The Modern Manager

Latest Episodes:

90: Culture is Everything with Tristan White Feb 19, 2020

Show notes

Whether you’re leading a single team or an entire organization, you can’t deny that culture plays a critical role in your experience at work. The challenge is that culture is hard to design, cultivate, and sustain. It’s often the small things that make the most difference. So what can you do to shape a strong, healthy culture?

Tristan White is the founder & CEO of The Physio Co, a unique healthcare business that ranked #1 on BRW’s list of Australia’s 50 Best Places to Work in 2014. The Physio Co has ranked as one of Australia’s 50 Best Places to Work for ten consecutive years (2009-2018), along with being named one of the Best Workplaces in Asia from 2015-2018. Tristan is also the author of Culture Is Everything: The Story And System Of A Start-Up That Became Australia's Best Place To Work.

Tristan and I talk about the four secrets to powerful culture that Tristan has learned over more than a decade of leading and growing his own company. We take a deep dive into execution and appreciation - how to do those to critical activities in alignment with your values whether your leading one team or an entire organization.

Read the related blog article: How To Design and Implement The Optimal Workplace Culture

Join the Modern Manager community (www.mamieks.com/join) to get a free digital e-book of Culture Is Everything so you can discover even more of Tristan’s insights into building a strong, healthy culture.

If you work for a nonprofit or government agency, email me at mamie@mamieks.com for 20% off any membership level.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.

Help me write my new book! I’m researching what makes a manager great to work for. Share your story and experience at www.managerialgreatness.com Help spread the word, too! Share the link with friends and colleagues.

I want to work directly with you! Learn more about my one-on-one coaching services or complete this intake form to see if coaching is the right next step for you.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Based on years of experience building his own company, Tristan developed the Culture is Everything system which is composed of four parts: (1) Discover the core, (2) Document the future, (3) Execute relentlessly, and (4) Show more love.
Discover the core is all about having a clear purpose for why the organization exists. It should be short and sharp.
In addition, it includes identifying three - five core values that describe how the team behaves. These should be action statements not just words or phrases.
Document the future focuses on creating a vision for where the business is headed. It starts with a 10-year Obsession - what we will achieve in ten years - which acts as the North star.
Create a 3-year Painted Picture Vision that is a stepping stone on the path to your 10-year Obsession. This enables you to start to see how you will get there in the long run and create an opportunity for celebration.
Execute relentlessly is when you live your purpose, values and vision. You must have a robust recruiting process that attracts (and retains) the right people.
Show more love is the final component which emphasizes the importance of leading humans by showing more love to your clients, team mates, and everyone around you.
When you hire and retain the wrong people, it’s very hard to sustain (or build) the culture you aspire towards.
Consider running a daily huddle as one way to keep your team connected to you and each other. Choose an unusual time for this meeting e.g. 9:27am and don’t let it run longer than 15 minutes. Ask two questions: What’s going on? Where are you stuck? And: nominate or share a story of one person who lived the core values.
Don’t try to solve the problems during the huddle - that happens after in a follow up with the people who are involved.
By sharing stories of people living the core values, we reinforce them, give praise and show love, and keep them top of mind for people.
Be connected to your team members so when something is going in their life outside of work, you know about it, or when their behavior is unusual, you recognize it. This way, you can be there to support them by letting them know you’re there to help if/when they want it.
Small acts can be really powerful. Include a budget to send flowers, handwritten cards, etc for special occasions and milestones, both joyful and sorrowful.
If you’re a virtual team, be sure to use video meetings in addition to a chat or texting app. Share pictures of your weekend activities, vacations, family, etc to help feel more connected to each other.

KEEP UP WITH TRISTAN

Twitter: @tristanjwhite

Instagram: @tristanjwhite

Facebook: facebook.com/tristanjwhite/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitetristan/

Website + special bonuses: https://www.tristanwhite.com.au/modernmanager/

RESOURCES

Special bonuses from Tristan: https://www.tristanwhite.com.au/modernmanager/
Culture is Everything (book) - download 1st chapter for free: tristanwhite.com.au/book

mamie@mamieks.com

89: Growing into an Inclusive Leader Feb 12, 2020

Show notes

Good intentions just aren’t enough when it comes to being an inclusive leader and creating an environment that truly embraces diversity. I learned that the hard way. It requires a personal journey in which you learn about yourself and others, but by doing so, you are able to become an empathic and inclusive leader needed to build a thriving team in which all people flourish.

Jennifer Brown is a leading diversity and inclusion expert, dynamic keynote speaker, best-selling author, award-winning entrepreneur and host of The Will To Change podcast, which uncovers true stories of diversity and inclusion. As the founder, president and CEO of Jennifer Brown Consulting, her workplace strategies have been employed by some of the world’s top Fortune 500 companies and nonprofits to help employees bring their full selves to work and feel Welcomed, Valued, Respected and Heard℠.

Jennifer and I talk about what diversity and inclusion really means, the personal journey of engaging in being a more inclusive leader, what you can do to support your learning, and a whole lot more. And, you’ll hear about my own learning journey when it comes to implicit bias and being an inclusive leader. This is deep and challenging work and it is so important.

Read the related blog article: Start Your Journey of Inclusive Leadership With Small Steps

Join the Modern Manager community (www.mamieks.com/join) to get 20% off JBC’s upcoming DEI Foundation’s course which will equip you with the knowledge you need to meet the challenges of this changing world of work so you don't get left behind. Learn more about the course at: https://jenniferbrownconsulting.lpages.co/

If you work for a nonprofit or government agency, email me at mamie@mamieks.com for 20% off any membership level.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Embracing diversity and inclusion is more like building a new muscle than putting on a pair of glasses. It requires noticing and making different choices.
There are visible and invisible forms of diversity: Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Sexual Orientation, Disabilities, Mental Health, Neuro-Diversity, Veteran Status, Age, Parental Status.
Unconscious bias exists in everyone and it doesn't make us a bad person. Being well intentioned or holding morally just values is not enough because bias lives below the surface.
The important thing is to admit to yourself that you have unconscious bias so that you can start to recognize your own thoughts and see how bias is showing up in the world around you.
The business world was built by and to work for a small segment of the population, which is predominantly male and white. Bias is hardwired in the system and often leaders are perpetuating this biased system.
The Inclusive Leader Continuum has 4 stages: (1) Unaware - people don’t think there is a problem, I’m not responsible, and/or I think diversity is important and that’s enough. (2) Aware - understand that not everyone is bringing their full self to work, actively trying to learn about the experiences of others, putting yourself in new/uncomfortable situations. (3) Active - you chose to use your knowledge and learnings, make different decisions and use different language, be public about your journey and seek feedback, take risks and be willing to make mistakes, apologize when you do or say something that misses the mark. (4) Advocate - work towards system change, advocate for and lift up others, work publically and behind the scenes.
When you activate your learnings, you will make mistakes and you need to hear the feedback and keep going. You cannot disengage for fear of offending people because by opting out, you are unwilling to learn and are therefore enabling the status quo to continue.
We must all contribute to shifting the workplace culture. It cannot only be the responsibility of people who are in the minority.
Intent is not the same as impact - to have positive intent but not understand the actual impact of your behaviors and words is the same as being unaware.
There is such a narrow vision of what a leader looks like that when we don’t see people “like us” in leadership roles or as our colleagues.
Take the free Inclusive Leader Assessment for yourself and with your team:
Reflect on how often are you in a room in which you’re the only person who identifies or presents in a particular way? If rarely, we need to put ourselves in those positions more often so we can be a more empathic and inclusive leader.
Select areas of diversity that you could learn more about and seek out spaces and sources of learning. Find a trusted ally who can give you feedback and help you reflect and grow on your own journey.
Share stories with our colleagues, broaden our understanding of what diversity means, and start bringing more of our full selves to work so that we can live into what actually exists.
As a manager, you must role model and be vulnerable in sharing who you are and your journey. You cannot expect others to do if you don’t lead by example.

KEEP UP WITH JENNIFER

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jenniferbrown

Instagram: @jenniferbrownspeaks

Podcast: THE WILL TO CHANGE: Uncovering True Stories of

Diversity & Inclusion

RESOURCES

Jennifer’s Book: How to Be an Inclusive Leader
Book audio sample link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/nmoajhl8tsjxgkc/Retail%20Sample_InclusiveLeader.mp3?dl=0
Jennifer’s Book: Inclusion, Diversity, The New Workplace & The Will To Change
JBC’s Inclusive Leader Assessment
Book: White Fragility
Assessment: IAT (Harvard Implicit Association Test)
Book: Blind Spot

mamie@mamieks.com

88: Models and Methods of Decision-Making Feb 05, 2020

Show notes

Decision-making can be one of the most challenging aspects of a manager’s job. You want to empower your team, but worry about whether they’ll make a decision that derails the project or negatively impacts your stakeholders. Finding the right balance is easier than you might think once you have a model for determining which decisions should be delegated and a clear method for identifying who will be engaged in the decision-making process and how.

In this episode, I’ll walk through a few different decision-making models that should help give you some frameworks to apply to your decision-making. We’ll cover how to think about who owns which decisions, different ways to be involved in decision-making, and different processes for making decisions.

The full episode guide includes an overview of each of the models. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.mamieks.com/store.

Get the free mini-guide which includes the risk/changeability matrix at www.mamieks.com/miniguides.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.

Read the related blog article: Make Better Decisions Faster

Key Takeaways:

When decisions are made by those closest to the work, decision quality and speed go up.
Research consistently shows that when decision-making authority is shared, productivity goes up, trust increases, and employees are more engaged.
Fears around decision-making are essentially fears around risk. To determine what constitutes a risky decision, consider the impact (high/low) vs changeability (high/low).
Decisions that are low impact/high changeability are very low risk and should be delegated.
Decisions that are high impact/low changeability are very high risk and should generally be owned by the appropriate level of leadership.
To ensure the best thinking in included in a decision, use the RAPIDS model: (R)eccomend - who is offering the options and making a recommendation? (A)gree - whose input must be included and who must agree with the decision in order for it to stand? (P)arameters - who sets the scope or boundaries of the decision and what’s acceptable? (I)nput - whose input is needed or who has an important perspective to consider? (D)ecide - who is actually making the decision? (S)hare - who must be informed of the decision after it’s been made?
Create a RAPIDS model before a project or decision is begun in order to avoid ambiguity or frustrations down the road.
When making a decision as a group, there are generally 3 models: Concurring - everyone agrees to the decision, Majority Rules - a vote is taken and the majority wins regardless of the strength of the nay votes, Consensus - everyone is comfortable going forward and agrees not to block or undermine the decision even if they dont agree with it.
To gauge agreement, use a Fist of Five - Hold up the number of figners that correspond to your position: (5 / full hand up) I fully agree, (4) I’m 80% in agreement, (3) I’m neutral, (2) There are a few things I don’t agree with, (1) I’m against this decision, (0 / fist) I’m actively against this decision and would try to undermine it or walk out.
For Concurring decisions, everyone must be at least a 4. For Consensus, everyone must be at least at 3.

mamie@mamieks.com

87: What to Do About Gender Bias in the Workplace Andie Kramer and Al Harris Jan 29, 2020

Show notes

Despite our best efforts, it's hard to ignore gender in the workplace. Gender roles and stereotypes have been reinforced in us since birth. Often, we don’t even realize our unconscious gender biases and their impact. If we truly want to create a work environment that rewards on merits, we must address gender with eyes wide open.

Andie Kramer and Al Harris, they are married practicing lawyers. They have been mentoring women and speaking and writing about gender communication for more than 30 years. They offer women unique, balanced, and highly practical advice they can use to prevent gender biases from slowing or derailing their careers. Andie and Al also present arresting information and compelling examples for male audiences to make them aware of and sensitive to the gender biases that hold women back—even in the most well-intentioned organizations. This power couple provides organizations with concrete, non-disruptive suggestions for workplace changes that will make women’s career opportunities more comparable to men’s.

Read the related blog article: The Surprising Truth About Gender Bias in the Workplace

Join the Modern Manager community (www.mamieks.com/join) to get 3 tip sheets from Andie and Al:

Gaslighting Tip Sheet: This guide offers nine tips on how to respond when women are told they are imagining gender bias.
Preventing Interruptions: This sheet provides tips on how to avoid being interrupted, and what to do when you are interrupted.
Saying “No”: This guide walks you through the thought process of What to when you are asked to do something that won’t advance your career.

Join by February 11, 2020 to be eligible to win a full behavioral, motivational, and axiological analysis and a 90-minute debriefing. These tools will gather information about your brain type, communication type, motivational orientation (what moves you), emotional consistencies (what emotions you rely on for decision making), effective nature, default instincts, emotional needs, self-esteem, self-direction, practical thinking, structured thinking, work/role-awareness, etc. One member will be drawn at random but you must join before February 11th, 2020 to be eligible.

If you work for a nonprofit or government agency, email me at mamie@mamieks.com for 20% off any membership level.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Gender stereotypes have no basis in fact. The differences among women are just as prevalent as the differences between men and women. Each person is their own unique being.
People expect women to be kind, communally focused, and soft, so when they’re direct and results-oriented, we (men and women alike) ‘punish’ them. Yet, women fight to not be held to traditional feminine expectations.
The “Goldilocks dilemma” occurs when a woman experiences this challenge: (1) If I’m nice and kind, people like me and want to work with me, but don’t give me important work to do. (2) If I’m strong and assertive, I’m competent, but nobody wants me on their team.
Gender stereotypes are ingrained in culture from the moment we’re born. They are reinforced throughout life which makes them very hard to even recognize or be aware of.
Men need to recognize that women have it tougher than women in almost every work environment.
Men need to pay extra attention to including women on their teams, giving them equally challenging assignments, and not treating women with extra sensitivity.
Because leadership of organizations is predominantly male, there is by default a culture in which the values, the norms, the expectations revolve around a masculine view of the workplace. This is challenging given home life is often gendered in most families too, with greater obligations on the women. The interplay makes it much harder on women than men.
To help equal the playing field, managers can offer more flexible work policies. They can offer women opportunities despite any reservations about the woman’s family pressures, allowing the woman to decide for herself.

KEEP UP WITH ANDIE AND AL

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AndieandAl;

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreaskramer/

Website: http://andieandal.com/

mamie@mamieks.com

86: The Root Cause of Employee Dis-Engagement with Tevis Trower Jan 21, 2020

Show notes

With so much emphasis on employee engagement programs, there is very little emphasis on the root cause of employee dis-engagement. Despite the overwhelming research on the negative effects of employee dis-engagement, very little is actually being done to move the needle. No amount of money or attention on employee reward programs, wellness efforts, or engagement programming will make a difference if we don’t address the underlying issue.

Tevis Trower helps organizations optimize their most precious assets: humans. As a “corporate mindfulness guru” she has served clients in over 70 markets, clients include HBR, YPO, PWC, KKR, Soros, Bloomberg, Viacom, Google and AOL/HuffPo on mindfulness, executive lifestyle, mastery, innovation, and sustainable success. She's a forever beginner guitarist, snowboarder and surfer.

Tevis and I talk about the power of the beginner mindset, the root causes of employee dis-engagement, how to gain perspective on your own behaviors that could be contributing to a poor culture, and the challenges of trying to change the leadership above you.

Read the related blog article: Why Isn’t Your Employee Engagement Program Working?

Join the Modern Manager community (www.mamieks.com/join) by February 11, 2020 to be eligible to win a full behavioral, motivational, and axiological analysis and a 90-minute debriefing. These tools will gather information about your brain type, communication type, motivational orientation (what moves you), emotional consistencies (what emotions you rely on for decision making), effective nature, default instincts, emotional needs, self-esteem, self-direction, practical thinking, structured thinking, work/role-awareness, etc. One member will be drawn at random but you must join before February 11th, 2020 to be eligible.

If you work for a nonprofit or government agency, email me at mamie@mamieks.com for 20% off any membership level.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

When you have high expectations of yourself and you’re in the beginning or early stages of your skill development, it can be hard not to judge yourself. Instead, especially in areas that are for fun (e.g. hobbies) and you won’t ever be an expert, give yourself permission to be an “always beginner.”
An “always beginner” has the mindset that I’m learning exactly what I should be, I’m as far along as I should be, and I’m enjoying this moment for what it is without the pressure of seeing it as a only a step to some desired future.
It’s challenging to live the values we preach inside our organizations. Just knowing them and believing in them is not enough.
As individuals, we’re not good at examining our own behaviors and how they are disconnected from the values we promote (e.g. respect, teamwork, appreciation for the whole self, etc)
People get on board conceptually, but until there is a leader who is willing to do the work on themselves, and provide the resources for others to do that deep behavior-change work, the values won’t come to life.
Beware of hiring a C-suite level role to ‘deal with’ the culture problems. These challenges below to the entire C-suite and shouldn’t be designated to one person.
Ask people for feedback - directly or anonymously - on your behaviors to help build self awareness.
Do an inventory of your life over the past 1-5 years of all the things that have gone wrong and all the worst interactions you’ve had at work. Look at each of them as if it was a movie: look for how your actions or choices contributed to the issue or interaction. What themes emerge?
Hire an external person that you are paying for in a formal relationship to be your source of truth and wisdom because we can never fully see ourselves honestly. That formality forces you to take it seriously, show up, and know they’re doing their job to the best of their ability.
When you do this for yourself, it will trickle down to the people on your team, but likely won’t trickle upward. To manage up, it often takes an external consultant to work with leadership. Too often, we avoid speaking hard truths to those above us in order to protect ourselves, but change cant happen if we’re all functioning from a place of fear.

KEEP UP WITH TEVIS

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CorporateYogi

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tevistrower/

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/BalanceIntegration/

mamie@mamieks.com

85: Self-Esteem, Motivation, and The Manager's Role with Steven Sisler Jan 15, 2020

Show notes

Motivation is a complicated beast. Almost every manager questions how to best motivate their team members at some point. External motivators can only take us so far. The real magic happens when we align internal motivators with the work context. Then, you don’t have to motivate people at all - they’ll motivate themselves.

Steve Sisler is a Behavioral Analyst, speaker and author. Steve's consultation involves personality difference, leadership strategy, cultural differences, and temperament strategy. Working with clients in more than 18 countries, Steve gathers behavioral and attitudinal information on individuals within corporate settings and develops strategies for effective leadership, teamwork, and entrepreneurial success

Steve and I talk about motivation, how to position your job and those you hire so that the way you naturally think is what will make you successful in the role, the sad reality of self-esteem, simple things you can do to be a rock star manager, and what to avoid doing.

Read the related blog article: How Motivation And Self-Esteem Influence Performance And Success

If you work for a nonprofit or government agency, email me at mamie@mamieks.com for 20% off any membership level.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The optimal way to motivate people is to align their internal drive with the work setting so that they are self-motivated. It’s almost impossible to get someone to consistently think or act in ways that don’t feel natural to them.
Your job as a manager is to figure out each person’s motivators and help create the context for them to thrive. When you put people in a situation in which their natural inclinations align with what the circumstances call for, they will automatically be motivated.
There are 7 motivational spectrum: (1) Originality, (2) Individualism, (3) Efficiency, (4) Power, (5) Sacrifice, (6) Regulation, (7) Theoretics.
People who succeed at management roles tend to be those who have already displayed the behaviors of great leaders. Great managers spot those leadership behaviors and elevate those employees rather than offering a promotion and hoping the person will be a good leader.
84.6% of the population has low self-esteem. Many managers use their role as a coping mechanism. Having power or being in a role of authority makes them feel better about themselves.
To rewire your brain so that self-esteem does not inhibit your success, focus on celebrating the positives and accepting praise without internal negative commentary.
One thing that almost always trumps motivation is whether you believe your manager cares about you. If you do, you’ll bend over backwards to meet their needs and expectations. If you don't, no amount of motivation will inspire you.

RESOURCES:

Book - Nine Lies About Work by Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall

KEEP UP WITH STEVE

Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevesisler

Website: https://www.stevesisler.org/

mamie@mamieks.com

84: Before You Create a Work Plan, Create a Project Profile Jan 07, 2020

Show notes

Most people think of project planning as the execution plan: Who needs to do what by when. But before we get to milestones, RACIs, or fancy gantt charts, it’s important to align the team up front on the strategy and scope of the project. Without this critical step, it’s easy for projects to go off course, friction to arise between team members, and time, energy and money to be wasted.

In this episode, I walk through a tool I’ve used for years to help me and my team plan projects. The Project Profile is designed to create shared understanding, elicit the best thinking, generate buy-in and streamline the execution.

The full episode guide includes the Project Profile template, a completed example Project Profile, and detailed instructions for how to use it with your team. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide atwww.mamieks.com/store.

Get the free mini-guide at www.mamieks.com/miniguides.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.

Register by January 10, 2020 for Make More Time: Everything a Manager Needs to Know to Delegate Successfully at mamieks.teachable.com/p/delegation

Read the related blog article: Do This Before You Start Your Next Project

Key Takeaways:

Teams often jump from a goal to a work plan without first aligning on the project’s scope and strategy. This causes unnecessary friction, complexity, stress and lost time/money.
Using at Project Profile can align the team, increase buy-in, generate stronger thinking, and streamline execution.
The Project Profile consists of a series of sections each of which addresses a different aspect of the initiative. It is designed to get the team thinking deeply about the work and includes (1) Context, (2) Objectives, (3) Goals, (4) Measures of Success, (5) Assumptions, (6) Strategic Questions, (7) Watch-outs, (8) Resources, (9) Stakeholders, (10) Working Agreements, (11) Exclusions.
There are two primary approaches to using a project profile. Option 1: One person begins a draft and shares it with the group to enhance as a collaborative document. Then the team gathers to work through it together and agree on a final draft. Option 2: the group works together from the start during a half-day project kick-off session.

mamie@mamieks.com

83: The Benefits of Cross-Generational Dialogue at Work with Phyllis Weiss Haserot Dec 25, 2019

Show notes

Organizations have up to five generations in the workplace, yet most people tend to congregate with others of the same generation. Even more problematic is the fear that sharing knowledge or making introductions for colleagues will somehow negatively impact one’s own career. As a manager, it’s your job to create an atmosphere of open dialogue where everyone can learn from one another, regardless of age.

Phyllis Weiss Hazero is the foremost workplace expert on cross-generational dialogue at work. Her newest book You Can’t Google it! The Compelling Case for Cross-Generational Conversation at Work explores generational challenges and opportunities. Phyllis is President of Practice Development Counsel, a business development and organizational effectiveness consultancy, as well as a speaker and blogger on intergenerational relations issues.

Phyllis and I talk about the importance of building relationships across generational cohorts and how you can help create a culture of dialogue. We discuss various alternatives to traditional measures of age, mutual-mentoring, and how to open a conversation with someone you’d like to teach or learn from.

Read the related blog article: Create a Culture of Cross-Generational Dialogue at Work

Join the Modern Manager community (www.mamieks.com/join) to get two digital downloads on cross-generational dialogue at work -- 10 Tips for Achieving a Culture of Generational Inclusion, Engagement and Belonging and How to Maximize Cross-Generational Working Relations with Conversations Each Generation Wants to Have.

If you work for a nonprofit or government agency, email me at mamie@mamieks.com for 20% off any membership level.

Members of The Modern Manager community get 10% off!

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Organizations can have as many as five generations in their workforce.
Age no longer provides an accurate depiction of a person. We must stop making assumptions about what people know, are capable of, or are interested in, based on age.
In addition to major societal influences, many things help shape us including religion, where we grew up, educational environment, etc.
There are 8 forms of age: (1) Chronological Age; (2) Generational Age; (3) Career Stage, (4) Organizational Tenure; (5) Life Stage; (6) Physical Age; (7) Relative or Social Age; (8) Subjective Age.
Stereotypes about age (both positive and negative) are not helpful and contribute to ageism in the workplace.
Be proactive in building relationships with people outside your generational cohort. Select three people to invite for a conversation or coffee. Then pick three more.
Many people worry they will become expendable if they share what or who they know. You must proactively create an environment for cross-generational dialogue and learning, and encourage sharing.
Two-way mentorship is a fantastic way to build mutually beneficial cross-generational relationships.

KEEP UP WITH PHYLLIS

email: pwhaserot@pdcounsel.com

website: youcantgoogleit.com

Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/pwhaserot

Twitter: @phylliswhaserot

YouTube channel: https://www.amazon.com/You-Cant-Google-Cross-Generational-Conversation/dp/1683505816/ref=sr_1_1

mamie@mamieks.com

82: Measuring Outcomes Not Outputs with Jeff Gothelf Dec 17, 2019

Show notes

Why are big tech companies so successful? It’s not just that they create amazing products leveraging the newest technology. According to this week’s guest, it’s how they approach their work by focusing on continuous customer engagement and measuring outcomes. Even if you’re a service business, or an HR team inside a manufacturing company, or a small business retailer, we can all improve when we measure outcomes instead of outputs.

Jeff Gothelf. Jeff helps organizations build better products and executives build the cultures that build better products. He is the co-author of the award-winning book Lean UX and the Harvard Business Review Press book Sense & Respond. Jeff works as a coach, consultant and keynote speaker helping companies bridge the gaps between business agility, digital transformation, product management and human-centered design. Most recently Jeff co-founded Sense & Respond Press, a publishing house for practical business books for busy executives.

Jeff and I talk about how every team can benefit from managing themselves as if they were a technology company. He explains how to be in continuous conversation with your customers no matter who you define as your customers, so you can always be learning and improving. And we talk about how to shift the mindset and measurements of success from outputs to outcomes and why this is so critical for long term success.

Read the related blog article: Outputs or Outcomes: Measuring What Matters

Join the Modern Manager community (www.mamieks.com/join) to get a free digital copy of Jeff’s latest book: Lean Vs Agile Vs Design Thinking to members of The Modern Manager community. -- This short, tactical book reconciles the perceived differences in Lean Startup, Design Thinking, and Agile software development by focusing not on rituals and practices but on the values that underpin all three methods.

If you work for a nonprofit or government agency, email me at mamie@mamieks.com for 20% off any membership level.

Register for my course on delegation: Make More Time: Everything a manager needs to know to delegate successfully. Registration closes January 10, 2020. Early bird pricing ends December 31, 2019. Get a special bonus PDF “5 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Delegating” for free when you sign up before December 20th.

Members of The Modern Manager community get 10% off!

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.

Key Takeaways:

Years ago, software was delivered in a box. Every year, the product was updated and a new version was shipped. Tech companies today are able to gather lots of user data extremely quickly and therefore make hundreds of small changes to the software every day.
This continuous conversation of learning based on customer or user feedback (did they click or not), enables them to deliver greater value.
Every team, no matter the context, product, service offering, industry, etc, can benefit from learning from their customers. This ongoing conversation to gather feedback enables you to experiment with ideas and make small tweaks or major changes in order to achieve an outcome.
Outputs are short term deliverables that are easy to measure: did we finish on time, on budget? Outcomes are more complex and grey: How well did the promotional efforts drive customer loyalty? How did employee wellbeing improve?
Example: If the goal was to get employees to take 10% more vacation days by offering an unlimited vacation policy, and after 6 months, employees are taking 6% more, is that success or failure? It makes things more complicated for a manager to measure individual performance and determine bonuses based on outcomes.
You must know the long term outcome in order to test if the short term output or deliverable is help to accomplish it. That is the feedback you want to gather - is this approach delivering on the outcome we seek?
This is a learning journey for everyone. Start by saying, “forget the solution we're trying to implement or build, what is the problem that we are trying to solve? And, if we solve it, how will we know?”
You must talk with your customers, whoever they may be. When you ask for their feedback, be prepared to hear that your initial ideas were wrong. This is the best way to learn quickly so you can adjust and deliver greater value.

KEEP UP WITH JEFF

Twitter: @jboogie

Publishing Company: https://www.senseandrespondpress.com/

mamie@mamieks.com

81: You May be Unknowingly Self Sabotaging with David Neagle Dec 11, 2019

Show notes

We all have moments when we get in our own way. Our conscious mind is saying “this is what I want” but our subconscious mind is saying “actually...I don’t think so.” This result is a confusing mess of self-sabotaging behaviors.

David Neagle is the founder of the multimillion-dollar global coaching company Life Is Now, Inc, helping thousands of entrepreneurs, experts and self-employed professionals gain the confidence and find the right mindset to increase their revenue, turning their endeavors into seven- and eight-figure ventures. He is also the bestselling author of The Millions Within, a book focusing on intention, focus and awareness to build your dream business and life.

David and I talk about how self sabotaging works, why we self-sabotage, how to overcome your own tendencies to self-sabotage, and how to talk with your team about their self-sabotaging.

Read the related blog article: Why We Self-Sabotage and What We Can Do About It

Join the Modern Manager community (www.mamieks.com/join) to get David’s course The Art of Success for free. The Art of Success is truly a tool of self-empowerment like none other. It teaches you exactly HOW to rise above your circumstances and live a stronger, more liberated, more fulfilling life.

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Key Takeaways:

The brain is hardwired to keep us safe, alive and reproducing. Anything that threatens those (think: anything that requires a change and feels risky) can trigger a self-sabotaging behavior.
Self-sabotaging tends to occurs in one of two ways: (1) we get hyper-focused on something irrelevant and (2) we create a problem for ourselves.
In both cases, it’s subconscious, but we let our attention be drawn from where it should be and instead focus on a distraction.
Once you agree with the distraction or lean into the self-made problem, you’ve gotten yourself stuck and all progress toward your goal will end.
The first step toward overcoming self-sabotaging is to be aware of how it works for you.
Evaluate the choices you’ve made of what to focus on, how to behave, etc.
If you anticipate that you’re likely to avoid a behavior, try scheduling it and bundling it with an activity or reward you enjoy.
Talk with your team members about self-sabotaging to help them recognize their potential tendencies.
Create a safe space for people to share personal struggles and perspectives.
Often we carry stress from outside of work into the office. When you can get to the root of the problem, it’s easier to address the subconscious desires.
When something goes wrong in a project, help your team member diagnose what happened. Listen actively for their perspective and potential self-sabotaging behaviors. Then support them to develop their own strategies to address it.
To counter self-sabotaging, discover what deeply motivates yourself and your individual team members. Focus on lifting up these motivations.

KEEP UP WITH DAVID

Podcast: The Successful Mind Podcast

Website: www.davidneagle.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/david_p_neagle/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavidNeagleCommunity

mamie@mamieks.com