Management tricks of the trade can be learned anywhere, and when I first encountered this one, I like my peers, dreaded its use.  Today I think otherwise, and I couldn't survive managing today without it.

The tool: folders named for each of my direct reports.

While part of a team that managed a national, multi-location organization, our new VP would weekly hold a one-on-one with each of his direct reports, and during that time period, he would pull out each person's individual folder.  In each folder he would place copies of emails for all the nickle-dime issues, or one-off problems, that crossed his desk.  Instead of worrying about if it would be handled, during our one-on-ones, he would simply ask for the status on each one.

We dreaded the folders, because we had to continually make sure none of those irksome emails went unattended.

Today as a SVP, I find the same management tool helps me keep my finger on all of those mini ToDos.  A simple process, but it works--and I rarely am asked about something that my team had allowed to fall throug the cracks.

Thanks, Dave!