Welcome to the new Manager podcast.
I'm your host, Kim Nichol. Hello and welcome.
I'm glad you're here and I hope you're doing well.
I have to say, coming back after the last four weeks feels kind
of strange. It was really nice being away
from my Home Office, being away from my screens, and really
taking some intentional time to connect not only with my own
inner self. Having that time to reflect and
make a little more space to listen to that internal voice
and recalibrate that internal compass, but also spending time
with people that I care about, with my family, with my partner,
with friends, and also spending time with nature.
And it has been so grounding and so fulfilling to have that time.
And there was a time in my own career journey where this would
have seemed kind of crazy. You don't just go for a month
and have vacation and conference in a beautiful place And like
that just that wasn't a normal thing.
And so I think there's, you know, a part now too, where it
also just is a little bit mind blowing to think that this is
kind of what life can look like, that work can include time away,
whether you think of it as a sabbatical or whether it's an
extension of your own learning journey, both personal,
professional. Anyway, I'm feeling what it
feels like to be back home and really wanting to share some of
what I have been learning and practicing with you.
Because I think that when we're looking at career, when we're
looking at work and really wanting it to be sustainable and
wanting to do a good job in the roles that you know that you
step into as a leader, as a manager, I think that including
the whole human part of it becomes an important ingredient
to be able to do that. So today I wanted to share three
main topics or sort of three tips.
Tips feels like the wrong word. What is it?
It's like 3 categories of idea that I wanted to bring back to
you and offer because I think it will help you both to remember
to take that step back to gain that perspective and also help
you navigate uncertainty. Whether that uncertainty is
expected, like you're stepping into a new role and you know
some things will be uncertain. Or whether it is unexpected,
like you did not expect your organization to go through a
major reorg or you did not expect for a senior leader to
suddenly leave and now things are really uncertain in ways
that you hadn't planned. I know for sure that you will
face different kinds of uncertainty, not just in your
career and in your daily work, but in your life.
And so these are things that I believe will help you to
navigate those times in a way that is good for your own
well-being. You know, that will let you
sleep well at night, that will let you tap into your own
resourcefulness as well as maintain that sense of
connection to something that's bigger, that extends beyond you.
So let's begin. The first idea I want to share
with you is the idea of being curious or following the vibe
and intuition can come into play here a little bit as well.
So being curious is that quality of not knowing and being OK with
that. There's a distinction between
curiosity and anxiety. And anxiety can feel very like a
attention, a very fast-paced spinning kind of feel.
And it might sound like, well, what if, what if?
What if it can turn into this rumination, this kind of urgent
spinning feeling? And curiosity feels a little
different. Curiosity has a little bit more
space, a little bit more breathing room.
There can be a little more gentleness and a little bit more
groundedness. It's that sense of I wonder what
might happen if I try it this way, or I wonder what it would
be like if I tapped this person and invited them along.
And I'm not really sure exactly how it will go, but I kind of
have a feeling. I'm just curious to find out
what will happen. Do you feel the difference in
the tone? Do you feel the difference in
your body between that more anxious?
What iffing that very tight spinny feel versus that more
spacious, open kind of, you know, softly held curiosity.
And what I love about that quality of curiosity is that it
provides both focus and direction, which can feel really
grounded, but it allows us to let go of that kind of urgent
attachment to knowing how things will be.
And this is a quality that I believe you were born with.
I believe every human is imbued with this quality of curiosity
that is just interested and wants to know, huh, I wonder
what might happen. I wonder how this will be.
And there's No Fear or urgency in it.
There's just this beautiful, open, curious quality.
I also have been thinking about this in terms of following the
vibe because that was very much in play over the last month and
specifically when I was in Switzerland at Co Forum, when I
had seen that the event was being held again.
And I, I first attended a few years ago, I went as a speaker
and you know, time has changed and I have changed and the
organization has changed a little bit.
But when I saw that they were holding the event again in
person, I felt this resonance. I felt this curiosity about, oh,
I wonder what it will be like now.
And it really was the sense of following the vibe.
Like, I don't know exactly what's going to happen, but I
understand the intention and that kind of grounding purpose
of the organization and I believe in what they're about.
And I'm interested in what I can see about the content and what
they're offering. And even though I don't know
exactly how it will go, I want to follow the vibe because that
feels like a match. I believe that when we bring
good people together with great intentions, diverse perspectives
in a beautiful space that's really designed to hold both the
intentional doing as well as that personal reflecting and
surrounded by nature, that's a winning combination for me.
I will follow that vibe and see what is there like, what is it
that I'm being drawn to? So that is part of what guided
me in that decision to say yes, I will apply.
And then when I was accepted, I say yes, I will go.
It was that curiosity and that willingness to follow the vibe
with that too. So second part is to set an
intention. So when you're facing
uncertainty, you can set an intention and that can be part
of your compass, the thing inside you that gives some
guidance and that imbues a little bit of certainty even in
the midst of the unknowns. So for me, my intention with
going to Co was I wanted to be present.
I wanted to be, you know, sort of open and curious.
And I also wanted to use that time to step away from my
day-to-day so that I would have some time to reflect and have
conversations with people I might not normally meet or be
able to have a conversation with in a serendipitous way.
Knowing that this was going to be a community gathering with
people from all over the world, from different kinds of
backgrounds. But the theme was around both
the connection of our own inner development and how that
supports us as leaders. And then specifically for me, I
had registered for the partnership track.
So the focus of that track in the program was around holding
this question of how do we partner with others?
How do we collaborate? How do we work together to
address complex global challenges?
And that really spoke to me because I think that we can
become a bit, you know, very individualistic in our thinking.
And especially in the US, which is this idea that it's
independent and it's me and it's, it's very an isolated kind
of perspective. But when we remember that each
individual person like we want to hold the both, yes, there is
the element of personal responsibility of individual
decision making, of personal self-care and self-awareness.
Yes to all of that. But all of that is happening
within and, and as part of a broader community, a bigger
ecosystem within an organization.
And so we want to include the both they go together.
And I also believe that the more that you understand about
yourself as a human, the better equipped you are to connect with
and work effectively with other humans because you start to
realize, oh, not everyone sees things as I do.
Not everyone has the same strengths as I do, and by
understanding that, by understanding yourself first, it
makes it so much easier to partner effectively with others.
And that is so much about what we're doing in the workplace or
what we're trying to do in the workplace is how can we
collaborate well together? How can we bring people that
have different functional expertise, different subject
matter expertise, different priorities, different visions of
how things can work? How do we kind of make that all
work together? And sometimes I think it's
astonishing that we've been able to accomplish so much in light
of all of the different opinions about how things should go,
right? And without, you know, having
lots of training in communication skills or deep
listening. Like it's kind of amazing that
we're able to accomplish so much collectively together.
So this idea of, you know, whenever you're engaging in a
conversation in a situation, you can set an intention for
yourself even in the midst of the uncertainty, whether it's,
you know, absolute chaos or whether it's just that, you
know, I wonder what might happen next.
You can always set an intention to help guide you.
And there might be some discomfort, you know, when
you're facing the unknown and you're facing change.
But that's OK, right? Like, discomfort can be a sign
of growth. And you want to be able to
distinguish between the discomfort that is getting
beyond the familiar and the discomfort that is kind of like,
you know, smelling smoke in a burning building.
You know, what's that distinction between, oh, this is
a sign of danger? I need to leave here
immediately. I need to get out of this versus
like, yeah, this is definitely going to be a bit of a stretch.
It's going to be uncomfortable, but that's OK.
That is part and parcel of being a human and, you know, working
with others in a, in a dynamic situation.
And then the third tip or the third idea to share with you
today is bring friends. So one of the things I did when
I went to Switzerland and this was something I had started
planning months and months ago, was I thought, who else would be
a really good match for this? I thought about who are the
other people that when I imagine this event, who do I imagine
being there? And maybe they don't know about
this gathering, maybe it's not something that is on their
radar, but who would I like to invite to be there with me?
And there were a couple of friends that came to mind
immediately. And one of them lives in Sweden,
another lives in Italy. And so I thought, oh, this, this
might actually work well because it will be closer for them to
travel. I'll be the one coming the
furthest. But I decided to message them
each and say, hey, I am attending this event in
Switzerland this summer. I think it would be a great
event for you For these reasons. And so I wanted to share it with
you and encourage you to apply. And I'm very fortunate that both
of these friends said, wow, I've never heard of this, this sounds
amazing. I, I would love to come.
And they applied and they were accepted and then they, we all
met there. And it was so nice to have that
time with people that I like and respect and admire, both as
friends and in some sense also as colleagues.
And I was also really proud. One of the friends that I
invited ended up becoming a speaker at that event.
She submitted a workshop proposal.
It was accepted. And so it really reminded me
too, you know, that as you're moving through the world
thinking of who else can you think of to bring with you and
realizing that you know what other people are also thinking
that of you. And if you want to make it
easier for other people to think of you in that sense, then all
you simply do is make it easy for other people to know who you
are, what you care about, where you're headed, what you want to
be working on, where like what your sense of intention and
direction is. And by letting other people know
that, you're kind of planting seeds so that as they're moving
in the world, they find something, they feel like the
vibe match between what that thing is and you.
And then they just make the connection, whether that is a
job opportunity or an event or a conference or something else
that might be a great fit for you.
And this too, is part of that sense of not needing to control
everything, right? Like, you don't want to try to
micromanage your career or, you know, your world or life.
That's way too big a job. Like, trust me, you don't want
that job. But instead thinking in
partnership, how can you work in partnership with your career,
with your colleagues, with your with your friends, with the, the
bigger world? How can you do that right?
One is make it easy for others to know what your direction and
intention is. And for you Also, when you're
moving in a direction that feels kind of good but also maybe kind
of scary, remember that you can bring friends.
Remember to invite people that you want to have in that room
with you. So that is what I wanted to
offer. I'm still feeling a little bit
like haven't totally landed. There's still so much that I'm
reflecting on from my travels. But remember, you know, be
curious, follow the vibe, set an intention and bring friends
along on the journey. So that is what I will leave you
with today. Thank you so much for listening
and I will talk to you next time.
When you're more effective at work, you're happier in your
life, and when you're happier in your life, you're more effective
at work. I can help.
Go to my website, kimnickel.com and sign up for a coaching
consult. It can get better.