CATEGORY

It's become trendy for business books to exhort managers to "empower" their people and imbue them with a sense of workplace "ownership"--still, it all comes down to the vexing question of how to motivate people to do their best work everyday. In its 72 sprightly and well-designed pages, this hardworking pocket-sized book shows you how to do just that. First, you'll learn how to tap into what it is your people really want from their jobs (other than a paycheck and paid holidays); then, how to act on those needs to get them really psyched (by improving communication, encouraging initiative, and creating a "no-blame" work culture); and fire them up to give their best, both individually and in groups, by preventing or resparking "demotivated" workers, enriching each job's potential and scope, and helping them build their career profiles. More importantly, you'll learn how to reward employee achievement by motivating through change, recognizing exceptional performance, and keeping motivation at a constantly high level. On every page, boxed tips, quick-reference checklists, vivid mini case studies, and easy-to-follow flow charts make the motivation process not only clear and simple to activate, but even rather fun. Granted, if you're looking for very specific or in-depth guidance, you might find this book too cursory and general in its approach. But, if you're looking for a thumbnail guide to the basics, it'll do just fine.

It's worth mentioning that the book is part of the "Essential Managers" series by reference publisher Dorling-Kindersley--a series comprising 20 itty-bitty books on business and career topics that range from communication, leadership, and decision-making to the management of time, budgets, change, meetings, people, projects, and teams. Combining the talent of the "For Dummies" book series for breaking down a lot of information into bite-sized bits and sidebars with Dorling-Kindersley's signature design style of crisp, classy graphics on a gleaming white backdrop, the books don't represent the cutting edge of business thinking or reflect necessarily any unique individual perspective. Instead, it's as if someone had collated the best general thinking on these 20 topics, and rolled them out into 72 brightly designed and easy-to-read pages--studded along the way with boxed tips, color shots of a multiracial cast of "coworkers" animatedly hashing through the workplace issues of the day, and, on the last few pages of each volume, a self-test of one's skills in the topic at hand. Again, they're not for anyone who's looking for more in-depth or focused help on any of the covered subjects, but they're perfect as a quick general-interest reference; and, let's face it, they're so damn cute, and look so smart in a neat little stack or row, that probably you'll want to buy a whole bunch to give as gifts to your entire staff or department. --Timothy Murphy