The Modern Manager

Be honest with yourself for a moment: Are you managing your time and tasks well? Do you have a weekly planning routine that helps ensure you’re focused on your most important work? Sometimes, just a few simple changes to your planning can help you find more freedom and fulfillment in your work. Today’s guest is Demir Bentley. Demir teaches hard-hitting efficiency techniques and proven accountability strategies that have helped clients generate millions in revenue while saving thousands of hours. In the past eight years, he’s helped more than 50,000 professionals, including executives from Facebook, Google, Uber and PepsiCo – helping them prevent burnout and create more freedom in their lives. And, Demir’s advice has been highlighted in Forbes, Bloomberg, Entrepreneur and more. Demir and I talk about the #1 routine you should do every week to exponentially improve your productivity…the weekly planning session. We get into how to do it, when to do it, and what makes it so powerful. Members of the Modern Manager community have a chance to get 1 of 20 free Kindle versions of Demir’s book, “Winning the Week”. In this book, Demir and Carey Bentley reveal their five-step method that radically reimagines how you plan and execute your week. 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: 5 Steps to a Productive Week   KEEP UP WITH DEMIR Website: lifehackmethod.com Book: winningtheweek.com Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/lifehackbootcamp Instagram: http://instagram.com/demirandcarey Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/demirandcarey   Key Takeaways: There are hundreds of productivity tips, tools, practices, habits, routines. Instead of trying to do them all or sift through to find the best one for yourself, start with the fundamentals of planning your week. Everyone knows about weekly planning but few people do it correctly, and most people don’t do it at all. To plan your week, start by removing the frictions or increasing your motivation to spend 30 minutes on the planning process. Follow these five steps: learn from how you worked last week, find one leveraged priority to include this next week, interrogate your calendar to surface issues, prioritize your to do list, add tasks to your calendar to ensure you’ve scheduled time to complete the important work. It is essential to know what you want to accomplish in order to be productive.  You can improve your personal productivity habits and routines, as well as increase productivity through automation, technology, and delegation. All of your productivity approaches should support your desired lifestyle, helping you live the life you desire.   mamie@mamieks.com instagram.com/mamieks

Vacation time is so important. We know there are a myriad of health benefits that come from taking time away from work. I also know how anxiety producing it can be to worry about your team or projects while you're away or stress over returning to an overflowing inbox and build-up of tasks, which can negate some of the health benefits and enjoyment of your time off. So what can you do to make your vacation time as rejuvenating as possible? Today's episode is about preparing to be out for vacation. I walk through 5 approaches to consider to help you prepare to be out of the office and make your time away and re-entry as smooth as possible. The full episode guide includes an overview of these principles plus tips for communicating tasks and responsibilities effectively to your team members so that there's no confusion. 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: How to Effectively Prepare Yourself and Your Team for Vacation Time    Key Takeaways: Taking vacations provides essential health benefits. Prepare well to minimize worrying about your team/work while away.  Create a shared vacation calendar to coordinate time off, except for holiday times, to ensure multiple people aren’t out at the same time.  Prep at least two weeks ahead of time so you can get organized and ensure everyone knows their responsibilities. Consult prior to-do lists to keep track of expected tasks.  Document processes for tasks while doing them rather than by memory. Record the screen while narrating to ensure you’ve included all essential and accurate information.   Consider what you’ll do ahead of time, what you’ll delay, what you’ll hand off, and what you’ll do while out. Determine how much you want staff to be able to contact you while out of the office and via what tools.  Consider which tasks might be a growth opportunity for certain colleagues. Make sure people are on board and confident with their new temporary roles.  When returning to work, don’t try to do everything on Day 1. Schedule follow-up meetings and block time on your to ease back in. Ask staff to prepare a document recapping key activities, decisions, and takeaways from while you were gone.  mamie@mamieks.com

Does it ever seem like your tasks just keep piling no matter how busy you are? As managers, it’s crucial that we’re able to follow through on our tasks and responsibilities so we can take care of our businesses and people. But in order to do that, we must have the right tools and mindset to organize and prioritize our daily work.    Today’s guest is Mark J. Silverman. Mark is an executive coach, author, and podcast host. He works with leaders and their teams around the world, to address the underlying behaviors and mindsets that sabotage all “time management” and “productivity tools”. Mark and I talk about prioritization through the lens of getting the right things done at the right time. We explore the concepts from his book Only 10s: Confront Your To-Do List, Transform Your Life and how to stay focused on what matters most even when you’ve got external pressures that make it feel impossible. Members of the Modern Manager community get access to a specialized web page for the Modern Manager Community. This page includes nine video modules on topics including difficult conversations, dealing with distractions, and energy mastery. Many of the modules include a “Taking Action Worksheet.” This page also includes a link you can use to schedule a follow-up meeting with Mark. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles, transcripts and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.    Read the related blog article: Be The Master Of Your To Do List Every Day   KEEP UP WITH MARK Website: https://www.markjsilverman.com Instagram: @markjsilverman Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.silverman.54 Twitter: @mjaysilverman LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark22102/   Key Takeaways: 10s are the things that have to be done, today, only by you. The only thing we own in life is our time and attention. Our 10s reflect our deepest values and priorities.  When we are afraid to upset others by saying no, we end up overloaded and unable to prioritize our most important tasks.  When delegating work, we need to teach others to meet our standards. Set up agreements for how the work will get done and what success looks like.  Give feedback for subpar work instead of doing it yourself.  A boss may assign too much work to the point where you’re unable to meet their goals. Say no through affirmative statements like “I want to help get things done but I need more resources.” The 3 stages of setting a boundary are through (1) anger, when you’ve reached a breaking point, (2) explaining, or making excuses for why you can’t do it, and (3) strength and love, when you own your choices. While some who relied on you as a crutch may leave your life, others will shift and appreciate your change.  The first things to delegate are tasks that are administrative or require your greatest weaknesses to get done. Have a plan for who you will hire when you reach a certain level.  Make an Only 10s to-do list each day. If you discover you’ve got a task that rolls over to the next day, consider why it didn’t get done and what systems you need in place to keep this from happening in the future. mamie@mamieks.com instagram.com/mamieks

Authenticity at work requires being true to yourself. However, this can be a difficult feat for managers. We often step into the management position believing there is a certain way we must speak and act, or certain knowledge we should now possess simply because we’re leading others, but research shows people respond more favorably to managers who are their true selves. How can managers fulfill their role while being true to their personalities, capabilities, and limitations? Today’s guest is Sabrina Horn. Sabrina is an award-winning CEO, author, communications expert, and advisor. Her career is highlighted by 25 years as Founder, CEO, and President of Horn Group, the iconic U.S. tech communications agency she founded in Silicon Valley at age 29. She is currently CEO of HORN Strategy, focused on helping entrepreneurs navigate the early stages of their companies. She is here today to talk with us about her new book, Make It, Don’t Fake It: Leading with Authenticity for Real Business Success. Sabrina and I talk about imposter syndrome, how to be appropriately authentic, how to overcome your inner critic's fears by acting ‘as if’ and more strategies for being real and amazing at work. Members of the Modern Manager community can get one of five signed copies of Sabrina’s book, Make It, Don’t Fake It. This book offers executives concrete advice on what to do when faced with everyday challenges and big dilemmas, so leaders can make the right decisions and build durable businesses. 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: Overcome Imposter Syndrome and Lead with Authenticity   KEEP UP WITH SABRINA Website: https://www.sabrinahorn.com Book: Make It, Don’t Fake It LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabrinahorn/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/sabrinahorn Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sabrinahorn/   Key Takeaways: Being inauthentic is unsustainable. Even though it’s hard to face the truth, it's harder in the long-run to hide from it. There are multiple levels of “faking it” that range from innocent white lies, to exaggerating the truth, to lies of omission, to full on fakery. Even small lies often lead to more, bigger lies because we become afraid to let the truth come out.  Imposter syndrome is when you underestimate yourself given your prior accomplishments. While you may feel like you’re faking it, you’re not. The majority of overachievers feel imposter syndrome, but women and minorities experience it more frequently. Acting “as if” you had the confidence (not experience or knowledge) needed for the situation can be a great way to overcome imposter syndrome. Write down a list of all your accomplishments to help you objectively see your own greatness. Imagine what behaviors someone who was successful would do. Then do these behaviors or invest in developing the skills to do them. Managers may have to behave in ways that feel unnatural in order to be a good manager. The key is to be fully invested in these behaviors even if they don’t feel authentic. mamie@mamieks.com instagram.com/mamieks

It's cliche, but true: Your people are your biggest asset. There's nothing more important than hiring people who are a strong fit for the job responsibilities and also align with your organization's values and mission. But recruiting the right people for your team can pose a challenge, and the hiring process can leave managers feeling exhausted. Today’s guest is Tatiyana Cure. Tatiyana brings her extensive background as an executive recruiter and talent acquisition leader to her work of coaching managers. She has partnered with thousands of hiring managers in a wide variety of industries. She is passionate about helping managers achieve their business goals through effective talent strategies. Tatiyana wrote her first book: "Hire to Win: Manager's Practical Guide for Attracting and Interviewing Top Talent" to share a blueprint for those looking for a step-by-step guide in hiring. We talk about the ins and outs of hiring: how to write a good job description, how to distinguish who to invite to an interview and who to pass on, how to handle reference checks, and so much more, so that you can hire the right people for your team. 10 members of the Modern Manager community get a free copy of Tatiyana’s book, Hire to Win. This step-by-step playbook accompanies managers looking to achieve better results, higher profits, and more success through the employees they hire. 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: The Step by Step Guide to Hiring the Perfect Person   KEEP UP WITH TATIYANA Website: https://howtowintalent.com/ Book: Hire to Win LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tatiyanacure/   Key Takeaways: Build a recruiting intake process as a blueprint. Consider what goal you are trying to accomplish, why your organization is unique, and what success in the job looks like.  Get to the point quickly when writing a job description. Spell out specifically what you’re looking for and what the role entails. Include the compensation range.  There are four types of applicants; Blanket Folks who apply to every position, Role Players who have the skill set in place already, Stretchers who are looking to advance their career, and Head Scratchers who have taken a leave and are returning or trying a new career path.  Ignore Blanket Folk resumes. Know how to pitch the job to Role Players on why you’re unique and benefit them. Interview some Stretchers and Head Scratchers as they often have hidden talents.  Align with your staff on what you’re assessing in the interview process, what questions you’ll each be asking, and how you’ll be evaluating candidates' responses. Involve other stakeholders in the interview process to assess technical, communication, and other skills.  Set up a peer interview for the applicant to learn what a day in the life of the role is like. Show the culture in action. This minimizes the chance of any surprises once the applicant starts the job.  Give time for a reverse interview, for the candidate to get all their questions answered.  Discuss work styles to avoid future friction.  Ask for references from people who directly reported to the person and/or managed them. Give them space to share their initial thoughts before prompting with your specific questions.  mamie@mamieks.com instagram.com/mamieks

Most people have a general idea about how their colleagues or team members work best. You may occasionally pick up a random fact about a person's personality or work style, but it's rare to have the full picture. The result: we are frustrated by our coworkers because we don’t understand them and they don’t understand us.  Today I talk about creating a Personal Instruction Manual, or PIM for short. A PIM is a resource that describes a person’s personality and working preferences, and its purpose is to help that person’s coworkers and manager better understand and work with them. Similar to an instruction manual that comes with a new piece of hardware or software, a PIM helps people understand how to engage with someone most effectively. The full episode guide includes a template for creating a Personal Instruction Manual. You’ll find questions for each section to help the creator capture relevant insights about themselves. In addition, I’m offering an extra bonus this week. If you are interested in having me support your team to develop Personal Instruction Manuals, I will facilitate a team coaching program centered on PIMs at a 20% discount. Get these offers 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: Optimize Your Working Relationships with the Personal Instruction Manual   Key Takeaways: Don’t waste time guessing what your teammates need. Craft and share Personal Instruction Manuals to explain how each person works most effectively.  Each person learns and shares their Myer Briggs profile so everyone can better understand different thinking styles and behaviors.  Explain what work environment you work best in: remote/office, quiet/noisy, deep work/meeting times, and most productive times of days.  Share what types of things stress you at work and what behaviors indicate that you're feeling stressed. Explain how people can best support you at these times.  Describe your communication preferences: How do you like feedback? How do you deal with conflict and what makes you feel appreciated?  Include a “Surprise Section” for people to share any miscellaneous things others might need to know in order to work together effectively.  Before holding a PIM sharing meeting, collect and share everyone’s PIMs so people can review them beforehand. When sharing, ask people to give real life examples where their personality/preference showed up in ways that worked or didn’t.  Update and share new PIMs annually to adjust to people/work situations changing and professional/personal growth.  Sharing PIMs is an excellent tool for onboarding new employees.  Additional Resources: Episode 99: Show Authentic and Meaningful Appreciation with Dr. Paul White Episode 14: Personality and Preferences with Rob Toomey mamie@mamieks.com

We’ve all been there. We thought we knew what was best, only to find out later that what we thought we knew was wrong. Even the best manager can get lost in all the leadership advice, trying to do what’s right and still somehow failing. This is because sometimes that leadership advice is wrong. Today’s guest is Sumit Gupta. Sumit spent 20 years in software, started 2 for-profit and 1 non-profit organizations, and is a photographer. He combines his experiences as a techie, engineer, 3x entrepreneur, and leader in companies like Yahoo and Booking.com, and as a poet and photographer – to help leaders merge the science of doing business with the art of leadership. Sumit and I talk about the seven paradoxes of leadership. These paradoxes are concepts that shift the way we think about leadership and what it takes to be a great manager. They take the typical leadership advice and flip it on its head. Members of the Modern Manager community get a 20% discount on Deploy Yourself, a 6-month group coaching program for leaders starting July 15 and September 15, 2022. This program will help you create better results in less time, build strong relationships, and find meaning and joy. You can get an additional 20% off the program if you register by June 20. 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: What You Thought About Leading a Team is Wrong   KEEP UP WITH SUMIT Podcast: https://www.deployyourself.com/podcast/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sumit4all/ Newsletter: https://www.deployyourself.com/newsletter/ Seven Paradoxes Report: https://www.deployyourself.com/7-leadership-paradoxes/   Key Takeaways: What we believe about effective management is often the opposite. We call these paradoxes of effective leadership. To build psychological safety, trust your team’s intentions and abilities from the start, rather than waiting for them to prove themselves.  Don’t blindly trust. Set up the right structure of clear expectations, values and direction. Be transparent about any concerns you have so they can be addressed right away.  Fear is your friend. It tells you what is at the edge of your abilities and what’s important to you. Don’t cover it with guilt for feeling that way.  Leadership is power through the ability to get results, not superiority. People want to follow leaders who know how to win together. We can’t force people to change. The best we can do is create the right conditions and inspire others by our own actions.  mamie@mamieks.com instagram.com/mamieks

When working with a team, delegation is one of the most important skills to develop. One of our main goals as managers is to unlock the potential of our people, and effective delegation enables that to happen. However, ineffective delegation can lead to frustration and inefficiencies for everyone.  Today’s guest is Yuri Elkaim. Yuri is a former pro athlete, leading health expert, New York Times bestselling author, and the founder of Healthpreneur® where he helps health entrepreneurs, coaches, and practitioners start and scale online practices that create more income and freedom...and better results for their clients. Yuri and I talk about creating the parameters for people to take on additional responsibility and autonomy while meeting the standards and expectations that you’ve set. We talk about creating principles, the importance of effective onboarding, and finding the balance between micromanaging and being totally hands off. Members of the Modern Manager community get the worksheet Communication is Key, which is one lesson from Mamie’s course, The Modern Manager’s Guide to Effective Delegation. In addition, members get 90% off the full course which includes 5 modules of brief mini-lessons that help you take manageable actions to apply the learnings to your situation. It’s designed for busy managers who are ready to free their time and eliminate friction through effective delegation. Get these bonuses 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: Guide Your Team Using Organization Principles   KEEP UP WITH YURI Website: https://healthpreneurgroup.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healthpreneur/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@yurielkaim   Key Takeaways: To document your management approach, imagine a scene of yourself working. Consider what you say and how you interact. If you can articulate your process, you can delegate it to others.  Elevate your time by delegating low level tasks below your paygrade. Maintain oversight as you delegate new tasks to ensure they are completed to your standards.  Use an ‘early alignment phase’ for the first two weeks during which you closely monitor the work to make sure your team member learns the new expectations properly. Small, early misses could lead to big mistakes farther down. Be available for support if needed later on when you take a step back.  Use your organization’s principles as guardrails so your team knows where they have autonomy and how to make decisions in alignment with your values.  To decide on principles, consider what situations/practices bother you and create principles that are the opposite of that.  Involve your team in co-creating principles. Small teams may want to consider everyone’s perspective while larger teams may focus on getting the right people involved.  Additional Resources: Episode 80: Shift Your Mindset and Start Delegating Book: Mindfloss Sweetprocess special offer for listeners of The Modern Manager: Get an extended 28 day trial and reduced pricing for small teams of $390/year for 8 seats Episode 136: Easily Document Processes and Procedures with Owen McGab Enaohwo mamie@mamieks.com instagram.com/mamieks

A modern manager is an employee’s partner. You support them, teach them, and guide them through the ups and downs of doing their work. While many new managers, and entrepreneurs are thrown into the position without training, they don’t need to flounder. With a bit of intention and determination, anyone can become a rockstar manager.  Today’s guest is Joie Jager-Hyman. Joie is the Founder of College Prep 360, a boutique educational advisory group. She is also the author of two books on college admissions: "B+ Grades A+ College Applications" and "Fat Envelope Frenzy". Joie and I talk about her experience of transforming into a “modern manager” and how that has impacted her personally, her team, and her business. Members of the Modern Manager community get 10% off educational advising or college essay editing from College Prep 360. Get this bonus 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: People Management Should Be Your Top Priority   KEEP UP WITH JOIE: Website: https://www.collegeprep360.com/   Key Takeaways: Most managers and entrepreneurs never got trained to be people managers, so we have to proactively educate ourselves. Strong people management is your foundation. The better you take care of your team, the better work they can do. Develop team and/or company values. Together, decide what you care about and how you want to treat each other. Reference these values as often as possible in meetings, when giving feedback, etc. Don’t let stress overtake your values. Being stressed is not an excuse for treating team members poorly. It’s just as important to support your team as it is to please clients. Invest in a coach for yourself and give your team members opportunities for professional coaching.  Good people management is a learning journey. Your team members will need different things from you as they develop. Additional Resources: Episode 72: Align Your Team By Creating Shared Values Episode 76: Bring Team Values to Life  mamie@mamieks.com

We live in an age of distraction. No matter what we have to do – whether it's writing an essay, working in an office, or just going about our daily lives – we are constantly at the mercy of internal and external distractions. These attention-breakers have serious consequences on our quality of work. The good news is that with our growing knowledge of the brain and improved technology, there are specific steps we can take to increase attention and improve focus. This week’s episode covers the difference between internal and external distractions and practical steps you can take to increase your focus. While our internal distractions are actually much more numerous than external, both can prevent people from focused work. I talk about the things you may be doing that prevent deep focus, then I give you steps you can take to mitigate distractions using short-term and long-term approaches. The full episode guide includes the matrix of focus along with tips and suggestions for how to focus from each of the various perspectives of the matrix. 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: How to Stop Getting so Distracted and Focus   Key Takeaways: External distractions are physical interruptions in our environment that break our focus. Internal distractions come from within us, whether it’s a desire to check social media or feeling hungry. 80% of all distractions we encounter are internal. Focusing better is about controlling your mind. If you have too much on your mind (cognitive overload), you depress your ability to concentrate on the task at hand. Humans can’t multitask (do two things at once). Instead, we task switch, which takes time to refocus. Clear your physical and digital spaces from visual distractions. Block out time on your calendar to get deep work done. Develop ways for your team to signal when they don’t want to be interrupted (like a closed door or headphones on). Build your ability to focus with meditation or breath work. Use both short-term and long-term techniques to set yourself up for better focus and getting yourself back on track after an interruption. Additional Resources: Book: Free to Focus Book: Peak Mind Book: Getting Things Done Netflix episode: The Mind, Explained: season 2 episode 1, How to Focus Episode 158: Discover Your Optimal Work Episode 179: Free Your Time For What Matters Most with Dorie Clark mamie@mamieks.com