TRUTH, TRUST, AND THE BOTTOM LINE: 7 Steps to Trust-Based Management

In today's topsy-turvy economy, it's more important than ever that employers retain good workers. Tracy (a motivational coach) and Morin (former chairman and CEO of the search firm Drake, Beam, Morin) offer a seven-point program for "coaching" employees rather than simply managing them. Their approach involves regularly giving feedback, creating a vision and a plan, breaking through employee resistance, helping define specific performance objectives and providing the tools necessary to meet them. In turn, an employee must be committed to this process and ready to provide open and honest feedback to his or her manager. While these recommendations are quite broad, the authors offer sound explanations and practical blueprints to help managers implement them. Tracy and Morin are at their best when providing clear examples, especially hypothetical dialogues between managers and employees. The principles work, according to the authors, because managers who act as coaches can communicate honestly and authentically motivate their workers. Those open to new responsibilities and a more egalitarian style of management will find this book most useful, with the caveat that not every company fosters this type of management. (Mar.)