Part 3

The Girl's Guide to Being a Boss (Without Being a Bitch): Valuable Lessons, Smart Suggestions, and True Stories for Succeeding as the Chick-in-Charge
by Caitlin Friedman, Kimberly Yorio

(Page 3 of 3)

RAISING HELEN (2004) - Helen Mirren as Dominique. As the boss of a modeling agency, when her employee inherits her sister's kids, she proves the workplace is less than family-friendly by stealing her clients and belittling her in front of the staff for being late to a meeting.

Lesson: Yes, you have to think of the company's well-being first, but in the end it is the staff that is the company. As long as the work is getting done, you can create a positive and flexible work environment for your team.

101 DALMATIANS (1996) - Glenn Close as Disney uber-villainess Cruella De Vil. Not only is she a puppy killer, in this live-action version of the classic cartoon she terrorizes her employees at her fashion design firm by screaming, throwing things, and generally humiliating all of those who work for her.

Lesson: Never lead with fear. It is possible to have a firm hand and still enjoy the respect of your colleagues. Using terror tactics is never the way to make your office function efficiently. Firm but fair is the way to go.

CATWOMAN (2004) - Sharon Stone as Laurel Hedare. When her employee figures out that the "miracle" anti-aging face cream her cosmetics company makes has terrible side effects, Laurel actually resorts to murder to prevent her from revealing the truth.

Lesson: A. Never lie to your employees. B. If you do, be ready to face the repercussions when the truth is revealed.

The Job: Key Functions and Roles

Though the responsibilities of any management job can vary wildly depending on what business you're in, there are a few elemental duties you'll be asked to perform that translate across the board. We'll touch on these here first, but go into each in greater detail in the upcoming chapters.

You Will Hire, Fire, Evaluate, And Promote

Putting together your team and keeping it in line will be your most important role as a manager. You will need to decide if additional employees are needed and can be afforded. You must provide constant access to and evaluate the ones you have. If the creative department is swamped, staying late every night, and bickering because they are burned out, it is up to you to decide how to help ease the workload.

In our research, the single biggest criticism we heard about women managers is that they are too emotional. They should just be more professional. After all, business is just business. But is it? Business is actually done through the coming together of a number of individuals with very different styles and personalities. And as a manager, you will have to find a way to make them the most productive they can be.

Hiring, firing, evaluating, and promoting are the most emotional decisions you can make. Take hiring, for example. A responsible hiring manager will solicit a number of résumés, weed them down to the top candidates, interview the candidates a few times, check references, and then make a decision. When faced with a few candidates with similar strengths, how do you choose? You try and figure out who will be the best personality fit for the group and hope for the best.

When it doesn't work out, then you have to fire. And don't tell us that firing employees isn't an emotional exercise. You are taking away a person's livelihood and perhaps that of their family too. Emotions come into play. The trick for women is to be able to manage their emotions as well as they manage staff. Consistency is the best you can hope for and is probably good enough to keep the emotional criticism out of the office.

You Will Have A Plan And Delegate Work To Your Employees

For those times your staff isn't in flux, creating a business plan and delegating its various aspects will be your main managerial task. This includes earmarking what needs to be accomplished on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and long-term basis, making a schedule and determining who on your team is best to handle each assignment. You will be asking questions such as: Is this a one-woman job? Would putting your workers into teams be more productive?

Delegating doesn't just mean telling your team what to do. You have to make sure they understand the project and how best to achieve its goal. Communication is the only way to make sure everyone stays on schedule. Checking in on a regular basis through progress reports and being involved will ensure the job gets done right.

Copyright © 2006 by Caitlin Friedman

About the Author

Caitlin Friedman is a public relations and marketing professional with more than twelve years of consumer, food and beverage, publishing, and television-production experience. In 2001, she partnered with Kimberly Yorio to form YC Media, a full-service public relations and marketing firm based in downtown Manhattan.

Kimberly Yorio has forged a reputation as a keen marketer specializing in the development of strategic publicity and promotions campaigns for cookbooks, restaurants, chefs, and other food-related personalities and products.