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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, and I hope
you're doing well. 

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You might have noticed that last
week there was no new podcast 

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episode. 
And that is for two reasons. 

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One is that the episode that I 
released when in my conversation

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with Maggie was so good. 
There was so much in it and it 

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was a bit longer than I usually 
do. 

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And so I thought, you know what,
let's just let that one have a 

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little bit more space so that 
you have time to listen. 

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And the second reason why I 
didn't do it is what I call 

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strategic failure. 
And this is when you assess all 

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of the things that you have on 
your plate, all of the demands 

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and the requirements, and you 
make an intentional decision to 

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not do something for very 
specific reasons. 

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And last week, there were a 
number of things that ended up 

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needing my attention. 
And I decided, you know, I am 

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intentionally going to not 
release an episode. 

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And it's interesting because I 
know some of you listen every 

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single week. 
So you might have been 

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wondering. 
Some of you probably don't, and 

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you might not have noticed at 
all. 

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This might be news to you. 
And I'm sharing this in part 

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because this mindset of how do 
you make decisions when things 

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are changing? 
How do you intentionally choose 

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to not do things and not make it
a big deal, not beat up on 

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yourself about it and not let 
that feed a story that 

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undermines your confidence and 
that gets in the way of the work

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that you're here to do and the 
way that you want to do it. 

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A lot of the work I do in my 
group program and with my 

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one-on-one clients is around 
confidence, around trusting 

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yourself when you're doing 
something you've never done 

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before, around the feeling of a 
lot of responsibility on your 

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shoulders and then that internal
pressure that can create. 

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And So what happens when you're 
trying to do all of the things 

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and it starts to feel too much. 
And it's so easy to get into a 

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place where we feel overwhelmed,
feel like you're feeling, feel 

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like you don't know if you're 
doing things right, and it 

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starts to erode all of the 
qualities that you already have 

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that actually help you do your 
best in your work. 

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And we're often so much more 
scrutinizing of ourselves than 

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others are, especially 
especially if you have had the 

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experience in your life of 
having others criticize you or 

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tell you that you're not doing 
good enough, or that you have to

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try harder. 
If you observe that others in 

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your field get the benefit of 
the doubt more than you do, if 

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you've ever felt like you have 
to work twice as hard to get the

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recognition that you see others 
receiving for less effort or 

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less work, these are things that
happen. 

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And one of the ways that we've 
tend to compensate is we try to 

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get ahead of it by putting extra
pressure on ourself and by kind 

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of spinning the story that 
nothing we ever do is good 

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enough. 
We always have to try harder, 

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and that can lead us into 
overworking and creating more 

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stress and anxiety in the moment
that we actually need. 

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And so I share this because the 
Next group program is about to 

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open. 
In fact, as this podcast episode

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releases, today is the very 
first day that you can enroll 

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for the next round. 
The group starts in February, 

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starts on February 6th. 
If you're on the wait list, then

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you already know cuz you've been
getting the emails with the 

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information. 
If you are not on that list, go 

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to my website kimnickel.com the 
new managers page and you'll see

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where to get on that wait list 
and get all of the information 

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about the program. 
But I share this in part because

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for me as a coach and my goal 
and really my job, is to help 

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equip you to be more calm and 
confident and capable every day 

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in the work that you're doing. 
And one of my philosophies 

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around this is that a good 
foundation makes everything 

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easier and it's never too late 
to revisit your foundation and 

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make some improvements. 
So what I've noticed in IT that 

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is so interesting is when I 
first started teaching new 

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managers, I sometimes would get 
students who were first time 

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managers, meaning they just got 
promoted or they just got a new 

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job and for the first time they 
now had responsibility to 

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directly manage other people. 
But the other thing I noticed 

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was people would come to my 
sessions and they'd say I yeah, 

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I've managed people for over a 
decade, but I've never had 

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training on it. 
I always had to figure it out on

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my own. 
And so I want to kind of revisit

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some of these foundational tools
and frameworks and concepts and 

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clarify them and improve them 
and understand more about them 

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so that I I can do things 
better. 

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I want like the fresh 
perspective. 

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And so I share that because 
you're welcome to this program 

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whether you are a very brand new
manager or whether you really 

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want a new perspective. 
Because it's true always that a 

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good foundation makes everything
easier, everything that you're 

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building upon. 
The more solid you feel in your 

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foundational tools, your ability
to trust your decisions, your 

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your sense of confidence in all 
of the conversations that you 

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have, whether you are giving 
feedback to a, you know, direct 

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report and maybe it's a 
performance feedback kind of 

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issue or whether you're giving 
feedback up or having to 

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navigate managing up to your 
manager and to other people who 

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have positions of power above 
you. 

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We want you to feel equipped and
to have a plan and a strategy. 

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And I'll share, you know, the 
the reason why I see so many 

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folks feeling anxious and 
stressed and kind of what brings

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all of that up is very often 
this feeling of I care so much 

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about people, I want to do right
by them, and I just can't tell 

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if I'm doing a good job. 
There's this thing that happens 

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where it's almost like you stop.
Like it's like you haven't 

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recalibrated your internal 
success meter, meaning you're 

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you're not sure what kinds of 
things count or qualify or 

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signify that you're on the right
track and you're doing a good 

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job. 
Because sometimes being a 

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manager and being a leader means
that you will have to have 

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conversations that are are 
uncomfortable. 

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You'll have to share information
that maybe people don't want to 

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hear and people might feel bad, 
but that doesn't mean that 

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you're doing a bad job or 
something might happen where you

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know you have to choose a 
strategic failure. 

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You have to choose. 
OK, we're going to choose to let

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this part go for now because our
time and efforts are better 

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spent on this other priority 
over here. 

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And then you'll need to 
communicate the change. 

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And you'll have to help people 
not feel like everything is 

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falling apart. 
Like helping keep people stay 

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focused and connected to their 
own abilities and capacity to do

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great work together, even under 
challenging circumstances. 

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Like all of that. 
Those are skills and mindsets 

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that you acquire and develop 
when you are in a managerial 

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role, when you are in a 
leadership role. 

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And a lot of this will happen 
organically and it happens 

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better and faster, I've found, 
when we're very intentional 

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about it. 
So I want to invite you to do 

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some of this intentional 
foundational work for yourself, 

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for your own internal Peace of 
Mind and your own internal 

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feeling of calm and being 
connected to your natural, 

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authentic confidence. 
And also realizing how very 

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capable you are, even when 
you're facing circumstances or 

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personalities at work that might
feel very challenging. 

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Humans. 
Very. 

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And sometimes the shocker is, 
gosh, I have to manage all of 

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these people and they are so not
like me. 

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Like, if only they were like me,
it'd be so easy. 

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But they're not. 
They have different priorities. 

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They have different things that 
motivate them. 

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They have different things that 
they care about in their life 

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and in their career. 
And so we we sometimes forget 

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that what motivates you, what 
you care about, might be 

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different than the people that 
you work with. 

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And that's OK, you know, 
especially once you understand 

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that, it's not a problem. 
It just becomes part of the the 

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circumstances and the situation 
that you have in hand and you're

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absolutely capable of addressing
it. 

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Especially when you have some 
perspective, when you have that 

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good foundation, when you have 
some frameworks and some simple 

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tools that you can use 
day-to-day. 

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And the benefit of this too is 
that when you start to feel more

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calm, more confident, and more 
capable, you feel better. 

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But also everyone around you 
also feels better. 

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If you've ever had a manager who
is freaking out all the time, or

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they seem to like they were just
kind of boiling beneath the 

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surface and you felt really 
hesitant about approaching them 

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with things you you weren't sure
if they could take it. 

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Or if you ever had a manager who
was just highly reactive and 

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their stress stressed everybody 
else out, like, you know, it's 

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really challenging. 
We want to have leaders and 

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managers and colleagues who can 
bring a feeling of calm and 

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confidence and really trust in 
their capabilities. 

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It just feels so good and it 
makes things better for 

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everyone. 
But beyond the workplace, 

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everyone that you live with, 
everyone who is close to you, 

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they also benefit when you are 
feeling more calm and confident 

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and capable in your work life. 
Because when you are, then 

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you'll probably be more present 
for all of the important non 

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work things that you do. 
You'll be able to really enjoy 

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spending time with your family 
and friends. 

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You will be able to sleep 
better. 

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You won't be distracted. 
Like, there are so many things 

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that happen in our personal 
lives when we're feeling like, 

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OK, I've, you know, work might 
be a little intense, it might be

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a little unpredictable, but I 
feel like I've got a very solid 

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foundation. 
I know what to focus on. 

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And I, you know, I just have a 
sense of what I'm here to do and

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how I want to do it that makes 
such a positive effect. 

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So I wanted to share that idea 
with you, the idea that a good 

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foundation makes everything 
easier. 

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It's never too late to revisit 
your foundation and make some 

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improvements. 
And my intention for you is to 

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help you to be calm and to feel 
more calm and confident and 

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capable in your work life every 
day. 

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It's good for you, it's good for
your organization and it's good 

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for your family and your 
community. 

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And that's what I get kind of 
excited about. 

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So I want to invite you to come 
and join this program. 

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You will get more information 
about it in the coming days. 

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When you're on my list, go to 
chemical.com, the new managers 

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page, join the list or just 
apply directly. 

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As I'm recording this, the 
application is not released yet.

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It will be released to the list 
first on Monday, January 22nd. 

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All right. 
I think that this year is going 

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to be such a different year than
the last couple of years we've 

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had, and we can make it really 
good and we can make it good 

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together. 
You don't have to do this all on

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your own. 
I want to help. 

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Come and join if that is 
something that is also important

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to you this year. 
Thank you so much for listening.

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I'll talk to you next time. 
When you're more effective at 

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work, you're happier in your 
life. 

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And when you're happier in your 
life, you're more effective at 

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work. 
I can help. 

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Go to my website, kimnickel.com 
and sign up for a coaching 

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consult. 
It can get better.