Book Reviews: Collaboration and Team Communication
How to Manage People: Fast, Effective Management Skills That Really Get Results
Michael Armstrong. 2025. London: Kogan Page Ltd. 203 pages (no index).
Index Terms—communication; human resources; management
Reviewed by Charlotte A. Weddington, non-IEEE Member, technicallyiwrite@gmail.com
Michael Armstrong’s How to Manage People: Fast, effective management skills that really get results is a practical, engaging book focusing on how to get the best results from employees and how to deal with problems that arise. It is written from the perspective of what front-line managers must do themselves, sometimes without the help or guidance of a Human Resources (HR) team. As the subtitle suggests, this is an introductory book that acquaints the reader with beginning people management concepts and skills. Although the book is not about professional communication, Armstrong does focus heavily on the communication aspects of people management.
The author breaks the book into five parts and twenty-eight chapters: Managing people; Getting work done through people; Leading, motivating, and engaging people and teams; People management activities; and Handling people problems and issues. The 28 chapters are presented in short, easily digestible sections that include relevant exercises, summary points, and reference notes.
For example, Chapter 2, “Managing people for the first time”, bases the first part of the chapter upon the scenario that you as a new manager have been appointed from outside the team and addresses what steps you should take—how to discover expectations, resources, and organization; what questions to ask the employees; and tips on earning respect. The second part is based upon the scenario that you as a new manager have been appointed from within the team and addresses managing the different relationships you will have in your new role. The exercise then asks you to rate potential problems to be dealt with as a new manager.
Although each chapter includes exercises, two are quite compelling. The exercise in Chapter 17, “Investigating the quality of teamwork,” provides the scenario that you are the manager of a large department where productivity has recently fallen. Your teams are not working together well, and you asked your HR contact to investigate. That person surveyed the employees within the team and asked them to respond to eight questions with options ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree.
The survey results are shown; you are asked to explain what the results show and to decide what needs to be done. The Appendix notes for this exercise state that the obvious problem concerns team leadership and that an intense leadership development course needs to be implemented immediately for all team leaders. It also mentions that some team-building exercises might be useful.
The other exercise is in Chapter 24, “Challenging conversations: what would you do?,” with a scenario of a timekeeping problem. Then six parts of a conversation are described, and you are asked to choose from four options for each. For example, the first conversation is “You want to speak to the individual about the problem.” The four options from which to choose include: “A) In my office — now!; B) I have something I would like to discuss with you that I think will help us work together more effectively; C) We need to talk about your timekeeping problem. Please come to see me at 4 pm; and D) I would like to talk to you about your timekeeping. Let’s grab a cup of coffee this morning at 11 to chat” (p. 180).
The Appendix notes for this exercise state that option A is too dictatorial, option B is too vague, option C is the preferred choice because it is a clear statement about the meeting’s purpose and gives the employee time to prepare, and that option D is too informal.
Another part of the conversation is, “The individual has agreed that there is a problem but gives what you think is an inadequate explanation for it.” The four options from which to choose include: “A) I am not sure that I really understand the problem. Could you tell me more about it?; B) I think I appreciate the situation you’re in, but we must put our heads together and see what can be done about it; C) I cannot accept that as an adequate explanation. It’s no excuse; and D) I can understand your problem but how are you going to deal with it? The present situation cannot continue” (p. 181).
The Appendix notes for this exercise state that option A is potentially helpful, option B is better because it assumes that the situation will be discussed thoroughly and that the solution will be a joint effort, option C will likely antagonize the employee, and that option D starts out reasonably, but the last part may destroy any goodwill the initial words invoked.
As a non-manager, I found How to Manage People to be easy-to-read, insightful, and thought-provoking. It will be helpful for readers who are unfamiliar with management and need some tips in their new role, especially in communication. I also appreciated the exercises and their corresponding Appendix notes. In my opinion, those readers who take the time to carefully absorb this book and complete the exercises will be better prepared to take their first steps into their management career.
The Leadership Skills Handbook: 100 Essential Skills You Need to be a Leader, 6th ed.
Jo Owen. New York, NY: Kogan Page. 2024. 322 pages, including index.
Index Terms—leadership, skills, diversity, communication, team building.
Reviewed by Rachael Swertfeger.
The Leadership Skills Handbook: 100 Essential Skills You Need to be a Leader is a great, in-depth presentation of skills and traits needed for being a successful leader. This book presents ten groupings of skills to assess, develop, and use in your role as a leader, but Jo Owen’s made sure to emphasize that you will never be able to master them all. Instead, he strongly encourages you to figure out what will make you most successful based on what your strengths are, and how to engage and depend on others to fill gaps where you have weaknesses. Owen also calls out several times that being a leader is not just about stomping out everyone on your way to the top but building a following and finding the balance between running the show and sharing the limelight.
Throughout the book, Owen presents each skill clearly and simply, and sometimes follows up with a brief exercise you can do to identify the skill in practice or think more critically about that skill. The skills were each distinct enough that they provided a comprehensive list, but also blended together nicely to create a whole picture of what a leader can bring to the table and how they can lead to help others grow.
Another idea reiterated throughout the book involves having a sponsor (or two). Owen made it clear that as a leader, your team relies on you to do much of the heavy lifting, but that does not mean you need to do it all. You should also position yourself under leaders you can depend on, and who can be your champion if you need them.
The Leadership Skills Handbook covers everything from the obvious skills like communication and delegation to promotions, managing conflicts once you are in your role, and valuing culture and diversity. Owen did a great job of calling out that a leader has to have strong skills of their own, but also should strive to build up their team with their own strong skills and that when we work together and celebrate diversity, the organization is set up for success, which reflects positively on that leader in return. The idea is that everything is interconnected and when the leader is succeeding, it is usually because they built a diverse team, provided them with the resources to overcome the challenges, and encouraged that team to work together.
Overall, this book is a great resource for leaders in all phases of their development. New leaders can gain insight to identify their strengths, grow into their role, and set themselves up for continued success and growth. Alternatively, seasoned leaders can get a refresher on skills and a reminder that they should not try to achieve top scores in every area but focus on their strengths and build a team that compliments their style.
Lean Innovation Guide: A Proven Guide for Innovation Success
David Griesbach. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: BIS Publishers. 2023. 290 pages, including index.
Index Terms—lean innovation, business process, iterative development, lean progress model.
Reviewed by Joanne DeVoir, Information Development Manager, Minitab LLC
In my own work, I am on the lookout for how to add value to my customers in new ways. I read Lean Innovation Guide: A Proven Guide for Innovation Success with this in mind. This book is a resource about how to innovate your business products, processes, or services and provide value to your customers. David Griesbach is an expert in lean innovation processes and shares his extensive knowledge in this visually appealing guide.
He divides his book into three parts. Part 1 provides an overview of lean innovation and innovation tools. Traditional innovation is a linear process of developing a business plan, developing a product, and then launching it. In contrast, the lean innovation process is iterative and uses a develop–measure–-learn cycle. The focus is on continuous development and involving existing or potential customers in the process as early as possible. Griesbach describes and provides examples for several tools that he uses in lean innovation, including customer interviews and minimum viable product prototypes.
In Part 2 of Lean Innovation Guide, he describes the Lean Progress Model for startup and lean innovation projects, which is the core of this book. The model includes six factors for success: problem, solution, viability, potential, scalability, and traction. For each factor, the book details prioritized guiding questions in a scannable two-page layout for each set of questions. For example, questions for the problem factor include are you focusing on the right problem and how relevant is the problem to potential customers. For me, these guiding questions are the most valuable content in The Lean Innovation Guide. In this section, Griesbach also describes a red–yellow–green coding system to help the innovator make quicker decisions and stay focused on priorities or pivot if needed.
Part 3 reviews how to apply the model, including a fictional case study that walks through the model. Griesbach also provides a website where you can access a poster of the six factors of the Lean Progress Model to use in meetings and workshops.
Throughout the Lean Innovation Guide, Griesbach employs engaging and educational graphics and attractive page layouts. He applies a consistent design style across chapters that makes it easy to use this guide as a reference. Overall, I recommend this book for learning how to innovate using a structured approach.
Dear Intern: Workplace Blunders, Mishaps, and Major Disasters from Professionals Who Have Seen (and Done) It All
Mara Nelson-Greenberg. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books. 2024. 114 pages.
Index Terms—workplace blunders, embarrassing moments, professional growth, workplace humor, internship stories.
Reviewed by Siobhan Patterson, Communications Consultant
A light-hearted take on some of the most embarrassing workplace moments, Dear Intern: Workplace Blunders, Mishaps, and Major Disasters from Professionals Who Have Seen (and Done) It All is a compilation of memories to ease the transition into the real world. This collection would make a great gift for a fresh graduate or someone early in their career.
This book is in response to a viral moment in 2021 when a large corporation posted that an intern accidentally sent a test email to their user base. Putting the responsibility on an early-in-career employee on a large stage led to an outpouring of support from other working professionals. These individuals shared their embarrassing workplace moments and built a community through the #DearIntern threads to help alleviate the fear of failure.
Mara Nelson-Greenberg took several of these posts and sorted them into three sections: Whoops!, I Messed Up, and I Really Messed Up. This was a nice detour from recent reads as it embeds personal stories and illustrations to support several of the recollections. Some of these will make one pause and realize “Oh, what I did wasn’t nearly as bad as Eric ordering six million eggs” (p. 44) or “Mina causing an internet outage for nine university buildings, and they managed to survive” (p. 47)
Woven throughout are funny tips to prepare for cover letters, small talk, and labeling files. Nelson-Greenberg also pokes fun at office jargon, email etiquette, and weather conversations that most professionals subscribe to when trying to find their footing. In some instances, Dear Intern touches on topics one might think, but don’t dare type, such as Twenty Ways to Repeat Yourself in an Email, Again.Through humor and first-person stories, Nelson-Greenberg bridges a commonality and lessens the pressure to be perfect and achieve greatness immediately. Jokes aside, she closes with five mistakes one will inevitably make and provides solutions and reassurance to move past them. As shared in the stories “time heals all embarrassment,” and Dear Intern serves as the motivation to give oneself grace and continue to grow.
Everyday Innovator: 4 Powerful Habits to Cultivate Team Creativity
Christian Byrge. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: BIS Publishers. 2023. 213 pages.
Index Terms—team creativity, innovative ideas, problem solving, visionary thinking, persuasive presentation
Reviewed by Joanne DeVoir, Information Development Manager, Minitab LLC
Everyday Innovator: 4 Powerful Habits to Cultivate Team Creativity provides practical guidance for how to enhance creativity to generate innovative ideas and to solve problems. This book is the result of Christian Byrge’s 15 years of specializing in business creativity and collaborating to find ways to boost creativity and innovation in the workplace. He devotes a chapter to each habit and provides step-by-step guidance using relatable examples and probing questions.
Exploring new grounds is the first habit with a focus on problem solving and standards. Byrge encourages readers to entertain outrageous ideas and to consider all perspectives. Break down the big problem into smaller sub-problems and involve coworkers, friends, and experts. “Creativity is a chance process” (p. 71), where you often need to iterate many times to find the best innovative solution.
The second habit is imagining new ideas. To do so, you must break out of your typical pattern of thinking. Byrge gives tips and examples for how to combine existing but distinct ideas in new ways. The proposed four steps for idea production are individual ideation, small group brainstorming, elaboration of quality of the idea, and evaluation of the idea. Iterate through steps 1–3 before moving onto step 4.
Visionary thinking is the third creative habit. Byrge describes this habit as fostering an open, curious mind. The key to this habit is to postpone decision making about a new idea and take the time to carefully consider positive and negative consequences.
The final habit is persuasive idea presentation. Byrge humorously describes this habit as “the difference between being considered a weirdo or a genius” (p. 136). This chapter gives helpful tips on how to talk about the value of your idea in a compelling way and emphasizes your idea’s originality, desirability, and feasibility.
Byrge devotes a chapter to how to kickstart your creative journey. He provides practical advice on how to document your ideas, set aside time for creativity in your calendar, foster a creative team culture, enhance your creative confidence, and practice creativity on a regular basis.
For an author who has years of experience and passion, I was disappointed that Everyday Innovator does not include a list of references to other publications or presentations. Byrge says that he “read more than a thousand publications on creativity” (p. 5), yet he cites none of them.
Throughout the book, key phrases and sentences are highlighted in yellow to mimic the use of highlighting text by hand. Some readers may find this highlighted content helpful, but I found it distracting. The highlighting is overused in some cases and underused elsewhere. As a reader, I prefer to rely on my own highlighting and note taking to identify the content that is most relevant to me.
Despite a few shortcomings, I learned several useful strategies from Everyday Innovator on how to become more creative in my daily work and to promote creativity.
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The Seven Games of Leadership: Navigating the Inner Journey of Leaders
Paolo Gallo. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Publishing. 2023. 272 pages, including index.
Index Terms—leadership, introspection, contextual intelligence, ethical decision-making, sustainable success
Reviewed by Muhammad Rifqi Zulkarnain, Student, Universitas Gadjah Mada, supported by Lembaga Pengelola Dana Pendidikan (LPDP), Indonesia
The Seven Games of Leadership: Navigating the Inner Journey of Leaders provides an extensive framework for personal and professional advancement through seven designated leadership strategies. This methodical approach underscores the significance of introspection, self-awareness, and contextual intelligence in achieving enduring success, defined as the ongoing process of realizing one’s authentic self. The book advocates for embracing challenges, fostering gratitude, and prioritizing rest to optimize performance.
Paolo Gallo redefines success as an ongoing journey that facilitates continuous growth and adaptation, fostering resilience and adaptability amidst the complexities of contemporary society. He accentuates the importance of comprehending and interlinking various global megatrends, such as climate change, demographics, diversity, inequality, geopolitics, technology, labor markets, and information, to facilitate decision-making aligned with long-term sustainability and ethical considerations. Gallo underscores the significance of data-driven decision-making, delineating between data, information, and wisdom. He encourages introspection by scrutinizing both successes and failures to identify recurring errors and areas for enhancement, aiding leaders in comprehending their strengths and weaknesses to make judicious decisions and lead with integrity. Moreover, Gallo uses diverse methodologies, including Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, to pinpoint and leverage leaders’ distinct cognitive strengths, thus contributing to their ability to effectively navigate the complexities of the modern world. Additionally, he integrates practical exercises, such as using a paper ruler to visualize life expectancy and prioritize time management, to underscore the importance of gratitude and recognizing others’ contributions in fostering a constructive organizational environment and enhancing interpersonal relationships within teams. These methodologies not only enhance leaders’ cognitive abilities but also equip them with practical tools to thrive in today’s challenging landscape.
Furthermore, contextual intelligence is essential for leaders, enabling them to effectively navigate the complexities of the modern world. It involves understanding and connecting diverse global megatrends, shaping the contemporary context, and allowing leaders to make informed decisions aligned with long-term sustainability and ethical considerations. This intelligence goes beyond reactive responses to immediate challenges, emphasizing continual learning, adaptation, and interdisciplinary approaches to decipher complexity and facilitate effective problem-solving and decision-making. Alike with Senge’ The Fifth Discipline book (1990), he underscores the importance of trust and collaboration in navigating complexity.
The book highlights introspection for personal growth, offering tools for defining success and fostering ethical leadership. It advises on managing life transitions and adapting to change, though its broad scope may overwhelm some readers. Implementing global trends could be challenging, and practical application may need extra support. Nonetheless, its focus on leadership may seem idealistic to those facing pragmatic challenges.
The Seven Games of Leadership is a vital resource for leaders and those aspiring to leadership roles, dedicated to personal growth, ethical leadership, and sustainable success. In brief, it offers a holistic framework for effective leadership by incorporating introspection, contextual intelligence, and ethical decision-making. This multifaceted approach equips leaders with the necessary tools to navigate the complexities of the modern world while upholding integrity and purpose in their leadership journey.
Facilitating Simulations
Elyssebeth E. Leigh and Laurie L. Levesque. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, Ltd. 2024. 198 pages, including index.
Index Terms—lean innovation, facilitation, simulation, pedagogy, resistance
Reviewed by Gregory Zobel, Associate Professor, Educational Technology, Western Oregon University
Elyssebeth E. Leigh and Laurie L. Levesque pack Facilitating Simulations with helpful information for new and experienced simulation facilitators. The book’s first three chapters are equivalent in length, balancing the three main chapters: conceptual and theoretical frame; consideration of context; and how to prepare for facilitation. Chapter 4, a 27-page annotated bibliography at the end, is rich and detailed with relevant recent scholarship.
Significant throughout the book are themes of persuasion, overcoming resistance, and supporting engagement with reluctant actors. The authors offer multiple suggestions—with tables for clear reference—on resistance types, be that administrative, learner, or internal to the facilitator. For this guidance, the authors draw on their own facilitation experiences as well as scholarship, theories, strategies, and practical tactics for overcoming resistance. Most helpfully, they offer suggestions on how facilitators can rephrase facilitations, activities, and their importance to diverse audiences and different types of resistance rooted in skepticism, doubt, fear, and unknown (to the facilitator) group power dynamics. Leigh and Levesque provide their guidance for both online and face-to-face simulations. To support this, the authors share potential phrases, sentences, discussion prompts, and evidence types that can help overcome this.
Equally useful, since simulations often turn or appear to turn in unexpected directions, the authors offer suggestions and strategies for facilitators to remain calm, ensure the simulation is on target, and different approaches for mitigating difficult situations. The authors offer one of the most singularly helpful framings of educator/trainer psychology, identification of audiences and variables, and potential solution paths that I’ve seen laid out. Helpfully, this book presents most problem/solution paths in many well-laid out tables.
Facilitating Simulations is an excellent read for technical communicators new to or interested in running, designing, or developing simulations. Experienced facilitators working with less experienced peers should purchase this book because it effectively presents, explains, and reviews developing facilitation skills. For educators, Chapter 1 posits multiple questions, prompts, and engagements with aspects of pedagogy, andragogy, and heutagogy as well as active learning and complex problem solving. Many helpful suggestions in Chapter 3 on how to deal with resistant or reluctant simulation participations are applicable to other learning environments.
While the price for such a thin book appears high, the authors pack it with tightly written suggestions and quality content. It promises to serve not just as an introduction to facilitating simulations, but also as reliable reference material.