Tools
Instruments for the working manager: each one explained, sourced, and ready to use with your team tomorrow.
The Competency StackToolA five-layer standard for what a hire must clear: the role, the level, the company's values, its stage, and the team they're joining.FlowToolEngagement lives in the channel where challenge and skill stay matched: too much challenge and you're anxious, too little and you're bored.The Dreyfus ModelToolEvery skill runs on a ladder from novice to expert, with a sixth rung, mastery, for those who push further, and where you sit changes how you learn it and how you should be coached. The Dreyfus model is the map: name the rung, name the next one, and the vague feedback that helps no one turns into a plan.The Golden MeanToolEvery virtue sits on a spectrum: underdo it and it's a vice, overdo it and it's a vice. The Golden Mean names the admirable middle and both ways you miss it.Task-Relevant MaturityToolMatch your style to someone's maturity on the task at hand, not their general experience: low maturity needs structure, high maturity needs goals and room.Skill vs. WillToolSplits a performance problem into skill and will, then names the fix for each case: assign, teach, diagnose, or reassign.The Terrain TestToolA hiring screen for stage fit: has the candidate recently succeeded under the same ambiguity, structure, and support this role will demand?The Calibration CallToolA short research conversation with someone who has done the role or hired for it, to learn what great and failed performance look like before you define it.The MOCToolA role-definition document with three parts: mission, outcomes, and competencies. It forces you to pin down the role before you talk to a single candidate.