The 2R Manager: When to Relate, When to Require, and How to Do Both Effectively 1st Edition

This book provides excellent practical advice on how to effectively manage staff. "The 2R Manager" allows you to review your current style of staff engagement and compare it to Peter Friedes's "Ideal" style. The book then goes on to provide ways to change what you do on a daily basis to shift your style towards this ideal. Friedes provides reasoning behind his ideas and quotes from staff reviews and surveys that support this reasoning. He writes in a simple and easy manner which allows the ideas to shine through.I am fairly new to managing staff and have 10 direct reports, working with a professional service firm. I have been in this role - my only formal management role - for three years. I am keen to do better and have read many texts by David Maister, a couple of Peter Drucker and various other personal development books. Peter Friedes's book really spoke to me and provided immediate ways to do things differently.I have a "want to be liked" personality and have not always demanded a lot of my staff. I knew that this wasn't the best scenario but didn't know what else to do, how to do it, or - most importantly for me - why I should do things differently. "The 2R Manager" answered all these questions. I went to work the Monday after reading half the text and immediately did things differently. Straight away I got the result from my staff I had always been wanting and it felt a natural way to manage my direct reports.The book contains a self assessment section that provides an "out of ten" rating for both your natural tendancy to:"relate" to your staff - be a friend, ask questions, etc and"require" of your staff - set standards, enforce deadlines, expect individual contribution and improvement.Once you know what your natural style is, Friedes provides his "ideal" rating and provides ways to overcome your natural tendancy. He's not suggesting that your natural style is wrong. His idea is that if you wish to be an effective manager then you need to both relate AND require. He provides a few tips on how to do things differently straight away.I am only half way through this book and will add more to my review later. As an aside - I have never written a review of a book before on Amazon. However I thought this book was so good that I had to tell everyone about it.

Read book as part of a self development plan for work. Excellent subject that I will recommend to my coworkers.

Quick read -- Not new information, but clarifies what I already know.

If you lead on any level, this is a must read.

I found this book to very informative. It was interesting to read and I have found out how to move forward with managing skills.

I had occasion not only to read this book -- I also interviewed the author for an hour on my radio show Tom on Leadership, discussing the book and its contents. I've had over 100 experts on my program and Pete Friedes brought insights that I've encountered nowhere else.Friedes understands how managers and leaders can get off track, how we can get "caught" in our stories. The Relating manager may feel he's responsible for his people's success, or may say "I want this to be an enjoyable place to work" -- not realizing that all Relating and no Requiring means people don't grow, that under-performers don't get confronted, and thus the good people end up feeling let down. The Requiring manager may feel he's not there to be anybody's friend, and is uncomfortable admitting error or asking questions -- so he doesn't bond with his people, or truly get to know them deeply in ways that would allow him to better motivate them.The book progresses naturally from identifying your dominant style, to getting your mental game shifted, to baby steps toward new behavior, and on to advanced steps. This is a book that will deeply reward any manager who takes the time to apply its lessons.

The 2R Manager is truly one of the best books I have read on the complex topic of leadership. Why? Because Friedes effectively boils down the skills of effective leadership into two concepts: Relating and Requiring. This simple yet profound model works for all kinds of leaders whether you are a business manager, sports coach, teacher, or parent.Perhaps the best part of the book is that Friedes allows you to customize your leadership development to best fit with your current leadership style. Through a simple survey, Friedes allows you to discover your natural style: Relator or Requirer. He then offers a variety of practical suggestions for learning and developing areas that likely need improvement based on your particular style.If you are looking for a solid and practical approach for developing your leadership skills, or those of the people around you, this is definitely the book.

"This is one of the best books I have read on management. It is exactly what managers need to understand how to be more effective and get the results they want.""I worked 20 years at Hewlett-Packard as a manager and also as Director of Education and Development and I wish I had had this book then.""Managers need to know what their style is and how it impacts those they work with everyday. Mr. Friedes has made that simple. You take some self-surveys and then he helps you learn how to reinforce or modify what you are doing to be a better manager. It is packed with great ideas and simple ways to improve.""Everyone can "relate" to this book and it should be "required" reading for all managers."