This tool contains questions for self-reflection or discussion with your manager as you work on goal-setting.
Once you’ve set goals, make sure to regularly check in on progress. Use the Goals Stepback Worksheet to track progress and share updates about your team or individual goals on a regular basis.
The Red Light/Green Light Goal Tracking Tool is for tracking progress toward goals. This resource contains samples of goals at the organizational, team, and individual levels.
Need inspiration for goal-setting? Check out our goals bank of sample SMARTIE goals for common areas in the progressive and education equity sectors.
These sample goal development steps can serve as a guide to help you develop your organization’s own goal-setting process.
What will your organization achieve this year, and how will you judge success? Here’s a sample of how to structure clear, measurable organizational goals.
Here’s a sample email that you can use to explain what you’ll be doing and why, and how you’ll use the goals once they’re created.
Use this resource to set short-term goals and identify essential activities for the first three months.
These sample talent-related goals can help you identify and set your own for the Chief Talent Officer (CTO) role.
Here is a list of some of the most common choice points, or key decision-making opportunities, managers face that may have equity and inclusion impacts.
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When check-ins are done right, they can revolutionize the way you manage. In this article, we share our best tips for getting the most out of your check-ins.
This agenda provides a template that you can ask staff members to fill out and send you ahead of your check-in. It’s structured to help staff members and managers check in on progress toward goals, stay aligned on current projects, talk about what’s going well, and what could be going better, and get aligned on next steps.
Your one-on-one check-ins are essential. Here are a few tips for checking in during the pandemic (and any other extended crisis).
This template will help you lead a productive discussion with your new hire about their first 90 days on the job.
Skip-level meetings are one-on-one meetings that managers hold with staff other than the people they manage directly. They’re helpful for building relationships, gaining insight into your team and organization, and getting feedback about the managers that you manage.
Send your managers and staff members these sample emails to get started with skip-level meetings today.
Here is a list of some of the most common choice points, or key decision-making opportunities, managers face that may have equity and inclusion impacts.
Everyone is dealing with the uncertainty, divisiveness, and urgency of this election season. We’re also all experiencing the stakes and effects of it differently. Acknowledge what’s happening, hear how your people are doing, and inject purpose, empowerment, and support by using this add-on in your next check-in.
Planning to gather your team post-election day? Here’s how you might structure your agenda to help your staff feel cared for and connected.
Newsletter Articles
Here are common must-haves we see across organizational roles. Refer to these as you get crystal clear on job duties and competencies in the hiring process. You should not only customize these must-haves, but also revisit and revise from one hire to the next.
Use this template to plan how you’ll test and evaluate the must-haves at each stage of the hiring process: job announcement, interviews, simulations/exercises, and reference checks.
Being crystal clear on the role is key to recruiting top talent. Use this worksheet to develop the competencies a top candidate must have. This list can then be translated into a job description. We've also included a sample of what a completed worksheet might look like.
A great job description goes beyond simply listing responsibilities and qualifications. Use this sample as a guide for your hiring process!
To ensure that strong candidates readily come to mind when you need to hire, keep a running list of prospects. Here’s a simple template to get you started.
Most hiring mistakes occur not simply because managers select the wrong person, but because they don’t have the right candidate pool to select from to begin with. Use this worksheet to build a strong talent pool.
Use this email template and sample to reach out to “connectors” who can help you scout for great talent.
This sample email is sent to a job applicant prior to an interview, sharing further information about the organization and explaining what you’d like them to come prepared to discuss.
These interview questions can help you identify your strongest candidates. As you plan your candidate evaluation process, use this list to find questions or activities focused on the key traits that you are most interested in.
Use this starter kit to help you create and use your own hiring rubrics—template and samples included. By using a rubric to mitigate bias, you can lay the groundwork for equitable hiring.
Having candidates complete exercises similar to what they’d be doing on the job may give you the best sense of how they would perform if hired.
This is a sample email to a candidate who made it to the exercise stage of the hiring process (in this case, right after an initial screening call).
This reference check outline worksheet, sample, and list of questions can help save you from the wrong hire.
The fastest way to inform candidates that they are no longer under consideration is by having a standard email template that you can easily adapt.
This resource is intended to help managers plan out your onboarding process by thinking through the key topics you should cover in the first month with your new hire.
This resource contains a (non-comprehensive) list of common and recommended tasks for managers to consider as part of your new hire onboarding process. Use it to get started on your own.
Use this resource to set short-term goals and identify essential activities for the first three months.
This template will help you lead a productive discussion with your new hire about their first 90 days on the job.
Make it someone’s job to focus on the full talent lifecycle from pool-building to hiring to development and retention. This article will help you understand the role of a Chief Talent Officer (CTO), decide the scope of responsibility, and get ready to find your person.
Ready to hire a Chief Talent Officer (CTO)? Use this sample CTO job description to help you get started with the hiring process.
Looking to hire a Chief Talent Officer (CTO)? Check out our sample CTO hiring rubric, and tailor it to create your own.
Looking to hire a Chief Talent Officer (CTO)? Check out our sample interview questions and simulations!
These sample talent-related goals can help you identify and set your own for the Chief Talent Officer (CTO) role.
Here is a list of some of the most common choice points, or key decision-making opportunities, managers face that may have equity and inclusion impacts.
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Nervous about giving feedback? This worksheet will help you think about what you want to say and how to say it with CSAW (Connect, Share, Ask, Wrap up).
The 2x2 system helps managers and staff members regularly reflect, share feedback, and discuss how the work is going.
When we respond well to feedback, we strengthen relationships and trust, increase the likelihood that we’ll keep getting it, and contribute to a culture of growth, candor, and rigor within our teams. Here’s our best advice for receiving feedback, focused on the parts that you have control over.
Receiving feedback about power, difference, and inequity can be challenging.
A case study that illustrates the steps outlined in Part 2 of our series on receiving feedback: Listen, Engage, Learn.
At least once a year, managers and staff members should meet one-on-one to reflect on the manager/staff relationship, realign on expectations, and discuss overall performance. This template is intended for use by both managers to assess staff, and for staff members to self-evaluate and share feedback with their manager.
This is a sample email that the head of HR, Chief of Staff, or ED/CEO can send to all staff to announce (or even re-introduce) a performance evaluation process.
This toolkit includes a step-by-step guide for building a “competency model” with equity in mind, and two examples to help get you started.
Have you ever needed to push a staff member or a team for more but didn’t know how? When we say push, we don’t mean shoving someone into the deep end without a life raft; we mean setting a high bar and being honest when something needs improvement. Here’s some language you can use.
As with other employee evaluations, ED evaluations should focus on both what the ED has accomplished (results) as well as how the director, CEO, principal, or co-director operates (values and approach). Use our Executive Director Performance Evaluation Form Template to conduct a balanced, rigorous evaluation of your director’s performance on both fronts.
We know it can help to see samples of this sort of thing, so here’s a sample evaluation of a struggling employee.
Things were not okay in 2020 and the jury’s still out on 2021. Many of you are weighing myriad complexities and will need to use your best judgment as you consider performance on a case-by-case basis. While we can’t offer a comprehensive guide, here are some tips for your 2020 evaluations.
Here’s a sample of what a completed performance evaluation might look like for a high performer, which includes developmental feedback to make a great employee even better.
Struggling with the exact language to use when giving feedback for your 2020 performance evaluations? Check out our samples.
Here is a list of some of the most common choice points, or key decision-making opportunities, managers face that may have equity and inclusion impacts.
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What do you do when someone isn’t performing well—they’re not meeting expectations, hitting goals, or demonstrating the must-haves of their role? How much should you invest in performance improvement? When is it time to let someone go? And, how the #@$% do you decide? These four steps will help you navigate the tricky processes of addressing performance problems.
Check out this case study that illustrates the four steps outlined in our article on addressing performance problems: reflect, check in, assess, consider and decide.
A Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) is a written plan with clear steps to help your staff member get to the expected level of performance for their role. This toolkit includes two resources: 1) a preparation worksheet for managers, which can be helpful whether or not you’re ready for a formal PIP; and 2) a template for a written Performance Improvement Plan you can fill in and share with your staff member.
How long should you give someone to improve after warning them? What should I do when someone isn’t meeting expectations, but I can’t pinpoint concrete things they messed up either? Here are some questions that we often hear regarding performance problems.
Here are some tricky performance scenarios our clients have encountered, and suggestions for designing a responsive performance improvement plan.
Progressive discipline consists of a brief series of increasingly serious warnings, culminating in dismissal if an employee fails to improve sufficiently – and lets your staff know that they won’t be fired without first knowing about your concerns.
Here’s an example of what an initial, informal warning conversation might sound like with an employee who’s struggling.
When corrective feedback and support hasn’t led to improved employee performance, a more formal warning that clearly informs the employee that their job is in jeopardy is usually the next step. Here is an example of a formal performance warning in writing.
A coaching-out conversation is aimed at convincing an employee that continued tenure in the role doesn’t make sense and agreeing on a smooth transition plan.
Managers often struggle to find the right words to use when letting an employee go, so here’s a sample script.
We know it can help to see samples of this sort of thing, so here’s a sample evaluation of a struggling employee.
Here is a list of some of the most common choice points, or key decision-making opportunities, managers face that may have equity and inclusion impacts.
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Management is both a technical and a relational skill. As the manager of a manager, you’re paying attention to the outcomes they lead their team to achieve and how they relate to their staff in the process. Here are six tips for managing managers.
This toolkit contains an overview of the tools in your management toolbelt and a checklist of the skills, behaviors, and practices to spot for when managing managers.
Whether you’re a senior leader or a middle manager, you can use this tool to get aligned with your team about management expectations and responsibilities.
Skip-level meetings are one-on-one meetings that managers hold with staff other than the people they manage directly. They’re helpful for building relationships, gaining insight into your team and organization, and getting feedback about the managers that you manage.
Interacting with your direct reports’ direct reports—with care, attention, and consistency—has significant benefits. Here are three specific tips for navigating skip-level relationships successfully.
Send your managers and staff members these sample emails to get started with skip-level meetings today.
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The Daily List is a tool you can use to keep yourself organized on a day-to-day basis. It helps you separate “big rocks” (essential things that you need to complete to consider your day successful) from other action items.
The Weekly-Plus list is a complement to our Daily List to keep yourself organized beyond the day-to-day. It helps you keep track of backburner projects while prioritizing those that will make your month a success.
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Set yourself (or your team) up for success by getting aligned with your project lead or manager on priorities, expectations, resources, and check-in points along the way.
This sample will help establish a clear division of labor showing what responsibilities fall to you and what responsibilities fall to your boss.
This worksheet will help you identify what pressures your boss is under and how you can take a more effective approach as a result.
Nervous about giving feedback? This worksheet will help you think about what you want to say and how to say it with CSAW (Connect, Share, Ask, Wrap up).
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This handout will walk you through how to be an outstanding owner of your work -- someone who's truly responsible for the success of your realm.
Exit interviews with a departing employee can be a valuable source of information about what’s working well and what could be improved. Use our tips and template to get started.
Being transparent about how decisions will get made often gets better outcomes with more engaged participants. Here's one potential decision-making framework to share within teams.
Engage your team in tough decision-making using this simple table.
Here’s our quick-start guide for FAIR, a four-step decision-making approach that gives those most impacted by a decision the opportunity to help shape it.
Check out these examples of fair process, a four-step decision-making approach that gives those most impacted by a decision the opportunity to help shape it.
Many of us are getting out of rapid response mode from the pandemic and entering the restabilization phase. As you’re making more plans, the challenge is twofold: keeping track of the different threads for yourself, and communicating them in a way that inspires confidence and isn’t confusing to everyone else. Read on for the key components you need to communicate about your organization moving forward, plus sample language and a simple worksheet to get started.
It’s not news that whether you’re the head of an organization, the leader of a team, or an individual contributor, our current context of COVID-19 requires you to reprioritize your work. Of course, like most things, the process of reprioritization is easier said than done. Here are six tips for doing it successfully.
One step every team head and staff member can take to deal with our COVID-19 anxiety is to create a plan for who will take over key responsibilities if one or more of our team members is out. Use our tips and Back-up Planning Tool to figure out the most important responsibilities that need to be covered, who could do them if the current owner is out, and what that person needs to do now to prepare. You can make huge progress in as little as 60 minutes.
This sample survey is intended for leaders to adapt as needed to assess the needs and circumstances of their staff as they navigate the COVID-19 crisis. Use the survey results to identify trends, so that you can make and prioritize policy changes and forecast costs.
During uncertain times, even the best-laid plans need to shift. Instead of updating your budget to get a handle on your financials, turn your attention to cash flow. Use this tool to keep track of your anticipated expenses and revenue.
Looking for more space to slow down and prioritize care amidst moments of crisis? Check out this sample auto response email that one of our clients kindly shared with us.
We believe that relationship-building is a core competency for effective management (equitable, sustainable, and results-driven). This guide is for managers looking to build (more) supportive and functional relationships with their staff.
In this article, we offer a new definition for effective management—one rooted in equity, sustainability, and results.
Newsletter Articles