Welcome to the New Manager Podcast.
I'm your host, Kim Nickel. Hello and welcome.
I'm glad you're here and I hope you're doing well.
My name is Kim Nickel. I am your host.
This is the New Manager Podcast, and I am a life coach, a
leadership coach, a mindfulness teacher.
I want to help you feel more calm and confident and capable
every day, and not just at work. Work is a big place that we do
life, and so I think it's really important to take the time to
really understand what does it mean to be a great manager.
How do we tap into the leadership capabilities that you
already have? And we don't do this in a
vacuum, meaning both the environment that you're working
in is part of what you're dealing with, but also who you
are as a person. The experience that you've had
while you're on the planet, all of the things that you've
learned about how to be effective, how to make things
happen, how to communicate and respond with lots of different
personalities, it all comes into play.
I'm thinking of this in part because over the last week I was
at a really cool conference. It's called Transform, and it's
focused on the workplace. There's a lot of HR people, a
lot of people, team people, a lot of folks thinking about what
does it mean to work well together in our organizations
and how can we do it better? How can we learn from each
other? How can we, you know, share
perspectives about, you know, how how people are doing that in
their organizations? And two things really stood out
to me that I wanted to share with you.
One is that there are a lot of people who care deeply about
helping everyone work Better Together.
I mean, that's kind of the only reason why that conference
exists, exists. And there were thousands of
people there from all different kinds of organizations.
And you know, there are a lot of people who care.
How do we work well together? What does that look like in
today's constraints and workforce reality like the
conversations around that were really rich and I saw so much
positive intention of people trying to solve for some of the
complex challenges that are showing up every day in the
workplace. So that was thing number one,
people really care. The other thing though is that
so many people, teams, thinking about HR, people, operations,
like whatever that's called in your organization, they're also
under a lot of stress. They have competing demands and
not always the abundance of resources that they would like
to have in order to organize and implement things.
There's the vision of what they want to create and then there's
the process by which they will do that.
Now, in light of all of that, you know, here we are, right?
Like, I, when I, when I create, created this podcast, I really
created it not for the HR people, but really for the folks
who are dealing with the managing challenges every single
day. And one of the reasons why that
felt important to me is because I don't want you to wait for
things to get better at an organizational level in order
for you to be able to make progress on what you're facing
right now. And let me give you an example
of what I of what I mean by that.
So some time ago I was working with a very large corporate
client and they had this desire to create a new program for
their managers, you know, an internal manager development
program. That was the main reason they
were talking with me and they had a lot of people on their
people team and had a lot of people who cared about how to
create something that would help the managers across the
organization. And this was a large company,
it's a publicly traded company. There are a couple of 1000
managers in this organization all around the world.
So it was a big task and one of the conversations that have has
always stayed with me was I was thinking about, you know, hey,
can we do this experiment, can we create this class or workshop
or run this program? Like can we get started in this
way? And what I heard back from
someone else on the people team was they said we can't move
forward until later in the fall. And I said, oh, why is that?
And they said, well, we've paid all this money for our executive
leadership team to work with these consultants.
And they're going to create the new 3 words.
And I was like, wait, what is that?
And they said, well, you know, the management team, the upper
level executives, they need to identify the three words that
will be like the guiding light for everything that we do.
And until we have those 3 words, we can't create something
because we might have to change it.
Like, it all has to fit. It all has to fit together.
And I remember thinking like, you know, so am I hearing this
correctly that until the executive team goes away on
retreat and works with these consultants and come back, comes
back with these three magical words until that happens
sometime later in the year. You're saying that we can't
teach people how to have difficult conversations.
We can't help the current managers right now who are
getting ready for performance reviews.
We can't help them learn how to have performance conversations.
Are you saying that the people that you're hiring or promoting
right now into manager roles, they get nothing, nothing at all
until like all these other things happen?
That makes no sense to me. And and I share this in part
because, you know, I want you to understand that organizations of
any size have different levels of complexity, different levels
at which people are trying to solve problems.
And one of the reasons I'm glad you're here and why I'm here is
because in the midst of all of that complexity and all of, you
know the ways that organizations and people in organizations try
to get things done on a very big systemic level, in the meantime,
we have an incredible opportunity to do something.
There's a big difference between something and nothing.
And I don't want you to feel powerless in the face of
decisions that are being made about your organization and
about your resources that you're not a part of.
So often there are other people who influence the budget and the
direction and what resources are available to you and to all of
your colleagues. I don't want you to have to wait
for that. We don't have time.
You know, like you're in your life now, you're in your work
now you're managing people and now you're needing to tap into
that leadership capability. And now the thing too is that
when we start thinking in these terms, if we start thinking in
terms of like layers, right. So there's the organizational
layer at which people team and the HR team like they're doing,
let's just say they're doing their utmost best with what they
have available. And you know, they're really
trying to get something put in place that will help you.
But in the meantime, we're here. Like in the meantime, give
yourself credit for finding this podcast.
In the meantime, there is coaching available to you.
In the meantime there, you know, I offer a group program sign up
to the wait list so that you can join that in the meantime.
So you're not having to both kind of watch.
Sometimes it feels like watching a slow motion car crash when you
can see that something about the way we're working isn't working,
but there's no time to think differently about it.
Or you have no support to, you know, kind of explore your
vision and figure out who you'll need to talk to and create a
plan or a strategy around it. When we're caught up in the
weeds of the moment and we're caught in this reactive place
where there's difficult to get a a bigger perspective, it's kind
of like watching that slow motion car crash and you think
it doesn't have to happen. But I don't know how to stop it,
and especially if you feel like you're waiting on someone else
in your organization to come in with the answer with a training,
with whatever you might be waiting a long time.
And I don't want that for you and I don't want that for your
team. So number one, I want to give
you credit for being here because it really signals that
you care and that you are actively engaged in finding a
solution that will work for you now.
Let's do something about it now. And then the other piece about
this too that ties in is this question of what support do you
need. Think about this one.
I find it so easy to reject that question when you are someone
who is good at being very self reliant.
Whether it's because you've had to be throughout the course of
your life or whether it's because you've kind of learned
that maybe in the, you know, workplace where you are there
might not be a lot of resources. So if you know, if you're either
feeling concerned about like oh I don't want to take resources
from somebody else, or if you've always been hyper self reliant,
then when you hear this question, what support do you
need? Your instinct might be to reject
it and simply say I'm good, I have everything I need.
I'll make it work. Don't worry about me.
I'll figure it out like it can be so easy to turn away from
resources of support that are available, if only you ask for
them. This is something I also see
when people get promoted. So if you get promoted into a
leadership role, into a manager role, your organization might
ask you what resources do you need?
And if it's the first time you've been in that role, you
might not even think to ask for that.
And so when you hear the question, you might just say,
oh, I don't know, I'm good, you know, I'll just ask for help
when I need it. But instead I want to offer this
idea, like plant this seed of a thought, which is when someone
asks what support do you need, have something that you want to
ask for. I am a huge advocate of telling
people I would like to work with a coach.
I'd like to work with somebody one-on-one For these reasons.
These are the things I want to get better AT, and I often find
too, you know, there's so many different ways you can learn a
thing. And the thing I like about
one-on-one coaching as a way to learn is that you get all of the
attention. You're actively engaged in the
learning. So it's not like, you know,
watching a series of videos or reading a book or, you know,
even to an extent listening to this podcast, right?
You can listen to it while you're doing other things, but
with A1 on one coach, you have a thought partner who's talking
with you, asking you questions, helping you think through so
that you're you're actually developing your own mindset,
your own strengths, you're learning.
What is the specific piece for you that you want to get better
AT? And how will you apply that in
the coming days, in the coming week?
And so you actually get so much more support in that in that
format. Like if that's the kind of
learner that you are, ask for that.
It's also really great because there's so much that you do in
the coaching call. So it's not like there's
homework after. So if you've got a lot to do and
the last thing you need to do is then, you know, watch a video
course or do something, you know, read a book, get coaching.
And so many leaders do this, like, this is a very normal
thing to ask for. So when you get promoted, when
you step into a higher level of leadership and responsibility,
if anyone in your organization asks you what support do you
need, tell them I would love to work with A1 on one coach.
What is our professional development budget?
You might tell them there's a coach I've been listening to.
I want to work with her. I'm going to schedule a consult,
get clear about what the goals will be, how we'll work
together. That's what the support that I
would love to have And your work might be delighted that you're
asking for this because number one, it signals to them that
you're thinking through what is the support you will need,
especially if you haven't done this before.
And #2, it means that they don't have to do the work to try to
guess what is the support that you'll need.
They don't have to try to imagine, oh you know, what do we
think this person needs. Just tell them, say this is what
I'd like to have, What can we do about it?
What budget do we have? Like what can we can we talk
about how this will work? It provides a bit more clarity,
direction and groundedness. And so, you know, imagining that
your internal people, team, they're working really hard to
get programs in place in the meantime, you can make things
easier for yourself and for them by simply saying this is the
support that I want, This is why.
What can we do? That is what it is to be a
leader. You're identifying a need,
You're advocating for it, and you're doing it from this
position of collaborative power, not from this position of, you
know, feeling like a little kid who's asking an adult for
something and hoping that they grant your wish.
It really is more like, OK, given what I'm seeing is what's
required of me. This is what I'll need in order
to be able to do this most effectively, and I want to add
to that most sustainably. We want you to be sustainable in
your work, meaning you're not going to burn out.
You're not going to have to sacrifice your personal life,
your family life. This is part of how I want you
to think about growing in your career and growing as a leader
is to include the intersectional humanness of you being aware of
what are the things that are important to you.
How can you ensure that all of the pieces of you and your life
are benefiting and thriving and being cared for as you step into
bigger responsibility and some different mindset changes as
your work changes? We want to include the both of
those because number one, I mean that's just a personal choice,
right? So much about how we do
leadership and how we do work is really a personal choice.
So if you can choose it, why would you not choose it?
Like it's available, but you might need to choose it and then
be intentional about how you develop that.
And then secondly, I'll just share you know my personal
perspective is it is very rewarding to me when I see my
clients growing in responsibility and you know
having that expanded positive effect in their work and
realizing it's not going to cost them personally as much.
This is something I see a lot, especially if you feel like
you're working really hard at the current level you're at.
The fear is it's already costing me so much time, energy and
Peace of Mind. If I get more responsibility,
it's going to cost me more and I can't bear that.
I don't want to give up more of my personal life or my Peace of
Mind or my time or my energy. And so part of the work that we
do and what I help my clients with is I help you learn how to
develop the mindset and the skills that you'll need to be
able to take on bigger responsibilities while not
giving up more of your time, more of your energy, more of
your Peace of Mind, and want you to feel calm and confident and
capable at work so that you have also the space for a rewarding
personal life. I think that's good for our
organizations, to have humans in them that are not burning out or
that are not kind of being depleted or sacrificing their
well-being or their family's well-being.
Like, I think that's just a good thing.
That's what I would like to help Foster and to nurture in our
shared world. So I'm thank you for being here
and being part of this community because, you know, if you're
listening, then you're a part of this too.
So that is the picture of what I wanted to share with you.
You know, think about what support do you need.
Be willing and feel comfortable asking for it.
Realize that the people, OPS and HR people in your organization,
they probably care more than you can see or realize.
But also don't wait on them to get things to you, because
there's a lot of other stuff that they're trying to deal
with. Good news is that we live in a
time where it's not all or nothing, where there's a lot of
possibility between where you are now and where you want to be
with your organization. And final note, this is about
practice, not perfection. So everything that you're going
to be learning in terms of the mindset shifts, the skills that
you develop for communicating, time management, executive
presence, like all of those things that start to become more
vividly important when you step into manager role and leadership
role, it's about practice, not perfection.
And the more intentional you can be with that practice, the
faster you'll learn and the more kind of confident and at peace
you'll feel because you'll feel like OK, I've got a a strategy,
a plan, a bit of a handle on this starts to reduce the self
judgement and the pressure that comes along from trying to get
things absolutely right the first time.
If that is something that you want help with, come talk to me.
I'm taking new clients. I would love to talk with you
about your situation, your goals, and share how I can help
you through my one-on-one coaching.
Find the link in the show notes to sign up for a consultation or
go to my website kimnickel.com. You'll see a link to schedule a
consult with me if you're curious about my group program.
That one, You need to sign up for the wait list for us to be
notified when it opens again. That's also in the show notes.
Or you can go to kimnickel.com and go to the new managers page.
Sign up for the wait list there and you'll learn more about it.
And lastly, thank you for being you.
Thank you for being here. It is not always easy being a
human working with other humans, but we do it every day and we
try to do it with grace, with gratitude and remembering kind
of what. What the point of it all is
We're here to share the planet, to recognize and use your gifts
and make a positive contribution in this world.
So thank you for that, 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, Kim Nickel Com
and sign U for a coaching consult.
It can get better.