You Don't Have to Do It Alone : How to Involve Others to Get Things Done

Rating:
Summary: Worth twice the price
Review: For 25 years and depending on my locale, I called myself a professional organizer, the archangel of lost causes, or the feminist with files. Now I work for an agency, and I read this book on the plane from Boston where I attended a conference of the American Association of Grants Professionals. Whether you are organizing a shelter for battered women, writing a community arts grant, planning for a change in public policy, acting as an officer in a community action agency, or heading a committee at your local church there is good advice here for you. I've done these things and even more oddball tasks and wish this book had come out earlier. It places a lot of information in one place that is useful for almost any manager.

If you just have time to check out the tools, they are indexed in the back and are well worth the price of the book and then some. In addition to gleaning bits from the chapters to meet my department's management objectives, I am planning to read selections from the "For Further Learning" list. The emphases on inclusion and transparency are among the finer principles that should be encouraged in any organization. The book is well written, concise and easy to use.



Rating:
Summary: Quick, Practical and Profound
Review: It's only 100 pages, a quick read, low price, yet one of the most direct and pragmatic resources you will ever find.

This little book is written by people with many years of experience in the challenges of involving large groups during difficult business situations, but they've refined the practical issues we all struggle with, like "Whom to include?" and "How do I keep people involved?" They give real cases from many kinds of organization, and they give simple checklists for each element.

As a professional in this business, my clients often need the simple, clear guidance that awaits right here. I'm finding myself telling clients to get a copy.

Rating:
Summary: A short fast read of condensed wisdom
Review: Most of us want to get involved with other people. There is a definite limit as to what you can do by yourself. This may be from the sheer magnitude of the task at hand, or it may be from a lack of skills. None of us can do everything it takes a team to have a sports team, to run a business, to have a church.

This slim little book is about getting others involved and moving along the way you want them to go. And if you really want the brief version, the checklist in Appendix A pretty well summarizes up the whole thing.

Bismark, I believe, said that people want to be led and it's the same in business or in starting a community theater. It takes someone with the idea, and the willingness to stick to it through the end, and the people skills to make it happen.

Here in this little book is the condensed wisdom of people who have made things happen. It's an easy fast read, and it should be read before you start something.

Rating:
Summary: The best little book you could ever buy
Review: This book is a `must have' for anyone who involves others in projects or is even thinking of involving anyone else. Its content is applicable to organisations, voluntary groups, youth groups, neighbourhood/local authority groups and even your sports club.

The content simply takes you through the process of involvement answering all the questions you were thinking but afraid to ask out loud. It begins with what sort of involvement do you need, how do I know who to include, how do I invite people, once invited how do I keep them involved and then how do I finish the job.

The `checklist' at the end is a gold mine.

Thankfully it's written in jargon free language and is small enough to always have in or on your desk where you can refer back to it often.


Rating:
Summary: Sound Advice - Great tips and Checklists
Review: To Involve others or not. Who to involve. What do I need from them. These and other questions about involvement, when taken thoughtfully into consideration, can make all the difference between success or failure of a project. This book provides a framework for thinking through each step of an involvement process from the identified need through to execution.

For 25 years, I have led dozens of workplace teams on subjects ranging from equipment reliability to quality to organization design. I have coached kid's soccer. I have served on boards and committees of parent booster clubs, school advisory boards, and community theatre organizations. Now, through the careful collaboration of these four authors, comes a book, a methodology, that explains in a logical, complete way how to lead collaborative efforts. If I only knew then what I learned in this book!

Although we may frequently consider how to involve people, we don't always appreciate the importance of thinking about who to involve and when to involve them. Along with checklists to help you along each of these important considerations, there is helpful material on keeping people involved, keeping the process moving, and a very nice chapter on meeting planning.

Whether you are new to discovering the power of involvement, or a seasoned veteran who is looking for additional coaching and tips, this book offers sound advice in all aspects of the topic.


Rating:
Summary: About "We" instead of "Me"
Review: You Don't Have To Do It Alone is a book complex in its simplicity and deceptive in its honesty. You will find it a very accessible and readable addition to your management library - the one on your desk, not packed away on the shelf. The authors weave together a bit of Maslow in basic human understanding with John Lockeian higher ideals, wrapped in a healthy dose of Tom Sawyer practicality. With this book, you will get your fence painted.

At the start, the book may seem like an introductory primer for someone newly thrown into a management role. In fact, it is one of those rare 101 introductions that a new manager should find immediately useful, but also in full reading, experienced managers will come to deepen their appreciation for the complexities of human nature. You will better understand the profound commitment and strong values it takes to truly believe in people, and how to remain true to those values while operating in the pressures of daily activities.

You Don't Have To Do It Alone presents very useful tools for organizing and managing the interaction of people in business, civic and community activities. It underscores that those tools only work when they are applied by managers who believe that working together is a good and necessary thing. Read this book all the way through. It's a modest demand on your time, and the authors do create a tapestry of human interactions that reveals itself best in a full read. Reading the beginning overview alone will do no more for you than reading a theater program and then not going to the performance. A full reading will get you to the later chapter on meeting management that is a little book within a little book. The gems of wisdom in chapter six may the beginning of a future publication for the authors.

Rating:
Summary: Great Guide for Those Experienced in Leadership
Review: You Don't Have to Do It Alone is an unusual book in many ways. First, it is written by four co-authors, each of whom has extensive and different experience in the subject. Second, the book is pared to the bone. There's hardly an extra word or sentence anywhere. Third, the material is very concentrated. One drop can be added to a gallon of water and the liquid's taste and color will change. Fourth, the book is very short. Fifth, the book is very well organized.

To those who are unfamiliar with organizing tasks to involve others in productive ways, this book will look like the Ten Commandments. Almost everything you need to know is in it somewhere. As such, a beginner can use this book to identify what he or she needs to learn more about how to do.

However, the book is so concentrated and slim that the beginner won't get enough help in many areas. For instance, there's no continuing example of the whole process so you can see everything in the same context. Instead, the examples shoot out at you from all directions, and you may not be able to understand the examples if you have limited experience.

In addition, some of the advice is a little off the mark because it's too general. For instance, the book advises involving the troublemakers in an organization. Now, if you are really good at leadership, you can get them in the middle of things. But if you aren't so good at this, you will find that they will make mincemeat out of the project unless you keep them carefully on the edges. There could have been a whole chapter just on how to involve troublemakers . . . rather than less than one page.

Finally, the beginner will find the structure a little confusing. Chapters one through five flow nicely. Then chapter six jumps into the subject of meetings. And chapter seven suggests you can use many different starting points to organize your efforts. The poor beginner may be left befuddled after reading chapter seven.

This book is great though for someone who has been involved in leadership tasks for many years and wants to have a convenient set of check lists as she or he plans an important task in which many people should be involved. For these people, You Don't Have to Do It Alone is an essential resource.

I particularly admired the chapter on How Do I Invite People to Become Involved? It's a classic that everyone should read. Bravo!

Be sure to get the help you need . . . that's the difference between those who accomplish things and those who don't.