The Modern Manager

Latest Episodes:

32: Give and Receive Better Feedback with Robleh Kirce Jan 02, 2019

Show notes

Do you still remember that uncomfortable, nerve-wracking or awkward feedback conversation you had with your manager, a colleague or direct report? Why are these conversations so difficult and how can we be better feedback givers and receivers?

This week, I speak with Robleh Kirce, Head of Coaching at LifeLabs. His research centers on transformative leadership experiences, behavioral-based 360 tools, leadership skills under pressure, and workplace habits that drive change.

Join the Modern Manager community to access guest bonuses and other additional resources to support your learning journey.

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

Learn more and register for my upcoming online course Meeting Mastery - classes start January 8th!

Read the related blog post: Feedback: The Art of Giving and Receiving

Key Takeaways:

Difficult conversations generally fall into two buckets: giving feedback and conflict resolution.
It’s totally normal to have anxiety about giving someone negative feedback.
Prepare yourself for giving feedback: (1) Get a micro-yes from the person e.g.“Is it ok if I talk with you about this specific topic?” (2) Identify and share the behaviors you observed. (3) Identify and share the impact of the behavior and why it matters. (4) Open up and listen to what the other person has to say.
When we give feedback, we can trigger emotional, reactionary responses. What causes that trigger to go off is particular to each person.
The most common trigger in a workplace setting is ego. When feedback we receive is at odds with how we perceive ourselves, it often causes an emotional reaction.
Be careful about how you overvalue an aspect of yourself. You can be kind or smart without having a self conception or ego around it.
If a colleague comes to you with a negative opinion about a person, ask about the behaviors they’ve observed to substantiate their opinion. Then ask if they’ve had a direct conversation with the person, and if they haven’t, recommend and support them to do so. If they are uncomfortable, offer to sit with them both and facilitate the conversation.
If you have an issue with a colleague, it’s OK to go to your manager with a positive intent to ask for help with how to address the issue yourself.
Negative surprises can spike your emotional response by up to 400%.
When asking for feedback from others, narrow the focus to a specific area. Give them time to reflect and then meet a few days later with them to discuss.
If something happens in the workplace and you’re still thinking about it after 24 hours, give the feedback immediately.
To get feedback for reluctant people, frame it as “pro-tips.” Ask for suggestions and recommendations for how to do something specific with a focus on the future rather than the past.

KEEP UP WITH ROBLEH

Website: http://lifelabslearning.com

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/kirce

Email: Robleh@lifelabslearning.com

31: Planning Growth Goals for Your Team Dec 18, 2018

Show notes

As we prepare for another year, many of you I’d expect are doing some reflection on yourself, your personal goals, and what you hope for in 2019. Teams have goals, skills and competencies, just as individuals do. As you reflect on individual performance and opportunities for growth, consider also reflecting on how your team could become stronger. How might you invest in your team’s capabilities in order to work more effectively, accomplish great things, and create an environment where people flourish?

Get the free mini-guide to help you plan and follow-through on team development goals this year.

Join the Modern Manager community to get the full guide which includes questions for reflections, potential areas of growth to focus on, and more.

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

Key Takeaways:

Teams have goals, skills and competencies just as individuals do. It’s worth investing in strengthening how your team works and setting team development goals.
Introduce the concept of a team growth goal at an upcoming meeting. Explain why it’s important for teams to invest in their collective capabilities.
Decide on an area of growth and generate buy-in.
If you already have a topic in mind, present it to the team and be sure to explain (1) what the problem is, (2) how you, the team, the company will benefit, and (3) how each of them will benefit.
If you haven’t selected a topic, ask the team to brainstorm areas for growth. Come up with decision-making criteria and agree upon the area you’d like to focus on developing.
Set growth goals that explicitly state how you will measure success. Break down the goal into reasonable milestones to help you assess progress along the way.
Create a learning and accountability plan. Decide how you will collectively gain the knowledge and/or skills to grow e.g. attend a webinar, read a book, develop ground-rules, etc.
Set a meeting schedule to regularly check in on learnings and progress.
Collectively commit to the goals and plan. Make it part of your overall performance system. Ensure each person understands that this is just as important as other team goals and needs to be taken seriously.
Implement the plan by learning, debriefing, problem solving, experimenting, and supporting one another.
Assess progress regularly and reflect on what’s working and what still needs to be figured out. Refine, update and iterate the plan as needed.
Celebrate any and all progress, no matter how big or small.
Don’t let distractions or a busy calendar get in the way of following through on your growth plan. If your team slows down or stops investing, regroup, recommit and re-prioritize.

Get it touch! Email me at mamie@mamieks.com

30: Driving Intentional Culture with Isaac Tolpin Dec 11, 2018

Show notes

Team culture exists whether you intentionally shape it or not. Many managers organically build a culture based on their own values. But how do you design and transform a culture intentionally - one that delivers greater results for the individual, team and company?

This week I speak with Isaac Tolpin, co-founder of ConveYour.com, the #1 Microlearning platform for learner engagement. Isaac and I talk about how to build a culture that enhances results, effective meetings and investing in your team members.

Join the Modern Manager community to Isaac's free course on building high performing teams and other additional resources to support your learning journey.

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

Key Takeaways:

To create a learning culture, you need to understand the dreams of your team members and help them grow even if that means they leave your team to pursue their next step.
We are most energized when we are learning, improving, growing in exciting directions.
Most of what we learn when listening to a speech or attending a training is quickly forgotten. To really create change, you need just in time learning.
Culture can’t be created by events. Culture is created by a never ending positive pressure on the right levers of the business.
If you’re not living elements of the culture you want to drive, you will never be able to sustain that culture.
Use powerful and consistent language to refer to your culture and key values.
Culture is the ethos, the unwritten rules, how people behave when no one is looking.
To shape a new culture, you need to start with understanding “what is” - both the good and bad.
Identify the 3-5 key levers of your business. Levers are those things that will have the most positive impact when activated.
Write a key statement that captures the essence of each lever and you feel confident saying over and over again.
To go beyond incremental thinking into revolutionary thinking, you need to suspend what you know (or think you know) and think expansively. Schedule time in your calendar to do this.

KEEP UP WITH ISAAC

Website: https://conveyour.com/

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/isaactolpin

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

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

PYB 3: Halloween Costume Confusion Dec 07, 2018

Show notes

This is the third bonus episode in the Parenting Your Business series. In these episodes, I talk about my experiences as a parent and manager / entrepreneur, comparing situations and learnings.

In this episode, I reflect on moments when we make assumptions that result in wasted effort, and then how we respond to them.

Get in touch and join the conversation!

mamie@mamieks.com

mamieks.com/podcast

patreon.com/modernmanager

29: Overcoming Common Challenges with Task Managers Dec 04, 2018

Show notes

It’s normal to have ups and downs with any new app. There will be times when you love using your task manager and times when you slow down or completely stop. Thats because using an app is really about building new habits. Whenever we try to change behavior we run into challenges.

Get the free mini-guide to help you overcome some common challenges with using a digital task manager.

Join the Modern Manager community to get the full guide which includes printable trackers, tips and approaches.

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

Key Takeaways:

There are a few common reasons we struggle with using a digital task manager:
- The excitement of a new app wears off;
- We don’t get into a routine of putting tasks into the app or keeping it up to date;
- We stop trusting the tool to be helpful;
- We struggle with combining our use of paper and digital;
- The app is missing a capability or starts to feel like too much work.
To prevent or overcome these challenges, acknowledge they're real and normal, and then make a plan.
Decide how you will integrate your use of paper and digital tools. Be intentional about how together, they will support you to be most productive.
Integrate your new habits for using your task app with your existing routines.
Use visual reminders, like a 30-day chart, to help you track your usage. Set a goal of using your task app every day for a month. Make it a team goal if you’re collaborating with others.
Explore new features, automations, integrations, etc to make it easier to use the app.
Hold regular reflections on how it’s going. Consider what you want to do differently so you can get more value from the app.
Recognize the challenges and frustrations are real. No app is perfect.
If you’re really having a hard time consider changing to an app that is better suited to your needs, or whether an app is needed at all. There are many paper-based task management systems as an alternative.

Get it touch! Email me at mamie@mamieks.com

28: How to Hire Remote Team Members with Nate Hirsch Nov 27, 2018

Show notes

Hiring remote team members has gained in popularity over recent years. With access to a wider talent pool, more varied price ranges, and the ability to hire project-based and full-time resources, what's not to love? So how do you effectively hire and work with someone whom you never meet in person?

This week I speak with Nate Hirsch, entrepreneur and expert in remote hiring and eCommerce. Nate is the co-founder and CEO of FreeeUp.com. Nate and I talk about how to hire remote workers to grow your team’s capabilities. We talk about different types of freelancers and how to set yourself and the new hire up for success.

Join the Modern Manager community to get a $25 credit to FreeeUP and other additional resources to support your learning journey.

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

Key Takeaways:

With remote hiring, you have access to a larger pool of talent at a wider variety of price point. You can hire a remote individual for a one-off project, sporadic work, and full time employees.
Even ‘brick-and-mortar’ stores can supplement their work with remote team members for things like customer service, social media management, graphic design, etc.
There is always a risk with hiring anyone, in person or remote, that the person won’t deliver. But hiring is the only way to gain capacity and grow. It’s about implementing good processes for accountability and building trust.
You need to know what you’re looking for before you start the hiring process. Too often when hiring remote, we think ‘we’ll know it when we see it’ about finding the right person.
Once you’ve identified a person to hire, be intentional about sharing your expectations and clarifying what success looks like.
Freelancers often work with multiple clients who have different needs and expectations. What makes one client happy doesn’t make another client happy.
There are three levels of hires: (1) The basic level freelancer who can follow and execute on the processes and systems you’ve already set up; (2) The mid-level freelancer who is a specialist doing the work, for example a graphic designer, book-keeper or Facebook Ad manager who knows their craft; (3) The experts who advise in addition to doing work by bringing their own experience to help your business.
Defining what level of work you need is critical. Where people go wrong is by hiring a basic level freelancer when the don’t have systems yet and then expecting that person to create the systems.
If you hire full time people who are doing work central to your business, treat them as full members of your team or business by including them in weekly meetings.
Ask for feedback regularly, even with your remote team members. Set the expectation that asking for and giving feedback are part of our culture.

KEEP UP WITH NATE AND FREEEUP

Website: FreeeUp.com

Facebook:www.facebook.com/nathan.hirsch and https://www.facebook.com/freeeupcom/

Twitter:@realnatehirsch and @freeeup

Instagram:@realnatehirsch and @freeeup_

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhirsch/ and https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/10455467/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqoq7EGvwLQXgiYuIG8_iMg and https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSWdjdeVEWmk6f6wrsMeZcQ

Online Hiring Mastermind Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/OnlineHiringMastermind/?ref=br_rs

27: Getting Started with a Task Manager Nov 20, 2018

Show notes

Introducing a new technology tool to your workflow, whether doing it alone or with a team, shouldn’t be taken lightly. You have to work the technology in order to reap the benefits. Getting set up properly from the start will make it easier to sustain the new behaviors that will lead to less stress, more alignment, and greater productivity.

Get the free mini-guide to help you set yourself and/or your team up for a strong start with a new to-do app.

Join the Modern Manager community to get the full guide to getting started with a task manager.

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

Key Takeaways:

Be thoughtful about how you will structure your work in the app. As more content goes in, it becomes harder to find what you’re looking for. Having the content well organized from the beginning will make it easier to keep it organized over time.
Be explicit about what norms or ground rules you’ll follow when using the app. Consider how you’ll use specific features, like tags, followers, and due dates.
If you’re using the app with a team, agree together on expectations for how tasks will be assigned, communicated about, and updated.
Reflect on what changes you’ll need to make to your existing routines. For example, how will you capture tasks when you’re not at your desk? When will you input those tasks? How will you plan your priorities for the day?
How will you hold yourself (and your team) accountable to using the app and following the ground rules? Consider having a weekly team huddle to reflect on how you’re using the app, how you’re benefiting and what you can do differently.
Consider adding some new routines like daily and weekly time to input, update and review the tasks in your app.
Set up the infrastructure of your app before you input any content. Name the folders, create the tags, add and avatar, update your notifications, bookmark the app’s URL, etc.
Do a braindump of everything you need to do. Collect items from your notebooks, email, other apps, etc to get a full picture of all your work.
Input each task including the owner, due date, relevant tags, documents or links, etc.
Remember this is a journey and you’ll discover what works (and what doesn’t) as you use the tool. You’ll find ways to use the features that are helpful and features you wish the app had which you need to work around.
If you find you’ve stopped using the app consistently (or completely), don’t worry. Decide if you want to give it another go. Then reflect on what was challenging before and how you’ll work differently this time around.

Get it touch! Email me at mamie@mamieks.com

26: Quieting the Inner Critic with Tara Mohr Nov 13, 2018

Show notes

We all have that inner critic who wants us to believe “I can’t.” As a manager, you may also see that voice taking control of your team mates. So how do you quiet the inner critic and unleash the full potential of yourself and your colleagues?

This week I speak with Tara Mohr, expert on women’s leadership and well-being. Tara is the author of Playing Big: Practical Wisdom for Women Who Want to Speak Up, Create, and Lead. Tara and I talk about different forms of fear, that annoying inner critic that holds us back, and how to respond to someone else’s inner critic when it’s holding them back.

Join the Modern Manager community to get Tara's "Ten Rules For Brilliant Women Workbook” and other additional resources to support your learning journey.

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

Key Takeaways:

Playing big is not about striving more or working harder. It’s about getting in touch with and taking action on your own hopes and dreams.
There are different kinds of fear. The first type 'pachad' is projecting the worst case scenario. This is the irrational fear that holds us back. The second type 'yirah' is the feeling of taking on more responsibility, getting an influx of energy, or being in the presence of the sacred. This is the fear that tells us we're on the right track.
If you don't address your inner critic, it will sabotage you time and again.
The inner critic works almost identically in all of us. When you do something that feels emotionally risky, the inner critic speaks up, trying to get us to retreat to emotional safety.
Ask yourself, "What is the emotional risk I'm taking - failure, rejection, incompetence, uncertainty, etc." Once you've identified it, you can acknowledge it, have compassion for yourself, and decide to act from the part of you that wants to fulfill your dreams.
Especially as women, if you do substantive work, it will be met with praise and criticism. When you get praise or criticism, what comes up for you?
As managers, we get an up close view of our colleagues' inner critic. We often make the mistake of thinking our encouragement or confidence will make someone's inner critic will go away. But it actually can make someone more concerned.
Have a conversation with your team about the inner critic. https://www.taramohr.com/quieting-the-inner-critic/
Being your authentic self, and sharing creative or innovative ideas often comes with self doubt.
Confidence doesn't come with more experience when we are continuing to grow, take on more responsibility, and work at our learning edge.

KEEP UP WITH TARA

Book: Playing Big available on Amazon

Upcoming: Playing Big Facilitators Training - taramohr.com/facilitators-training

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

Twitter: @tarasophia

Instagram: @tarasophiamohr

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

Twitter: @tarasophia

25: Finding the Right Task Management App Nov 06, 2018

Show notes

There are endless benefits to using technology at work. But, software tools and apps are not a magic pill. They require behavior change and sustained dedication to using them in order to reap the benefits. Therefore, even considering the idea of adding a new app to your tech toolbox should be done thoughtfully.

Get the free mini-guide to help you reflect on why you need a task management app and what features are most important.

Join the Modern Manager community to get the full guide to generating buy-in for a collaboration app with your team along with suggested tools.

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

Key Takeaways:

Adding a new technology tool to your workflow, whether doing it alone or with a team, shouldn’t be taken lightly. New apps require new behaviors.
Be clear about the problems you want the tool to solved.
Paint a vision of what benefits you (and the team) will receive when using the app successfully.
Identify unique capabilities and feature needs based on the type of work your team does.
Explore 3-5 apps by reviewing their marketing site, using the web and mobile apps, visiting the help site, and reading reviews.
Select one to use first and give it a go for a few weeks. You'll discover things you like more about it and things you like less or that it doesnt do which are needed.
Then decide if you want to stay with this one, try another, or find a non-technical way to solve the problems you identified.

Articles with app reviews:

https://zapier.com/blog/best-todo-list-apps/

https://www.proofhub.com/articles/top-project-management-tools-list-2018

Get it touch! Email me at mamie@mamieks.com

24: Dealing with Difficult Employees with Kris Plachy Oct 29, 2018

Show notes

It's no fun to work with difficult people. As a manager, it's your responsibility to deal with difficult people and disruptive behaviors head on. It's not always easy, but it doesn't need to be complicated or anxiety-producing.

This week I speak with Kris Plachy, Founder and CEO of Leadership Coach and host of How to Lead podcast. Kris and I discuss proven approaches to dealing with difficult people and how to hold them accountable to change.

Join the Modern Manager community to get Kris's free course on how to have difficult conversation and for additional resources to support your learning journey.

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

Key Takeaways:

We have behaviors that get interpreted and lead to labels. Instead of labeling a person as rude, describe the behavior which makes you feel they are acting rude.
Sometimes we misinterpret behaviors because we make assumptions about what a behavior means.
It often feels hard to confront someone because we inherently don't want to hurt someone's feelings.
If you think someone is difficult, it colors your perspective and you anticipate the person to always be difficult.
We each interpret and make meaning of a behavior differently. Sometimes people need to be aware that others are perceiving the behavior as disruptive.
When confronting someone, start by identifying the behavior and the impact on me, the team, the organization. Then let the person respond and be heard. Then state the expectation and what will happen if they don't change their behavior.
Holding people accountable for behaviors and work results are the same. You must have set, clear expectations for what behaviors are expected. You also need a consistent practice for feedback.

KEEP UP WITH KRIS

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/howtolead/

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/@krisplachy

How to Lead Podcast: https://leadershipcoachllc.com/podcast/

Website: https://themanagerformula.com