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Welcome to the new Manager 
podcast. 

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

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

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As you can tell, I'm slowly 
feeling better. 

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Still not at 100%, but 
definitely so much healthier 

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than last week. 
Still a little congested, but 

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I'm very happy to say that I am 
well on my way to getting back 

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to 100%. 
I want to give a big shout out a

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big hello to to you who listened
and left a review. 

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Someone with the most delightful
username. 

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It's about Donuts left a really 
great review and rating for this

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podcast on Apple Podcast and the
things that especially really 

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stood out to me. 
One, they said they've been 

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listening for two years now, 
which is fantastic. 

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I'm so glad you've been hanging 
out with me for the last couple 

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of years. 
They also said there are so many

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practical tips for new and 
seasoned managers. 

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Yes, good. 
That is the goal. 

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So I'm glad that that's landing 
and, and this really touched me.

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They said her delivery is so 
calming and encouraging. 

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I recommended too many. 
That makes me feel really good 

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because I honestly think that 
there's just not enough calmness

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and not enough encouragement, 
especially when you start 

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managing people. 
I think a lot of times managers 

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get kind of thrown under the 
bus. 

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Like, it's very easy to complain
about management and managers, 

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and yet, you know, there's just 
not a lot of support available. 

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Oftentimes people are stepping 
into roles without having 

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received any guidance or 
training or support or coaching.

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And so much is asked of managers
without often providing the 

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support that will allow them to 
really thrive and flourish in 

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the role. 
And so that's why it matters to 

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me to be here for you and why 
I'm so glad that that has been 

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helpful. 
I love that this podcast is 

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often recommended to others. 
I don't do any outside 

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promotion. 
If you follow me on LinkedIn, 

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you know, I don't even talk 
about the podcast that much. 

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So I think of the this show 
almost as like, you know, a cozy

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little cottage in the forest. 
And as you're walking through 

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the woods in your own career 
journey, your own life journey, 

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you might stumble upon this 
place where hopefully, you know,

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it's like you see a warm light. 
You're able to come in, have a 

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seat, have a warm cup of tea and
feel a little bit nourished and 

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feel a little bit restored and 
come away with some very 

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practical ideas, tools and 
frameworks that will help make 

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your journey a little bit 
easier. 

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If you watch any of the Miyazaki
movies, like, you know, Howells 

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movie kept moving Castle, 
Spirited Away, any of those, you

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know, that sense of stepping 
into a parallel but alternate 

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world. 
I kind of think about podcast 

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land as like that. 
And so, you know, I welcome you 

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if you have stumbled your way 
through the woods and come upon 

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this little cottage where you 
can receive a little bit of 

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care, a little encouragement and
some practical ideas and tools 

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that will help you with whatever
you're facing when you head back

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into the world of work and 
career. 

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And you know, all of the loud, 
noisy, you know, world that's 

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around you. 
So if you listen, thank you so 

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much. 
And if you would be open to 

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leaving a review, a rating on 
Apple or Spotify, if you listen 

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there too, that would mean so 
much to me. 

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So having said that, today I 
wanted to share with you 

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something that I learned that 
really, really hit me, and it 

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was a story that I heard about 
Lana Del Rey. 

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If you don't know Lana Del Rey, 
she is a very popular and very 

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famous singer and songwriter, an
incredibly talented woman. 

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She's been creating music for 
many, many years. 

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And I learned recently that she 
shared that, like a year ago, 

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she didn't know how the process 
worked for being nominated for 

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Grammys. 
And, you know, she she said, I 

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just thought that if your song 
was good, people just put it on 

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the ballot. 
She didn't know what the process

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was to be nominated. 
And it wasn't until, I guess she

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was talking with Jack Antonoff, 
who is also a famous musician 

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and music producer. 
And apparently, he explained to 

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her, oh, like, this is how the 
process works. 

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If you want to be nominated for 
a Grammy for this big award in 

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the industry, these are the 
things you have to do in order 

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to make that happen. 
And it really struck me because 

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I think it really illustrates 
how you can be really good at 

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the thing you do and not know 
how the bigger process works. 

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And once you're stepping into 
higher levels of leadership and 

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managing, you will get more 
visibility, but it will be 

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incomplete, right? 
Like the visibility that you 

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have into how things work is 
always incomplete. 

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You'll only be seeing a part of 
it. 

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Kind of like the story. 
They're like 5 blind people and 

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they're describing an elephant. 
And one person says, oh, it's, 

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you know, got this long curvy, 
strong thin part. 

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And someone else says, no, no, 
it's, you know, really round and

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sturdy, kind of like a tree 
trunk. 

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And someone else says no, it's 
kind of leathery and, and broad 

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like, you know, like a wall, you
know. 

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And someone else says, no, it's 
kind of like thin and rope like.

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And it, you know, sways back and
forth. 

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And because each person is only 
able to perceive 1 aspect of it,

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they don't realize that there's 
so much more to it than what 

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they are able to perceive. 
And this is true for you in the 

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workplace, that there's only so 
much that you're going to be 

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able to have visibility to. 
And it's important to become 

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curious to understand how do 
things work? 

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How does it work here? 
So, for example, what's the 

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process for getting a promotion 
or what's the process for 

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getting a raise? 
How does that work? 

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Is there a bonus structure? 
How does that work? 

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How does that affect you, your 
team? 

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What's the process for perhaps 
making a lateral move in your 

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organization, moving to another 
team? 

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And when you become a manager, 
it becomes important that you 

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understand this for two reasons.
One is of course for yourself as

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you're thinking about what's 
next for you, what you want to 

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do, where you want to go, what 
career experience you want to 

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have. 
Of course, you want to know that

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for yourself, but also you want 
to understand more about how the

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process works because of your 
team. 

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Expect that your team will be 
asking you some of those 

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questions. 
How do I get a promotion? 

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How do I get a raise? 
How do I move to work maybe on 

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this other team in the 
organization that maybe I'm more

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interested in? 
You want to start to understand 

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how those processes work. 
You also want to understand 

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what's the process for 
requesting a sabbatical. 

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Are sabbaticals a thing that 
happened in your organization? 

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And if you haven't seen anyone 
take one, do not assume it's not

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available unless you get curious
about asking for it. 

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You might not ever find out that
it's something that maybe you 

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could actually do. 
What's the process for 

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requesting outside professional 
development and even internal 

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professional development? 
Find out. 

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Is there an existing budget, an 
existing resource? 

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Is there some kind of regular 
scheduled training that will 

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happen later in the year that 
you can know about and plan for,

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either for yourself or for your 
team? 

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Start to get curious and 
especially you must take an 

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active role in asking and 
finding out. 

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You want to find out what is the
official process and you want to

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be listening for the unofficial 
factors that can influence how 

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that process actually works. 
There is so much discretion 

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within every process. 
Individual people have 

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discretion about what they 
approve, what they put forward, 

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whether they allocate budget to 
this request or that request. 

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So there might be some 
unofficial factors in play that 

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you want to be aware of. 
You just want to know, like how 

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does this work? 
Do not assume that somebody will

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tell you. 
Do not assume your manager will 

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tell you, do not assume your HR 
organization will tell you. 

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And do not expect your 
colleagues to clarify this for 

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you either, unless you ask. 
Now, please don't feel bad or 

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weird. 
If you don't know how this stuff

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works, you're not expected to 
know. 

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I mean, how could you? 
I mean, even, you know, think 

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about like Lana Del Rey, a 
famous, very successful artist, 

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did not know how the process 
worked for getting nominated for

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Grammys. 
She just assumed, if your song 

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is good, you'll be recognized 
and nominated. 

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I see this a lot also in the 
workplace. 

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People assume, hey, if I'm doing
good work, somebody will see and

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it will be recognized. 
But that's not always true. 

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People are distracted. 
People don't always have 

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visibility on what you're doing,
or they don't have an 

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appreciation for the effect or 
the result of what you're doing.

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Sometimes what's required is 
that you not just make visible 

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here's what I'm doing, but also 
because I did this, this is the 

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effect, this was the result. 
This was how the work of me and 

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my team. 
This is how it affected these 

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other things. 
It may be about connecting the 

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dots to make it obvious to 
someone who is not you. 

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So as you are thinking about the
end of this year and the 

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beginning of next year, one of 
the kind of gentle little 

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frameworks I wanted to offer to 
think about is number one, ask 

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yourself, what do you want? 
Make a list of all the things, 

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whether it's a promotion, a 
raise, sponsorship for outside 

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professional development, a 
sabbatical, whatever. 

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Like what is it that you want? 
Make a list of all those things 

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#2 ask yourself, how do you I 
think it works? 

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This is a really important step.
You want to get clear by writing

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down the story of how you think 
those things happen. 

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So if your goal is a promotion, 
how do you currently think that 

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happens in your mind? 
What do you think the process 

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is? 
And then Step 3, verify. 

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This is where you get curious. 
You start talking to other 

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people, ask them what they know 
about the process. 

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You want to test your 
assumptions by getting other 

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perspectives and other 
information. 

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And this is also really 
important because sometimes you 

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might have an accurate 
understanding, but then over 

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time the process changes and 
what used to be accurate and 

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current is no longer accurate 
and current. 

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And nobody told you. 
Things just happened to change. 

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And maybe it was not 
communicated clearly. 

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You don't know what you don't 
know. 

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So again, that three-step 
process, what do you want? 

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Make a list of all the things #2
how do you think it works? 

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Write down the story of how you 
think those things would happen.

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And then #3 verify. 
Talk to other people, test your 

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assumptions, get other 
perspectives, update your 

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information. 
It's an iterative process. 

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So I think it's a good idea to 
do this on a regular schedule. 

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And the beginning of the year is
a really great time because it's

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such a moment of reflection and 
then making decisions and 

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setting some intentions for what
you want to experience in your 

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work in the coming year. 
So think about that as you are 

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getting ready to go into the 
year ahead. 

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And you know, sometimes, 
sometimes you're Lana Del Rey 

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and you're asking yourself, 
like, how does this actually 

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work? 
Sometimes you're Jack Antonoff 

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and you're going to be 
explaining process and kind of 

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demystifying things for others. 
But just continue to be curious,

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find out how things work because
sometimes you don't know what 

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you don't know until you start 
asking around and then you find 

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out. 
Thank you so much for listening.

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That's all I wanted to share 
with you today. 

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I hope you have a really great 
rest of your week. 

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If you want to learn more with 
me, sign up for my course on 

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00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:10,640
communication strategies for 
Managers. 

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00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:14,400
The link is in the show notes. 
The new cohort is currently 

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enrolling and we start start in 
January. 

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So if you want to start the year
with some support and just 

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organizing your thinking about 
communication strategies, then 

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sign up for that course. 
If you want to work with me 

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one-on-one, you can find more 
information about that too in 

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00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:36,360
the show notes or just go to my 
website, kimnickel.com. 

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All right, have a wonderful rest
of your week and I will talk to 

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you next time. 
When you're more effective at 

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work, you're happier in your 
life, and when you're happier in

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your 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.