Anyone sitting in the manager’s chair these days can speak to sleepless nights devising imaginative, effective ways to keep programs on track and staff motivated and productive. While corporate leadership across all markets trims the ranks due to a chronically ill economy (of course, distributing the work left by those laid off onto the shoulders of those who remain), it’s the program and people managers who figure out how to achieve more with less.

That’s just the beginning. If it were merely a matter of maintaining status quo, staff and supervisors could muddle through, but keeping business doors open means smashing the competition by producing greater products and services faster and at ground-level prices.

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