Welcome to the new manager podcast.
I'm your host, Kim nickel. Hi and welcome to the podcast.
It's Kim and as I'm recording this, we have just transitioned
Seasons. It is now fall here in San
Francisco, and for my friends and my listeners in the southern
hemisphere, it is now spring for you.
And one of the reasons I mentioned that actually, there
are two and one is my online teaching schedule.
Jewel has now been updated and every month between now and the
end of the year. I have one, maybe, two classes
that I'm teaching through general assembly and they're
open to the public. One of the things that's been
really fun about the change to online teaching is that.
Now my students can join from anywhere in the world and it's
really been a treat to have you. Join me for a live class to talk
about what's going on in your life and your world as you are
managing people. So if you want to know more
about that go to my website Kim nickel.com and go to the new
managers Tab and you'll get some links to see some of the classes
that are coming up or you can just go directly to General
assembly's website and search for my name and it should bring
my class schedule up and then we can talk about managing humans
and person. Okay.
So the other reason that I wanted to mention this change in
season is because the theme for today is managing your energy
and that means a lot of different things.
I'll talk about some of them today and on one level even a
change in season, will create a different Feeling of energy for
you and by extension for the people around you for the people
that you live with, for the people that you work with and we
are a very Global Community. I know a lot of you work in
organizations and you have colleagues who are in different
time zones, being aware of what is happening for people on an
energetic. Level becomes another lens, that
will help. To be a great manager and also
help you to understand kind of what's going on.
It's one of those invisible things that can really affect
the way we communicate. The way that we show up to work
with others and because it's invisible, it's easy.
It's easy to overlook the impact and the effect that it has.
So we're going to talk about it today, managing your energy and
also what I've been finding as I do more coaching Being and more
one-on-ones with people is that a lot of the conversation ends
up coming back to this idea of being aware of your energy and
managing it. And for example, a lot of our
relationships well either be energy-producing, like energy,
giving or energy to pleating And you know what?
This is when you have a conversation with someone and
you feel so energized and you feel great or you have a
conversation with someone and you just feel exhausted, you
feel tired, you feel drained, even an on an another way to see
this. How it works in your own life?
You get an email, you just see who the email is from or what
the subject line is and you will feel it.
In your body, either a sense of dread like, oh my gosh, I really
don't. Need another email from this
person, or you might feel a sense of enthusiasm like, oh, I
wonder what they have to share with me.
We're a might be more of a neutral curiosity, like, wonder
what's in here? So, number one, begin to notice.
What are the ways that your energy is affected over the
course of the day? Notice how different
relationships. How different people.
Give you a bit of an intern energy boost, or end up
depleting you. This can also be with respect to
different activities and tasks. So there might be some
activities and tasks that you simply enjoy.
It's the fun part. It's the thing that you really
good at you, feel energized, you are eager to move towards them
because it satisfies. Vying for you on some level.
And then there are some activities and tasks that you
really don't like that, you resist that when you see them on
your calendar, you tend to procrastinate or you feel a
sense of dread if you go back and listen.
Wait, really. In this podcast?
I think it's episode 1, actually, I'm sorry, episode 2,
perhaps and I talked about the two skills that you need to
manage humans. Well, and number one, Is
self-awareness. So this awareness of your
energy, your experience, what it feels like for you as a human
moving through your day. This also connects with that
this idea of self awareness because other people can't give
you this information. It's really something that you
need to pay attention to yourself because you are the
person having this experience, all of the data like you Are the
person who has access to that, it's really hard to get it from
some external source. So your self-awareness, your
ability to notice what is my energy doing becomes really
important because once you understand how your energy is
affected, you can then make choices.
That work with yourself and with your energy rather than against.
So for example, if you know that the top of your day is when your
energy is best, you just generally are a morning person,
you get a lot of work done. Your attention is most focused
at the top of the day, then you know, that that might be the
time to address head on the thing.
That is challenging that you might be avoiding or You might
say okay that is the time of my day, that I will block on my
calendar so no one can schedule. Any meetings.
I'm going to do focused deep work at this time of day because
I know that my energy will be in a really good place.
Awareness means that you can make more strategic choices that
will support your ability to show up and manage others.
Well, and get your work done. The other place this comes up a
lot is in relationships. Not and actually, not just with
relationships at work, but with all of our relationships, so pay
attention, and notice when you are feeling, like there is
friction with somebody at work, that's a really really
important. Thing to be observant of because
when there is friction that can slow everything down,
communication tends to not go. Well, when there's friction,
it's easy to misunderstand or misinterpret people, it's easy
for others to misinterpret us. When we have friction or
conflict at work, what that does for our energy becomes
interesting for most people, there's an element of heat, a
feeling of Like an active and outward moving energy that can
actually be very destructive and very complicated.
So you just you want to be aware of this.
And again, these are not bad things, you are a human, you
will have energy that goes up, it goes down, you will have
emotions. You will have moments of
conflict and frustration, as well as moments, where things
are just flowing. So, you know, remember to be
gentle with yourself, you are a human and the more that you
remember, this and embrace this, the better you will be when you
are managing yourself as well as others.
I also want to point out that being aware of how your energy
is affected is also really important because we have the
same amount of time in a day. Yes, we all have 24 hours in a
day and the way that we use our time is dependent upon two
things, the quality of our attention and the quality of her
energy. So if you have only 15 minutes
and your attention is very scattered, you're very
distracted. It's hard to focus.
It's going to be difficult to get anything done, right?
If you have only 15 minutes but you our attention is focused and
you are clear about what you need to do.
It'll be a lot easier to get things done.
The other element is your energy.
So again if you have 15 minutes and your energy is depleted, you
are exhausted. You are grumpy, you are tired.
You just Just don't have any juice.
It's going to be really difficult to be effective within
that time. Even if we gave you 20 minutes,
40 minutes, if you have no energy, it's very difficult.
To be effective and to get things done.
But if you have energy, you are energized, you are clear.
And you have a high quality of attention, where your attention
is right here in the moment with the person or the activity that
you need to attend to, you can accomplish quite a lot, even
with a very little bit of time. And one of the things I hear a
lot about from my You didn't send my clients is that if you
are having a difficult relationship with somebody,
maybe it's a client or maybe it's someone internally within
your organization or maybe it's somebody in your personal life
and because there is friction or difficulty in that relationship
when you are working, your energy is very low, very
depleted, that might make you very impatient with others.
So it might make you very short-tempered because you have
you just don't have the energy to deal and it might also get in
the way of all of the other tasks and activities that need
your attention. You think I just don't have the
energy to deal with this right now because this other thing,
this other relationship has really been draining me.
And so I'm not able to show up patient and present and
resourceful and creative. Your energy is so important.
It's one of the most valuable resources that you have, and
it's the one that you can actually do a little something
with, in order to keep it in its best space.
So manage your energy, and we've talked a little doubt, a little
bit about relationships, so notice for you.
What are the relationships that give you great energy, both in
your personal life? Like the people that uplift you
and inspire you, or the people who make you feel safe and loved
and accepted like, where is that good energy in your life?
Notice the people and the relationships Ation ships that
are difficult that drain your energy that leave you feeling
not so good, not your best self. And even though we can't always
eliminate those people, I mean, you might just have to work with
them even though it's challenging or you might be
related to them, they are part of your family and they just
bring you down. The more aware you are of okay
this is a relationship that will challenge me and that will drain
me. Then you get to be more
strategic and choosing so given that this is.
So how can I deal with this in a way that is going to be have the
best outcome for me? So that, then I can bring myself
into better service for the people that I work with.
It might sound a little selfish and the truth is that it kind of
is but I really believe that you have a sacred responsibility to
be aware of and to care for yourself because if you don't
who will and that includes becoming aware of your energy
caring about it. So that you can then bring the
best of who you are to your work world and to the humans that you
manage. My sense is that as we move into
this last part of the Year, this last part of 2020.
It will continue to be a challenging time for a lot of
people, maybe for you but also for the people that you work
with and so it becomes important want to tune into what your
energy is so that you can really show up for others.
This also gives you the perspective that the people that
you work with their energy also fluctuates and sometimes,
they'll be really focused, they'll come in positive with a
sense of what's possible and how they can help.
And sometimes you may perceive, you may sense that energy is
very low or that people are feeling.
Generally very sad or a feeling of even grief.
I feel like we're still collectively hitting different
waves of grief with how this year is unfolding.
I believe that being a manager and bringing this awareness of
how you influence others. The greatest managers really
uplift and bring forward the best in other people, especially
people who are different from them.
Right? Like a great manager is flexible
can see the best bring out the best and really like bring
people together to do good work. Work in a way, that wouldn't be
possible if you aren't in that role.
So there is this very human aspect to working with others to
managing others and to really understanding that it is a
sacred thing that we do the way that we care for ourselves so
that we can show up and really create something good with the
people that we work with even when things are challenging, And
uncertain energy will ebb and flow.
That's totally normal. It's okay to not always be high
energy, super positive all the time being human and being a
great manager who can manage humans means that we can include
that range for people and also do the work that lets people
continue to move forward with with what is required and what
needs to happen within the workspace.
So self awareness, communication managing your energy becoming
aware of, what are the relationships and how those
affect your energy respecting? That your energy is a big part
of how, well you use your time. Also emotion, emotion always has
an energetic charged to it, whether it's volatile, whether
it's More of a weighted down kind of heavy sort of feeling so
be aware to of any emotions that are present for yourself.
And for others we don't even need to correctly identify or
name the emotion in order to notice, okay, there's some kind
of emotion happening here and the effect is that the energy
feels like this. Just bringing that lens that
perception will give you even more skill and more ability to
connect and to work well, with yourself and with others.
And also, what I find is at this time of year, right?
As we kind of leave Q3 and start to move into Q4, it's a natural
time to do reflection and assessment.
And in light of the state of the world right now, I find a lot of
my students and clients are also doing this anyways and many have
been doing this all year reflecting and reassessing what
is it that's important to them right now.
What is it that they want to put their energy and their life and
their attention towards and sometimes Industries and what
I'm finding right in this year two is so many interests.
Is are so affected in such big ways that you might be
re-evaluating is this industry, something I still want to be a
part of, or do I need to start thinking about making a change
or is this company? The company I still want to be a
part of or should I maybe start thinking about what else is
possible. What else is available for me?
This time of year is such a great time to reflect to To
reassess and to give yourself permission to be really honest.
I mean so much is challenging this year and at the same time
there's so much resilience and there's so much collaboration
and so much community that I've been experiencing and seeing
which really I mean really lifts my heart and hopefully it does
for you too. But that will also take a
different kind of energy as You reflect and assess.
What is it that your life is about and what are you moving
towards? And how does that fit with your
work? And how can you bring more of
your own self and your sense of purpose, and what matters to you
into your life? Both your work life, with all of
these other humans. And with your non-work life, You
know the difference between our personal world and our
professional world has really dissolved this year and now more
than ever. We are people.
We are humans. We are trying to figure out and
navigate how to work together under lots of changing
circumstances. So be gentle with yourself.
Be gentle and bring Grace to those around you.
We get through this one moment and one day at a time.
A time and more that you care about and manage your energy.
The better off. You will be both for yourself as
well as for all of the people that you work with.
And then that in turn ripples out.
All right, human, thank you so much for listening.
I am glad that you are here and feel free to reach out by me on
LinkedIn or send me a message. I would love to know more about
you and what is happening in your world as you manage humans.
Thanks so much. Take care.
Do you want personal confidential help with your
situation? At work, I offer one-on-one
coaching and can help you overcome challenges reach your
goals and become a more effective leader to schedule a
consult. Go to my website, Kim nickel.com
coaching and we'll schedule time to talk about what's going on
with you and how I can help talk to you soon.