Conversation With a Manager
Steve King
Hi. This is Steve King, and this is Conversation with a Manager: Stories from the Frontline.
Along with my colleague Betsy Hagan and our producer David Blindauer, our podcast explores the common and sometimes uncommon challenges facing today’s managers in the workplace.
Our proposition is simple. Managers, particularly frontline managers, play an oversized role in the productivity of an organization and the engagement of team members. So, a manager’s successful performance makes a ton of difference.
We are defining managers as anyone with responsibilities to look after the performance of others. It is an evolving role … impacted by new technologies, hybrid work arrangements, and generational differences. While some might find the notion of management a bit old fashion, it remains and integral part of the business landscape. There are plenty of managers out there and plenty of new ones every day.
This is a podcast for managers, by managers. Betsy and I have over fifty years of experience as managers between us. We have written extensively on the topic of management, and we have taught literally thousands of managers in classroom, online, and seminar settings. And I can assure you we have learned as much in those settings from managers as we have shared.
In each episode we will visit with a successful manager we have met and hear their stories and the lessons they have learned from their years of experience. We expect you’ll find their stories and insights useful and applicable right away back on the job.
We intend to keep the podcast short and sweet, around 20 minutes, so you can fit them into your commute, lunch break, or while you’re making dinner.
So, please join us in a … conversation with a manager.
Along with my colleague Betsy Hagan and our producer David Blindauer, our podcast explores the common and sometimes uncommon challenges facing today’s managers in the workplace.
Our proposition is simple. Managers, particularly frontline managers, play an oversized role in the productivity of an organization and the engagement of team members. So, a manager’s successful performance makes a ton of difference.
We are defining managers as anyone with responsibilities to look after the performance of others. It is an evolving role … impacted by new technologies, hybrid work arrangements, and generational differences. While some might find the notion of management a bit old fashion, it remains and integral part of the business landscape. There are plenty of managers out there and plenty of new ones every day.
This is a podcast for managers, by managers. Betsy and I have over fifty years of experience as managers between us. We have written extensively on the topic of management, and we have taught literally thousands of managers in classroom, online, and seminar settings. And I can assure you we have learned as much in those settings from managers as we have shared.
In each episode we will visit with a successful manager we have met and hear their stories and the lessons they have learned from their years of experience. We expect you’ll find their stories and insights useful and applicable right away back on the job.
We intend to keep the podcast short and sweet, around 20 minutes, so you can fit them into your commute, lunch break, or while you’re making dinner.
So, please join us in a … conversation with a manager.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Oct 30, 2023 • 20min
Managers and Hybrid Teams ... Kristin Slavish speaks with Betsy Hagan about the challenges and opportunities facing managers who look after hybrid teams.
So many of our teams, as the result of covid, moved to becoming virtual teams. As the threat of covid lifted many teams morphed into hybrid teams [sometimes in the worplace, sometimes not ... some team members in the workplace, some team members not]. These new arrangements provide managers unique managerial challenges and opportunities. Our guest Kristin Slavish reflects on hybrid teams before covid and how new versions of hybrid teams might be best managed. Our Website ... https://conversation-with-a-manager.captivate.fm
Oct 23, 2023 • 14min
Managers and Values .... Shawnee Parens speaks with Steve King about the importance of embedding stated organizational values into the everyday behaviors of each team member.
Most organizations have stated/published values the define who the organization is to their customers and employees. But these values only have meaning if they are present in the daily behaviors of team members. Our guest Shawnee Parens offers us insights into how a manager can make stated values come alive by embedding them into "obseverable" personal and team behaviors. Our Website ... https://conversation-with-a-manager.captivate.fm
Oct 16, 2023 • 16min
Managers and Influence ... Matt Grzybowski speaks with Steve King about how to managers can effectively influence peers in the organization.
Often the quality of the work of one team is impacted by the quality of the work of another team ... a team downstream in the supply chain. How can a manager effectively influence a downstream team to up their game and improve the quality of their work? This is question our guest Matt Grzybowski discusses with host Steve King. It is an age old challenge of how to influence without direct authority and Matt offers some great insights on how to handle these kinds of situations. Our Website ... https://conversation-with-a-manager.captivate.fm
Oct 2, 2023 • 8min
Bonus Episode: Managers and Multiple Teams
This week we are sharing an unheard bonus segment from our intervew with Ivy Mantua [S1/E8]. Ivy manages mulitiple teams so she juggles her attention between them. In this bonus track we hear about three challenges ... (1) dealing with different team personalities; (2) the value of sometimes bringing team together; (3) the value of having team leaders who can carry some of the managerial load. Our Website: https://conversation-with-a-manager.captivate.fm
Sep 18, 2023 • 7min
Bonus Episode: Managers and their Transition into the Manager Role
This week we are dropping an unheard bonus segment from Betsy Hagan's intervew with Binnu Palta Hill [S1/E10] as she talks about her challenge in transitioning into a manager role. One challenge she addresses if the fear of losing control since she had to suddenly rely on others rather than just handling the work herself. Another is the realization is that her world view was different than others and that difference [hers and theirs] had to be taken into account. Our Website: https://conversation-with-a-manager.captivate.fm
Sep 4, 2023 • 9min
Bonus Episode: Managers and a New Team
This week we are dropping an unheard bonus segment from our intervew with Shelley Clinger [S1/E6]. I asked Shelley to tell me about the best manager she ever had and she told us a story about this special individual who mastered what I might call the "gentle/firm" approach to building new team. Gentle/firm might seem like a contradiction of sorts, but Shelley makes that case this balancing act yeilds great returns. Our Website: https://conversation-with-a-manager.captivate.fm
Aug 21, 2023 • 7min
Bonus Episode: Managers and Feedback [Part 2]
In this bonus episode we return to our season one's final recap episode [E11] to enjoy an unheard segment with Betsy Hagan and Artell Smith with their thoughts on managers giving feedback to others.
Aug 7, 2023 • 9min
Bonus Episode: Managers and the Tendency to "Over Direct"
Often when someone takes on their new role as manager they have been promoted they were excellent individual contributors ... they were good at what they did. So sometimes there is a tendency for these new managers to "over direct" they're team members since they know how to do the work. This week we are dropping an unheard bonus segment from our intervew with Michele Kasier [S1/E1] as she talks about her tendency to do just that in her first managerial role and how that didn't really work for her or her staff. Our Website: https://conversation-with-a-manager.captivate.fm
Jul 24, 2023 • 8min
Bonus Episode: Managers and the Fear of Change
Since change is a multi-faceted topic we find ourselves returning to it in this podcast, each looking at it from a different angle. In this unheard outtake from Betsy Hagan's interview with Becky Kirgan [S1:E3], Becky offers up some thoughts on why some folks are deathly afraid of change how a manager might team members fearing change through that fear.Our Website: https://conversation-with-a-manager.captivate.fm
Jul 10, 2023 • 10min
Bonus Episode: Managers and Trust
Can broken trust between a manager and one of their team members be repaired?In this unheard outtake from my interview with Lawrence Henderson [S1:E5], Lawrence shares why he believes it can when both parties are committed to that repair. He tells us a story about when he got sideways with one of his managers and how the two of them rebuilt that relationship, one step at a time. Our Website: https://conversation-with-a-manager.captivate.fm
