The Modern Manager

Whether you're a leader or a manager, the chances are that you occasionally (or regularly) find yourself dealing with difficult situations. Coaching is an increasingly popular way of helping people develop the skills, habits, and mindsets needed to reach their full potential by better understanding themselves, their goals, and the situations they encounter.   Today’s guest is Dr. Richard Levin. Richard is widely recognized as one of the first executive coaches. He is one of a half-dozen global leaders who have created and shaped the coaching profession since its inception in the 1980’s.   As the founder and principal of Richard Levin & Associates (the first executive coaching firm, and the first network of independent executive coaches); as co-author of the popular and powerful book Shared Purpose: Working Together to Build Strong Families and High Performance Companies; and as a founder of Boston University’s Center on Work and Family, Richard has stretched the boundaries of creativity, inclusiveness, and collaboration to build extraordinary organizations.   Richard and I talk about coaching - what coaching is, how it's different from therapy or advising, who should get coaching, the future of coaching, and what to do if you or a team member want coaching but your organizanization doesn't have the budget for it.   Members of the Modern Manager community get a resource packet that consists of CFAR’s boldest thinking on executive coaching, strategy, culture, and organizational behavior. This valuable resource includes learnings and writings of CFAR’s top leaders and has never before been available to the public. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.    Read the related blog article: Executive Coaching Isn’t Just for Executives   KEEP UP WITH RICHARD Website: www.cfar.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardjlevin/  Website Bio: https://www.cfar.com/Levin/   Key Takeaways: Dr. Richard Levin, a psychologist by training, founded the world’s first “executive coaching firm” in the 1980’s. Since then, the field has grown exponentially. Coaching helps leaders become their best selves. It can include everything from avoiding burnout to communication skills.  Coaches act as thought partners to figure out solutions togethers. Experienced coaches can offer advice but the best solutions tend to come from within the client. Coaches can observe managers and their teams in real time in order to get first-hand information. Nowadays they can do it virtually via Zoom. Professional coaches are not just for C-Suite executives but for any employee who wants to develop.  Large organizations are starting to hire coaches for each manager. This allows managers to keep confidences with their client while also working with other coaches to identify systemic issues and trends within the organization. Consultants and coaches are starting to work together to make large-scale changes that uplift the entire organization. Ask your manager about the possibility of working with a coach to support your growth. Be specific about what you want to develop and how coaching could enable you to better deliver results. Suggest a team member work with a coach only if they can identify their areas for growth, have a desire to change, and believe in coaching as an approach. Additional Resources: Explore coaching with Mamie  mamie@mamieks.com instagram.com/mamieks

It seems like every day there is a new communications app or an advance in communications technology capabilities. These tools are intended to help us collaborate more effectively with our team, but they can also lead to a tangled web of information and a messy communication system. Plus, teams are exploring new ways of working as hybrid work slowly replaces fully remote teaming. Given the foundational nature of communications, intentionally designing your communication practices can elevate and streamline your effectiveness.   Today's episode is about synchronous and asynchronous communication. In short, synchronous means we’re all physically present at the same time. Asynchronous means each person is communicating independently of others’ timing. Communication is at the heart of how people work together, so getting the right tools, processes, and norms in place for your team to facilitate effective synchronous and asynchronous communication is essential. I’ll share 3 key principles to consider when designing how your team will use its various communication modes, and then I’ll walk through the approach to create a communication guide so your team can get aligned on how you’ll communicate and document it for future reference.    The full episode guide includes more details on the process and principles along with my thoughts on which synchronous and asynchronous practices are most effective for what types of activities and why. I also include some of my favorite tools in case you’re looking to add some to your toolbox and want a short list to start with. Get the episode guide when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.     Get the free mini-guide at themodernnmanager.com/miniguides.   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.    Read the related blog article: Harmonize Synchronous and Asynchronous Communications    Key Takeaways: Synchronous communication is being present at the same time together (i.e. a meeting). Asynchronous communication is independent of others' timing. The fewer the tools your team uses to communicate, the better. The goal is to identify the right communication method and use the simplest tools with minimal overlap.  Create templates to streamline everything from meetings and agendas to email subject lines.  Experiment with trying asynchronous communications first until it’s no longer working. Think of meetings as a last resort rather than a starting point, except for relationship building and discussing sensitive topics.  When making a Communications Guide, start by discussing with your team why it’s important and what you hope to achieve by clarifying the communication norms. Explore what’s working and what’s breaking down in terms of communication in order to identify what practices and tools to keep and what new to try.  Make preliminary decisions for new communication approaches and follow through on them. Check in weekly as a team to see how it’s working and adjust as needed.  Additional Resources: Episode 63: Creating a Team Playbook with Millie Blackwell mamie@mamieks.com instagram.com/mamieks

How we go about our work can make or break our productivity and effectiveness. The ability to meet deadlines, stay calm under pressure, develop a project plan and focus on a task without checking email every five minutes are all part of the skillset known as executive functioning. While this part of our brain develops throughout childhood, many of us still struggle with executive functioning as adults. Luckily, like any skill, we can develop them.   Today’s guest is Michael Delman. Michael is the CEO of Beyond BookSmart and WorkSmart Coaching. Author, Executive Function Coach, and School Founder, his career has been centered for three decades on helping people become more effective.   Michael and I talk about the four groups of executive functioning skills, how these show up in the workplace, what you can do to better perform in your role and how to better engage with your team using executive functioning strategies.   Members of the Modern Manager community get $100 off their executive functioning coaching membership or a staff training engagement. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community at the Sprout level or above.   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.    Read the related blog article: Learn The Art Of Self-Management   KEEP UP WITH MICHAEL Website for kids: https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/ Website for adults: https://www.worksmartcoaching.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beyondbooksmart Book: You're Kid's Gonna Be Okay: Building the Executive Function Skills Your Child Needs in the Age of Attention   Key Takeaways: Executive functioning skills are habits for self-management. They can be broken down into four categories, known as COPS. Calm, Organize, Plan and Prioritize, Start and Stay focused. The prefrontal cortex doesn’t function well under stress. Prepare adequately to reduce stress buildup. Use breathing techniques to calm down your emotions. Use cognitive thinking tricks like having perspective to see the big picture, to take the pressure off.  Organization includes the elements of STOP; Space, Time, Objects, and People.  Consider how to set up your environment to help you be most effective. Allot yourself enough time to accomplish projects. Have all objects you need at your disposal and put away distracting objects. Know who you can go to when stuck; whether a colleague or a website.  Prioritize by deciding on the most important thing you need to get done that day. Consider what is blocking your organization or team’s success. Communicate all decisions, expectations, and roles clearly to all team members. Put it in writing in a central location so everyone can refer to it. When overwhelmed or procrastinating, break down large tasks into smaller ones. Set a timer for 5 minutes and start a task.  When talking with a colleague about improving their executive functioning skills, normalize their difficulties by expressing that it’s common.  Additional Resources: Episode 178: What Are Executive Functioning Skills Episode 182: Improve Your Executive Functioning Skills mamie@mamieks.com   Follow me on instagram.com/mamieks  

Managers know the value of team building, but not all activities are effective or right for your people. Traditional team-building activities like ropes courses, paintball games, or scavenger hunts often don’t speak to millennials or employees in other generations. They can also be competitive instead of collaborative, or require physical abilities that not everyone is capable of. Instead, managers can look for activities that are fun, accessible, and translate into productive relationships in the workplace, like floral design. Today’s guest is Elise Bernhardt. Elise served as CEO or Executive Director of multiple non-profit cultural organizations during her 30 year career. She then reinvented herself as a floral designer and facilitator which combined her passion for flowers and bringing people together through her flower design workshops. Elise and I talk about the lessons she’s learned from years of leading people and organizations of different sizes, as well as her unusual approach to team building that includes flowers, and what we can learn from that process. Three members of the Modern Manager community get a discount on Elise’s floral design workshops. Get one of these when you join the Modern Manager community.   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles, and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.    Read the related blog article: How Floral Design Can Strengthen Your Team’s Relationships.   KEEP UP WITH ELISE Website: www.fleurelisebkln.com Instagram: @fleur_elise_bkln   Key Takeaways: Many common team-building exercises can be stressful and competitive, making the experience feel less inclusive. Ikebana is the Japanese art of floral design. It is considered a spiritual practice and a life skill. Flowers have also been shown to reduce blood pressure.  Floral design team building workshops are non judgemental and relaxing. They create opportunities for bonding, creativity, and self-expression because there is no right answer. After completion, everyone shares observations about each others’ work such as color and placement. This is different from sharing feedback on what you like or dislike, or what you think would make the arrangement better. Observational dialogue shifts how people reflect and share. It is a useful tool to carry over into workplace feedback. It focuses on what you notice and conveying that in a neutral tone. The best team building exercises help us see our colleagues in a new light and realize unknown qualities about them.  Floral design can be done remotely. It can also be done separately and then collectively shared afterwards.  You can DIY a floral design team-building workshop by getting supplies from a local grocer and looking up online videos for inspiration, if needed. The only rule is that no stems can be the same length! Consider who can facilitate during the presentation portion so that it engages everyone and follows the observation (not criticism) approach. mamie@mamieks.com instagram.com/mamieks

Accountability, when done right, isn't about exerting power or authority. It’s not about enforcing punishments or negative consequences. Instead, it’s about making sure that everyone does what they commit to doing through shared responsibility for success. Managers who do this develop strong teams with strong performance. Those who don’t do this end up with extra pressure on themselves and disengaged employees who are underperforming or unhappy in their jobs - both of which are downright unhealthy for everyone.    Today's episode is about how to create a culture of accountability. Accountability often feels hard, in part because it's the thing we do when something goes wrong. Instead, you can make accountability ever-present on your team so that everyone holds themselves and each other accountable.   The full episode guide contains more detailed actions, questions for reflection, and worksheets to help you foster a culture of accountability with your team. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.     Get the free mini-guide at themodernmanager.com/miniguides.   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles, and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.    Read the related blog article: 5 Steps to Creating a Culture of Accountability    Key Takeaways: Accountability at work is not an individual burden on the manager but about creating a culture of accountability that is shared by the team.  Without a culture of accountability, the best workers leave and performance suffers.  Articulate and model your team’s values and expected behaviors. Own your mistakes when you misstep to foster trust.  People take seriously what they feel responsible for. It’s essential to connect accountability to celebrating successes and to give credit when it’s due. Teammates who care about each other and feel valued by their manager don’t want to let each other down. Shared accountability means they will push each other even when the boss isn’t around.  Explain why the expectations matter and how it impacts them, you, the team, and/or the organization’s success. Create a safe space for your team to admit their mistakes. Encourage questions, provide support, and don’t blame when things go off track.  Have organic, real-time conversations and scheduled 1-on-1s to provide positive feedback and address concerns.   Additional Resources: Episode 76: Bring Team Values to Life Episode 72: Align Your Team By Creating Shared Values Episode 138: Managing Four Types of Accountability mamie@mamieks.com

As managers, we have a responsibility to help our employees find stability in a time of chaos. To do this most effectively, we need to understand how the brain functions best—and most importantly, how it can go wrong. Understanding the neuroscience of change will give us unparalleled insight into managing moments of uncertainty and times of change so that our team members remain productive, engaged, and loving their work.   Today’s guest is Russ Linden. Russ is a management consultant, leadership instructor, and author who's worked with public and nonprofit organizations for 36 years. He specializes in change management, collaboration, and the use of influence (when formal authority won't cut it).   Russ and I talk about the experience of navigating change, how to better deal with ambiguity, the phenomenon called loss aversion, the relationship between change and learning, and so much more.   Members of the Modern Manager community at the Sprout level and above get 30% off all of Russ’s books, including his latest, Loss and Discovery: What the Torah Can Teach Us about Leading Change. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.   Read the related blog article: How Managers Can Create Stability In Unpredictable Times   KEEP UP WITH RUSS: Website: www.loss-discovery.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/russ.linden.9/    Key Takeaways: Our brains are wired to perceive a lack of control, predictability, and certainty as threats. Create stability for your team by building steady, predictable relationships.  Be an honest, trustworthy leader they can depend on.  Define and implement your company’s core values so your team knows what to expect and how the organization operates.  Loss aversion is the brain’s way of avoiding the pain of loss which is stronger than the desire for winning. Honestly address the potential losses that arise with any change. Give your employees space to mourn these losses. Our brains continue growing new cells and neural pathways throughout our life, called neuroplasticity. Shrink the overwhelm of change by reminding your team what’s not changing. Assure them that the changes are not their fault and compliment them on their past work. People value what they make themselves, the IKEA Effect. Give them choices so they feel more a sense of control over the changes. Build on your team’s strength while minimizing weaknesses, so they don’t lose their sense of competency. Additional Resources: Book: Leadership On The Line Book: In Search Of Excellence Episode 149: Planning a (Virtual) Retreat with Seth Linden mamie@mamieks.com

The brain is an amazing thing. Its capacity to learn is almost endless. But too often the process of learning can feel boring, difficult, stressful, and even painful. In order for the brain to retain what we’ve learned, we need to deploy the right strategies. These simple approaches make learning efficient and enjoyable.  Today’s guest is Collin Jewett. Collin is an industrial engineer, author, coach, and adventurer. He loves helping others rediscover the joy of learning and partnering with their brains to unlock limitless memory, boundless creativity, and unshakeable focus. Collin and I  talk about the process of learning, how to remember better, the relationship between learning and creativity, and so much more. Members of the Modern Manager community get access to Collin’s 7-part video series titled “Unlock your 3 Brain States” to help you discover the 3 critical brain states and unlock hyperfocus and endless creative potential. Get this guest bonus and dozens more when you join the Modern Manager community. Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.    Read the related blog article: Unlock Your Brain’s Ability To Learn   KEEP UP WITH COLLIN Website: https://curiosityjump.com/ Course: maven.com/curiosityjump/superlearner     Key Takeaways: We are born with the desire to learn about the world and ourselves.  Curiosity is the innate desire to ask questions. Creativity is the innate desire to answer questions and solve problems. Creativity isn’t a “have it or you don’t” thing. Creativity is the process of combining existing ideas in new ways. Memory works by associating and comparing old knowledge with new information.  Analogies and metaphors are powerful because they take new ideas and put them in a familiar context.  Learning that is relevant to our lives is more enjoyable and stickier. Clarify how and why this information or skill is relevant. Use the observation and visualization to get brain neurons to fire as if you were going through the motions.  Use as many kinds of VARK learning methods (visual, auditory, reading/writing, kinesthetic) as possible for ultimate knowledge retention. Reward and punishment don’t motivate real learning or creativity. In fact, they often result in the opposite.    Additional Resources: Video on motivation [Quiz] What’s your delegation downfall? mamieKS on Instagram   mamie@mamieks.com

It’s easy to get caught in the whirlwind of work. We can get carried along by the hundreds of things that need to get done, never stepping back to consider if it’s actually working or whether the path is even the right one. Taking time to prioritize, reflect, or set boundaries that actually get followed can feel like a luxury we just can’t afford given the fires that keep popping up, the ever-growing to-do list, and wanting to be there for our team members when they need us. But imagine what work and life could be, if we did.   Today’s guest is Lisa Marie Platske. Lisa Marie is an award-winning leadership expert in human behavior and recognized as one of the top 100 women making a difference in the world. She left her Federal law enforcement career after 9/11 to build Upside Thinking, Inc. She is also a member of the Forbes Coaches Council, and Lisa has trained or coached over 100,000 leaders around the globe.   Lisa and I talk about the Leadership Blueprint. She shared the three principles of the Leadership Blueprint which can help you up your management game and unleash your full potential as a people leader.    Members of the Modern Manager community get the Influential Leadership Blueprint, a simple, step-by-step workbook that allows you to create clear next steps for your journey.   Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.    Read the related blog article: How To Become A Leader Worth Following   KEEP UP WITH LISA MARIE LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamarieplatske/ Facebook business: https://www.facebook.com/UpsideThinking Facebook personal: https://www.facebook.com/lisa.marie.platske   Key Takeaways: Courage is more important than expertise. Courageous leadership comes from making and acting on difficult decisions. Consider the knowledge and experience you have from all aspects of your life, not only professional ones.  Prioritize the goals that will make the greatest impact. Decide these based on personal and/or organizational values.  It’s more important to move one important thing a mile than 10 things only three steps. Set your priority goals and then reassess during the day by using SNAP at random intervals; Stop, Notice, Ask, Pause, Pray, and Pivot.  Focusing on priorities leaves wiggle room for when unexpected issues arise and prevents overload. Be present by focusing on less.  Discuss with your team how they can focus and prioritize. Learn what times of day are best for each person to both collaborate and work alone.  We are filled with unconscious beliefs of what we “should” be doing. Examine what you really want and why it matters. Do what is right for you, not what you “should” according to other people’s ideas. Be honest about what roles, responsibilities, and requirements you don’t want. Create nonnegotiables and set boundaries for what you can’t and won’t do.  Discuss with your team what they do and don’t want. Be aware these may change.  mamie@mamieks.com

Influencing others is a key part of most managerial positions. Too often we conflate authority with influence. Authority is an exercise in power while influence is about encouraging people to join you in a shared mission.  Whether it's getting a team member to change their behavior, generating buy-in from your supervisor, or getting a colleague in a different department to help out, we are often in positions where we don’t have (or don’t want to use) positional power to get what we need. This is where we rely on our ability to influence. In this episode, I walk through 5 approaches to influencing without authority so that you can gain support in ways that both deliver results and feel good along the way. The full episode guide includes tips and suggestions for each of the five approaches. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.     Get the free mini-guide at themodernnmanager.com/miniguides.   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.    Read the related blog article: 5 Approaches to Influencing Without Authority   Key Takeaways: Influencing without authority happens by building relationships not through exercising power. Start with curiosity. Learn who they are and what they care about. When you ask for their involvement, align your project or request with their values. Figure out what barriers are stopping people from saying yes. Address concerns and find ways to help remove obstacles. Being willing to help will make a strong positive impression.  Cultivate an authentic relationship before making any asks. Use the “3 Touches Before An Ask” strategy to reduce the likelihood that the person will feel they’re being used..  If you struggle with building authentic relationships, think about what someone skilled in this would do in such a situation. Then take those steps.  Include others in the decision making process. People support what they help create. Listen to ideas and be open to reshaping your vision.  Craft compelling personal narratives to increase interest in your cause. People give when their emotions are aroused.  mamie@mamieks.com

It’s easy to get caught up in the “us versus them” mentality. Our brains naturally like to categorize people and then bond with those who are “on our team” while alienating those who are not. This can happen within an organization “marketing vs sales” or by identity “men vs other gender identities” or geography “London HQ vs remote team members” and many other factors. When cultural divides separate colleagues, it inhibits effective communication and collaboration. Instead, we need to find ways to bring people together that honors our cultural differences while building bridges.   Laura Kriska is the author of The Business of WE and a leading cross-cultural consultant with more than thirty years of experience bridging gaps in diverse workplaces. She has worked with Fortune 500 companies on four continents helping thousands of professionals build trust across Us versus Them differences based on nationality, ethnicity, race, religion, age or any factor of identity. Her WE-building framework provides practical and actionable insights for creating a more inclusive and productive world.   Laura and I talk about how to understand cultural differences from norms and behaviors, to mindsets, and how to bring people together across the ‘us vs them’ divide.   Be one of the first two members to request a free audiobook copy of The Business of We: The Proven Three-Step Process for Closing the Gap Between Us and Them in Your Workplace. This offer is available only to members of The Modern Manager. Join at themodernmanager.com/join.  Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.    Read the related blog article: Go From “Us Vs Them” To “WE” At Work   KEEP UP WITH LAURA Book: The Business of We Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurakriska_author/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LauraKriskaauthor Twitter: https://twitter.com/LauraKriska LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-kriska-0a93902a/   Key Takeaways: When teams separate because of diverse identities, it can create divisive “insider/outsider” dynamics that break down trust and communication. “Us vs Them” dynamics can show up between departments, hierarchies, and geographic locations, in addition to various individual identities. Visible culture norms are things like dress or language. Invisible cultural norms are unspoken rules about how people are expected to act. These are learned through involvement in the culture.  Invisible cultural norms that aren’t working for your team need to be addressed.  Look at missed outcomes or HR complaints. They may point to breakdowns in cohesion amongst your team.  Have open conversations with your team about what’s not working. Model self-reflection and commitment to change to encourage others to open up.  Measure your level of integration with diverse groups and commit to increasing your knowledge of various cultures/backgrounds.  Have everyone share a personal experience of feeling like an outsider to highlight the importance of a feeling of belonging.  Those with a scarcity mindset might worry they will lose power if they bring others up. Explain how everyone benefits from greater inclusion and a “WE” culture.  Additional Resources: Book: The Sum Of Us Free Assessment mamie@mamieks.com