Being a manager can be really tough, whether it's for a huge department—or a small group of people. David C. Baker has just published a book called Managing Right for the First Time that has excellent food for thought and self-examination. Though it's written with ad agencies as a backdrop, It's smart reading for anyone who wants to be a better manager. Here are a few points from the book I think are important to share:

You need a marketing plan. Baker says you must have a marketing plan for promoting your business to prospective employees even before you need them. (I loved reading this, and he's right!) If we're thinking our customers are solely the people who buy our product or service—and forget our internal customers—we're missing something Big. We all know we're only as good as our people. Let's act like we know it.

Being a great manager starts even before someone is reporting to you. This book offers advice on smarter ways to interview and hire new staff. An exploration of better interview questions is terrific. How many times have we resorted to the unimaginative and unenlightening "tell me about your strengths and weaknesses" questions? Come on! There's also proper protocol for putting people at ease so you see the real person through the initial jitters—and how to project your corporate culture to interviewees so they see the real "you." It only makes sense that if you get a true match in the beginning, things go better.

Orientation is not a 30 minute meeting! How many of us are guilty of having thrown people into the deep end expecting them to start swimming like an Olympic medalist? Sink or swim is not good policy. At MB Piland, we've developed some pretty good orientation tools over the course of our business. But Baker gave me ideas on how we could make our system even better. He provides a detailed description of an orientation plan that begins before the employee's first day and continues on for some time afterward. There are also some ways to help both manager and employee develop realistic expectations about how soon they can get beyond dog paddling and find the right rhythm.

This is a good read. I finished my copy off in about two sittings. Now it's full of hot pink sticky notes with ideas and self-imposed homework. I think it's time well spent. —Martha