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It's a chaotic world out there in Managementland, but you'd never know it from reading most management books. It's been that way as long as I can remember.

The books portray a world where management is a cerebral process. It's supposed to be dispassionate. Using the magical tools of PODSCORB, the manager's job was to subdue beasts of chaos and restore order and efficiency.

But the real world of management for most of us is a high velocity game of catch, but with lots of players and lots of balls. It's filled with calls and meetings and emails and text messages and conferences and reports and presentations and so many other things.

Some managers are ground down by this environment. Others do quite well. Here are some characteristics of the ones who do well.

The successful ones try to control what they can. That usually means consciously carving out time for themselves and their team members for the kinds of work that require unbroken attention.

The successful ones ride the wave of the chaos. John Kotter is the only management writer I know who has described this well. Check out his excellent book, The General Managers.

The successful ones understand that their highest leverage activities are the ones that deal with people issues. They understand that people issues require a lot of attention. Sometimes you must carve out uninterrupted time, sometimes not. But you must always pay attention to the people issues.

The successful ones deal with issues as them come up. As a result, they are more likely to catch problems early, when they're easier to solve.

The successful ones keep it simple. As Kotter found with his general managers, they concentrate a few, very important things. They share their important ideas and standards simply and repeatedly.

The successful ones review and reflect. They take time at the end of the day to review what they've done and not done. They block short bits of time to tie up loose ends.

The successful ones plan a little. They work off simple To Do lists. An astounding percentage of them carry a small card with their goals for the day. There are rarely more than three.

Boss's Bottom Line

The world of managing is a high-velocity, chaotic world. If you imagine it as a beast to subdue, it will eat you and spit you out. But if you imagine it as a wave to ride, it can become a source of energy.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.