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Welcome to the new manager 
podcast. 

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I'm your host, Kim nickel. 
Hello and welcome. 

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I'm glad you're here. 
I hope you're doing well. 

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And today, we are just going to 
Dive Right In. 

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I want to talk with you about 
the skill of strategic thinking.

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It's one of the top skills that 
come to light that people need 

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as they move into people manager
roles. 

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And the first thing I want to 
tell you about. 

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This is what That tricky is that
you think it's something you 

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don't know how to do, or there's
this realization of, oh, 

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strategic thinking. 
That means thinking differently 

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than how I am now and that's 
true, but it's helpful to 

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remember that right now. 
You do think strategically, but 

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you just call it thinking, are 
you just call it? 

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Well, obviously, this is how 
things work. 

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Because, remember, when we're 
thinking about, what does it 

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mean to think strategically? 
We were thinking in terms of 

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relationships between people 
resources. 

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You know, how thing, how one 
thing influences our effects 

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another. 
And so when you move into a 

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manager role, you already have 
had years of strategic thinking 

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in your own life and in your own
career, you've had thoughts that

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informed the decisions you made 
that shaped the choices that you

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saw a available to you. 
There are so many subtle ways 

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that just didn't stand out in 
your mind as an intentional, 

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strategic choice or it might 
have bright. 

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Like sometimes if you if you 
intentionally change Industries 

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or you realize you're an 
underrepresented person in your 

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industry or in your company that
sense of distance will create an

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awareness of. 
Okay. 

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Like, how am I going to do this?
And the way that you answer that

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question, how am I going to do? 
This that is your strategy. 

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That is your strategic thinking 
so you already have it and part 

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of the work I do with my clients
is helping them to understand. 

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How are they currently thinking 
strategically? 

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What's your current operating 
strategy? 

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Because once you have clarity 
about that, it makes it a lot 

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easier to begin to expand the 
way that you think 

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strategically, so that you can 
then grow and That internal 

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strategic operating system. 
So, for example, a lot of folks 

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that I work with have the 
Strategic thinking of, in order 

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to be successful. 
You work hard seems obvious, 

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right? 
Like that's my strategy. 

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I'll simply work really hard. 
I'll keep my head down. 

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Don't want to draw too much 
attention to myself. 

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I'll just work hard. 
Keep my head down, you know, 

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don't want to B2 
self-aggrandizing, I want to be 

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humble. 
So just work hard. 

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Keep my head down. 
Another big one is learning by 

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observation. 
I'll just learn what's expected 

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by observing the people around 
me and I'll understand without 

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having to ask a direct question.
And without anybody teaching me 

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exactly what's expected. 
And this comes up a lot, 

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especially if you identify as an
underdog or an underrepresented,

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Person, the sense of kind of 
reading the room to understand. 

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How do I need to be in order to 
succeed here? 

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I'll just learn by observation. 
I don't want to ask for direct 

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help because I'm worried about 
what people will think. 

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If I do, I just need to sort 
this out another element of 

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strategic thinking. 
I'll be I'll just be 

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resourceful. 
You know, like, I'll just figure

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this out on my own. 
I'll have to be resourceful. 

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I don't have a lot of resources.
So I'll have to be Forceful on 

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my own, don't ask for help. 
We talked about that just a 

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moment ago. 
A sense of walking on eggshells,

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this sense of needing to be very
careful, that things are a 

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little bit precarious and if you
miss step or if you're careless 

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somehow something very bad will 
happen. 

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That can't be repaired and just 
an overall sense of high-stakes.

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So if you're if you're thinking 
is that there's always Is a 

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sense of things being high 
stakes than that. 

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Also creates a, you know, a 
feeling of pressure creates a 

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sense of, I need to do things. 
Exactly? 

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Right? 
I have to figure this out on my 

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own and what's really 
interesting is that this set of 

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strategic thinking thoughts. 
Right? 

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Like if that is what has been 
driving you through your 

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education through your Adult 
Career life. 

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They can be very useful. 
They can be very effective in 

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getting you to the stage of 
advancement and success and 

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achievement. 
There's nothing in correct or 

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wrong about that often. 
The reason why we have our 

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current strategic thinking is 
because it has worked. 

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It's been very effective in the 
past. 

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And so, then we do it again and 
again, and again and then it 

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starts to feel risky or Hard to 
begin to challenge that. 

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That when you are moving into a 
manager role, it becomes very 

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important to question. 
How are you currently thinking 

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about things? 
Like, what is your current 

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strategic perspective? 
And will it serve the situation 

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you're in now? 
Or is it time to shift or update

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that strategic thinking? 
So that You can be more 

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effective. 
You may have outgrown a level or

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outgrown, a particular strategic
thought that you have and it 

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might be time for something 
else. 

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One of the things that I've seen
can get really problematic is 

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when you're a person who is very
good at learning by observation.

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What tends to happen is that 
then when you are managing other

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people, you will expect that. 
They will do that too. 

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Because for you, it's just 
obvious. 

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Obviously you simply learn by 
observation. 

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You read the room, you notice 
what's expected and then you 

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course correct yourself. 
And you will be confused about 

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why the people you manage are 
not like that. 

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This is also where the 
self-awareness of the more you 

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understand about. 
Yourself, the more you realize 

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other people are not you, and 
so, they might have different 

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internal operating manuals. 
They have different ways of 

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thinking, strategically, of ways
that have worked for them. 

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And so, part of the growth 
stage, then, as you're in this 

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leadership, role of managing 
people is learning, how to 

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stretch beyond what is familiar 
and what has worked for you and 

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to begin to expand your skill 
set. 

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So instead of just keeping your 
head down, staying quiet 

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learning by observation. 
Just working hard, not asking 

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for help. 
Now, you may be required to do 

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the opposite of that. 
So instead of doing all the hard

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work, now, it's about delegating
or now. 

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It's about facilitating. 
How can I make things easier, 

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instead of keeping your head 
down? 

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Now? 
It's about advocacy. 

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It's about asking for resources.
It's about promoting people. 

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Our team, it's about promoting 
yourself and advocating for 

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yourself. 
It's not just learning by 

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observation. 
It's also helping to convey 

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information, clearly and timely 
and in a way that is direct. 

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So it's easier for people to 
understand what your 

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expectations are or what their 
requirements are having 

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different kinds of conversations
and maybe instead of expecting 

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other people to be as Forceful 
as you are. 

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It's about having more direct 
conversations about what is 

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needed. 
What is available? 

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What do you do? 
If there is a gap, right? 

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So it, we start to think of 
things really differently and 

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what's nice is that, you know, 
if you've lived so much of your 

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life with this feeling of 
walking on eggshells, like, I 

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have to get everything just 
right. 

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Otherwise, it falls apart or 
something will break and I won't

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be able to repair it. 
When you start to learn these 

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alternative ways of thinking 
about how you work with others 

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and think like thinking 
strategically in a more, 

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expansive way. 
It creates a greater sense of 

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safety, a greater sense of 
resilience. 

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It allows you to kind of set 
down the burden of I have to do 

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everything exactly right. 
And it starts introducing a bit 

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more. 
It's a bit more compassion, a 

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bit more ability to adapt in the
moment with the different people

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that you're working with. 
So it benefits you on a personal

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level because it can create a 
lot of anxiety, right. 

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When you have this thought of 
like, I have to do a right and 

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there's no room for error 
creates a lot of pressure, a lot

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of anxiety. 
And when you are managing 

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people, all of a sudden, you 
know, it's a different job. 

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It's a It Dynamic. 
And I found it can create a lot 

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of anxiety and a lot of stress 
because also as a human were 

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really concerned with connection
and belonging we want to feel 

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connected with people. 
We want to feel a sense of 

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belonging. 
It makes experiences easier. 

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It makes experiences more 
satisfying, it just feels good. 

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Right? 
And so there's always a part of 

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you that is going to be tracking
for potential. 

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Harmony and wanting to avoid 
that. 

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And that is always going to be 
doing a little internal 

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calculation of how much energy 
will it take to manage other 

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people's emotions. 
And that's where if you're 

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thinking, how do I say this in a
way that doesn't create a 

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meltdown in the other person? 
Or how do I say this in a way 

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that they won't lash out at me 
or they won't shut down, or they

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won't. 
Cry or they won't be angry or 

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they won't think. 
You know this about me like when

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you are playing in your mind 
over and over and over again, 

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how do I say this in order to 
create the result that I want? 

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A part of that calculation is 
the awareness that, like, how 

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will you need to like, how much 
energy will it take for you to 

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manage this other person's 
emotional life. 

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And this is, I think so 
fascinating, because it often 

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happens on a Very subtle level, 
like, it's happening, 

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subconsciously, all the time. 
And this is where I see a lot of

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folks. 
Struggle to have those direct 

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conversations because 
internally, there's an alarm 

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going off. 
That says, it's not worth it. 

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It's not worth the effort. 
It will only create more work 

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for you. 
What if it breaks the 

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relationship? 
And you can't repair it. 

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Like, there's a lot of fear and 
anxiety and stress that gets 

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bound up. 
When we're not aware of how 

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we're thinking about our work 
relationships and our 

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relationships with the folks 
that we managed. 

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So, you know, strategic thinking
is something that you already 

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have. 
It's something that you need to 

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develop and hone as you continue
in your career and the first 

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step is understanding. 
What is your current thinking? 

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What is your current strategic? 
Thinking what has helped you to 

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get to this point? 
What has helped you be 

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successful here? 
And when you can begin to 

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understand and see that clearly,
then you have the ability to ask

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is this still helpful for the 
situation? 

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I am in now. 
Is there another way to look at 

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this? 
How else can I think about this?

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What's the big picture that I'm 
missing here? 

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Right. 
So when you start to think in 

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those marks pants of ways 
because you have that clarity 

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about how you currently think, 
you start to see what I what I 

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call like door number three. 
So instead of, you know, it's 

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this way or it's that way, you 
start to find all of these 

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options, you start to find door 
number three. 

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The thing that you didn't even 
think, About was available or 

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possible or could work. 
And it all begins with first 

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slowing down, getting curious, 
taking a look at, how are you 

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currently thinking about things 
and then beginning to ask some 

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questions and what's neat? 
Is that as you learn how to do 

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this? 
Like this becomes a skill that 

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you'll use for the rest of your 
life and for the rest of your 

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career, so it creates this 
really robust and resilient. 

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Aunt, skillset around. 
How you think, how you make 

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decisions, how you feel? 
Like, even your sense of like, 

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letting go of the sense of dread
about what may or may not happen

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in a conversation that you need 
to have or with a decision that 

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you need to make, it really 
makes a huge difference and it's

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one of those things where it 
really is work. 

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You have to do for yourself and 
within yourself, it's it can be 

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really tricky. 
To you know, like get the 

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information just passively 
consuming. 

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So I say that while 
acknowledging and celebrating 

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that you are here listening to 
this what this podcast but do 

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take time to notice for 
yourself, how you're currently 

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thinking. 
What is the strategy? 

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That's got you here. 
And then where are you now? 

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Where are you going? 
What is this strategic thinking 

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that you will need. 
For that because it might need 

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to change and just be prepared 
that you might not want to 

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change because might not feel 
safe, right? 

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And that's normal. 
It's a human thing. 

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That's why I'm telling you about
it because if you understand and

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know it, then it won't trip you 
up in the same way. 

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It's a lot easier to move 
forward. 

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So, that's what I have for you 
today. 

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I hope you enjoy the rest of 
this week, and I will talk to 

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you next time. 
Hey, before you go. 

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If you like this podcast, please
leave a review. 

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Tell me why you listen, and what
has helped you. 

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Thanks so much. 
I'll see you next time.