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The Distance Manager
Book

The Distance Manager

A Hands-On Guide to Managing Off-Site Employees and Virtual Teams

Mareen Duncan Fisher and Kimball Fisher
McGraw-Hill, 2001

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

Kimball Fisher and Mareen Duncan Fisher document the special skills needed for the new but increasingly common task of managing far-flung work groups. The approaches that they examine are becoming increasingly essential for all managers. Although they explore relevant technologies carefully, their human relations advice is probably more important. The Fishers emphasize the interpersonal and leadership skills that a manager needs to head a virtual team. If you read this book cover to cover, it can seem repetitive, since many of the rules and tips offered in one area overlap with those in other areas. However, the book is designed to allow you to review specific management challenges and technologies, and to ignore areas that are irrelevant to your situation. getAbstract recommends this clear, practical work to anyone who leads virtual teams and to the telecommuters and freelance workers who report to them.

Take-Aways

  • Distance management - managing teams of people who do not work in the same place at the same time - presents a difficult management challenge.
  • Good distance managers aren’t traditional supervisors; they work ’on’ the system, not ’in’ the system.
  • The distance manager’s primary job is providing consistent, visionary leadership.

About the Authors

Kimball Fisher and Mareen Duncan Fisher , co-founders of The Fisher Group, have worked with many Fortune 100 companies to implement high-performance management systems and to train managers. Their consulting clients include Amoco, Apple Computer, PepsiCo, NBC, Weyerhauser and Motorola. They are popular speakers about teams, leadership and organization design. Kimball Fisher is author of Leading Self-Directed Work Teams and co-author of Tips for Teams.

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