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Welcome to the New Manager 
Podcast. 

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

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

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If you're new to the show, my 
name is Kim Nicoll. 

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I am a coach and I'm here to 
help you be more effective at 

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work, to be a better manager, to
be more confident in taking a 

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very human centered approach to 
leadership and basically working

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with other humans at work. 
Today I want to invite you to 

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consider what's working. 
It's so easy to focus on the 

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problems or on the things that 
are not working as well as you 

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want them to be, especially when
you are really good at problem 

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solving. 
It's kind of like you will 

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inadvertently scan for all the 
potential problems. 

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And the problem with that is, if
you're only looking at the 

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problems, the challenges, the 
difficulties, then you will 

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neglect to notice and appreciate
the things that are working 

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well. 
And this is important because 

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there's a lot you can learn from
things that are functional, from

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people that are bringing 
strengths and great qualities 

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into the workplace, including 
yourself. 

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If you're a person who has a 
pretty loud internal critic, 

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then the odds are you will 
overlook and then diminish your 

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strengths, your excellent 
qualities, the things that come 

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easefully for you, but might not
realize that not everyone can do

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those things easefully or not 
everyone has that perspective. 

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And so when we think about 
what's working, we're not trying

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to ignore the problems. 
We're not trying to ignore the 

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challenges. 
We're actually wanting to 

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develop a more accurate and 
complete perspective of the 

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situation, the environment, and 
the people. 

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The brain has a negativity bias 
that just means that the 

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problems the pain points will 
tend to be more vivid in your 

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mind and in the minds of other 
humans. 

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We tend to remember bad 
experiences more vividly than we

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tend to remember good 
experiences because, you know, 

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kind of subconsciously we're 
trying to protect against future

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bad experiences, or trying to 
avoid future disappointments, 

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future failures. 
So we tend to have a little bit 

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more stickiness around those 
negative experiences. 

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This isn't a problem to solve, 
it's just something that is 

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helpful to know about how a lot 
of brains tend to work. 

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So if you know that the brain 
tends to hold on to and have 

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more vivid these challenges and 
problems, then of course you can

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remember. 
Oh right. 

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I need to also make sure that I 
have an accurate picture of the 

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whole situation, which means 
spending more time becoming more

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vivid and clear about what's 
working. 

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What strengths am I using? 
What strengths do I see my team 

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using? 
What qualities are working well 

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in our relationships with other 
teams, with our customers, with 

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your manager? 
When you start to think in that 

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way, it will help you to both 
balance out the the heaviness 

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that sometimes problem solving 
can have. 

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And when you start noticing 
where things are going well, we 

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can start to ask other kinds of 
questions, like why is this 

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working so well? 
What's happening over here that 

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this is working beautifully or 
that this is like working so 

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well, you might not even notice 
it. 

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What are the factors or the 
environmental components or what

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is the process or the tools or 
the personalities? 

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What is it that's happening 
that's making this work? 

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Well, you want to understand 
what those things are. 

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You also want to ask yourself, 
is there anything that I can 

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learn from what's working and 
use that over here with this 

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other situation where maybe 
things are not working so well, 

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We can learn and gain so much 
knowledge and perspective and 

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value by looking at what is 
working by bringing that lens of

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appreciation to looking at the 
things that are functional and 

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going smoothly. 
We don't want to take those for 

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granted. 
We actually want to identify, 

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acknowledge and amplify them. 
The other thing, if you tend to 

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be a very good problem solver 
and then you tend to focus more 

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on the problems, is that you can
over index or kind of over 

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prioritize solving the problems 
when the truth is not every 

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problem needs to be solved. 
And it's funny that I'm saying 

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this as just now a siren went by
the by my apartment, you'll 

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probably hear that in the 
background. 

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That wasn't something to solve. 
That was just something that was

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happening in the moment. 
And if I had spent any energy 

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trying to solve for that 
external noise, it would not 

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have done any good. 
Some problems are actually not 

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solvable. 
They're not to be solved. 

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They're just to acknowledge, OK,
yeah, that's what's happening 

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now. 
And how can I focus attention on

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something more useful, something
that will be more effective? 

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So as you go into the week, my 
invitation, my encouragement for

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you is to take a step back. 
Ask yourself first for yourself,

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what's working? 
What's working in your life? 

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What's working in your day? 
What's working in your personal 

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relationship with your team, 
with your manager, with your 

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inner world, with your outer 
world? 

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What are the things that are 
working well? 

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And then begin to imagine that 
you're extending like a bubble 

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outwards and start looking for 
very intentionally what's 

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working a little bit further 
around you. 

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Then ask again like what's 
working a little further around 

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you. 
So you might start with your 

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immediate team or the colleagues
that you work with most 

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regularly, and then start 
thinking you know, the next 

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level out, the next level out, 
the next level out. 

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From that, start tuning your 
attention to notice and identify

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and appreciate what's working 
well in your world. 

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And even when things seem like 
they're falling apart or things 

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are, you know, just not working 
well in your inner world or in 

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the bigger world, there's always
something you can find that will

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give a little bit of 
encouragement, a little bit of 

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sense of, well, you know, at 
least this thing is working and 

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that can be very powerful just 
to help us to not feel 

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completely overwhelmed when we 
faced big, complex challenges. 

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Because you will in the course 
of your work and your life. 

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But being able to manage your 
attention, to remember, you 

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know, can you get a more 
accurate picture? 

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Can you expand your view or 
sometimes draw your attention 

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into a different direction to 
identify and notice and 

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appreciate what is working? 
Why is this working? 

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How can you begin to draw your 
attention there as well? 

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If you're a person who likes to 
get very operational, I 

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recommend that you document the 
things that are working in some 

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kind of, you know, some kind of 
document that you can refer to. 

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Do this for yourself. 
This will be helpful later when 

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you're having performance review
conversations with your manager.

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You want to be very comfortable 
identifying and talking about 

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the things that have been 
working well all year and with 

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your team and the folks that you
manage. 

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It's also really helpful to 
document so that you remember 

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what are the things that they're
doing well, what are the 

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strengths or the, you know, just
the things that you're 

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observing. 
And some of those you want to 

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tell people because, you know, 
other people have inner critics 

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too. 
And they might diminish or 

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simply not appreciate the 
strengths and the positive 

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qualities that they bring. 
So it means a lot. 

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It makes a difference to be able
to say, to tell to somebody, 

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hey, I just wanted to let you 
know, I really appreciate the 

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way you, you know, whatever that
thing is. 

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It's a way to signal. 
I see you, I appreciate you. 

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You are valued. 
I respect you. 

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And that is the kind of activity
that builds trust and that 

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builds goodwill over time. 
And there always comes a time 

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when we're a little bit 
crunched. 

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You want to have that trust and 
that goodwill established 

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beforehand. 
So those are my notes for you 

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for this week. 
I hope you have a really great 

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week and come back next week and
we'll talk a little bit more. 

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Thank you so much for listening.
Have a good one. 

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When you're more effective at 
work, you're happier in your 

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life. 
And when you're happier in your 

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life, you're more effective at 
work. 

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I can help. 
Go to my website, kimnickel.com 

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and sign up for a coaching 
consult. 

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It can get better.