The Making of a Manager book club questions

1. 1.

   Zhuo says the hardest part of becoming a manager is shifting your measure of success from what you personally accomplish to what your team accomplishes. How far along is your own mindset shift?

2. 2.

   Think of feedback you should have given that you softened until the message disappeared. What were you protecting — the other person or yourself?

3. 3.

   What's the clearest thing you've ever communicated to a direct report about what great work looks like? How did you know it landed?

4. 4.

   Zhuo describes trust as built in small daily moments, not in formal 1:1 agendas. What do you actually do in your 1:1s, and is it serving the relationship?

5. 5.

   Have you ever hired someone you later realized you hired because you liked them rather than because they were the right person? What did you miss?

6. 6.

   When someone on your team underperforms, what's the first question you ask yourself? Is it about them, or about whether you set them up correctly?

7. 7.

   Zhuo is candid about mistakes she made as a new manager. What's a mistake you've made managing people that you wouldn't make today?

8. 8.

   She argues that your job isn't to be liked. How do you distinguish between being appropriately direct and being unnecessarily harsh?

9. 9.

   What does it feel like to manage someone who is better at your old job than you are? Have you experienced that — and how did you handle it?

10. 10.

    How often do you explicitly tell your team what they're doing well, not just what needs to change? Why is that harder than it sounds?

11. 11.

    Zhuo says you can often tell within a few weeks whether a team is operating well. What signals do you use to diagnose whether a team is healthy or struggling?

12. 12.

    What would change about your management if you spent the next month treating every 1:1 as the most important conversation you'd have that week?

How to run the discussion

• Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
• Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
• Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
• Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.