The Modern Manager

You may have heard the idea of manager as coach before. It’s one of the core ideas I subscribe to as a manager - that we should coach our team members to unleash their potential. But what about coaching yourself? Is that even possible? This week’s guest, Jennifer DiMotta, is the Owner and President of DiMotta Consulting LLC where she takes her 20+ years of triple-digit growth success and transforms it to easily digestible strategies and plans for clients, particularly in the luxury direct to consumer market. Jennifer speaks on Women Leadership and has developed a method which she calls Six Steps to Becoming Your Own Leadership Coach, a proven method of developing your leadership skills for personal success. Jennifer and I walk through the six steps, dig into the process and examples, so you can apply the approach to yourself or you team members.   Read the related blog article: How to Coach Yourself   Join the Modern Manager community to get 2.5 hours of free coaching from Jennifer when you start the 6 Steps to Becoming Your Own Leadership Coach program. Join by June 30, 2019 and get two special gifts - a Modern Manager mini-notebook and a Meeteor meeting notebook to help you distill meeting outcomes.   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and mini-guides delivered to your inbox.   I need your help: What's challenging about being a manager? Share your experience here: www.mamieks.com/new-course   KEY TAKEAWAYS: Step one is to become more self aware. Through a series of assessments, you can get a better understanding of your strengths, preferences, and potential areas for growth. Two great assessments to start with are Strengths Finder and Myers Briggs Type Indicator It’s not about trying to change who you are, but rather develop in areas that will serve you and your team. Leaders come in all varieties. There are many attributes of great leaders. The key is to figure out your strengths which you can build on and what specific qualities you want to develop. Step two is to create a vision of what leadership qualities you desire. Reflect on leaders whom you admire - what about them do you appreciate? Step three is to create SMART goals which describe the goal, the behavior you’ll adopt, when/where you’ll do the behavior, how you’ll measure success, and when you’ll pause to reflect on progress. Step four is to find an accountability partner who can speak honestly with you, help hold you to your goals, and be your cheerleader. It’s critical you respect this person so that you can really hear what they say. Research has proven time and again that when you have an accountability partner, you’re significantly more likely to achieve your goals. Meet with your accountability partner in whatever format and frequency works best for you. Step five is to reflect and celebrate progress along with small and big wins. Reward or treat yourself to help stay motivated. Step six is to encourage others to develop themselves and offer praise and thanks.   KEEP UP WITH JENNIFER Website: www.dimottaconsulting.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferdimotta/ Email: jennifer@dimottaconsulting.com Phone: 703-570-5545

There is an old joke that a manager’s work is to go to meetings. As a meeting expert, that sounds lovely to me, but as an experienced manager, I know that’s not the case. This week’s guest, Mike Tannenbaum, is Founder, Principal, and Lead Strategist of Humanity. Mike helps people create better experiences by deepening their understanding of humans. He focuses on helping people and teams become the best version of themselves by redesigning the way they relate to their work so they experience more joy, fulfillment, and effective ways of working. Mike and I talk about the 4 types of work, what a manager creates, the practice of continuous improvement combined with planning, mindfulness and more.   Read the related blog article: What Does a Manager Create?   Join the Modern Manager community to get 25% off everything on Mike’s store including the Clear Path Forward workbooks and course. Join by June 30, 2019 and get two special gifts - a Modern Manager mini-notebook and a Meeteor meeting notebook to help you distill meeting outcomes.   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and mini-guides delivered to your inbox.   I need your help: What's challenging about being a manager? Share your experience here: www.mamieks.com/new-course   KEY TAKEAWAYS: There are four types of work: (1) planning - preparing to do the work (2) coordinating - the activities that facilitate the work e.g. meetings, gathering information, etc. (3) creating - producing your deliverables, and (4) distracting - anything that gets in the way of the other work. A manager’s role is to create trust, clarity, enhanced team members, a strong team, high performance, results or goal achievement. There are 5 types of people we collaborate with: (1) collaborators - those we work with to achieve the same goal, (2) leaders - those who give direction and inspire action, (3) advisors - those who offer guidance, (4) people who I rely on, and (5) people who rely on me. Often there are people outside our team of collaborators who we rely on and/or who rely on us - for information, for help, for specific needs. It’s critical to think expansively about who we need to work with, communicate with, and build relationships with. There is value to creating plan that provides direction, but things almost never go according to plan. Incorporating regularly scheduled moments of reflection - e.g. what have we learned - allow you to iterate the plan so it stays relevant. Mindfulness in organizations is really about creating a practice of reflection and awareness, at the individual and organizational levels. We all have qualities about ourselves that we don’t see, and we have those which we don’t like about ourselves. The sooner we can have an honest view of these behaviors, the sooner we can take action to address them - which can range from accepting a behavior without changing it to investing deeply in modifying a behavior.   KEEP UP WITH MIKE Website: http://enjoyhumanity.co Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheRoyalTbomb LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tannenbaum/ Workbook + Store: http://clearpathforward.co

Is your organization more like a stoplight or a round-a-bout? That may seem like an odd question but while they do the same thing (manage traffic intersections), they operate in fundamentally different ways. This week’s guest, Aaron Dignan, has spent the past 10 years studying organizations and teams with a new way of working that prioritizes adaptivity and autonomy over efficiency and control. Aaron contends that teams everywhere need to join them in the future of work. As the Founder of ​The Ready​—a global organizational transformation and coaching practice—he helps companies large and small adopt new forms of self-organization and dynamic teaming. Aaron is an active angel investor and helps build partnerships between the startups and end-ups he advises. He’s also a co-founder of Responsive.org. And he has sat on advisory boards for GE, American Express, PepsiCo, and Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, as well as the board of directors for Smashburger. He is the author of ​Game Frame​ (Free Press, 2011) and ​Brave New Work​ (Portfolio 2019). Aaron and I talk about the origins of “modern management practices” and why they no longer serve us, what old vs new operating systems look like and how to being transitioning your team to work in brave new ways.   Read the related blog article: Embracing the Future of Modern Management   Join the Modern Manager community to get Aaron’s OS Canvas PDF and instructions on how to use it to support your learning journey! Join by June 30, 2019 and get two special gifts - a Modern Manager mini-notebook and a Meeteor meeting notebook to help you distill meeting outcomes.   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and mini-guides delivered to your inbox.   I need your help: What's challenging about being a manager? Share your experience here: www.mamieks.com/new-course    KEY TAKEAWAYS: Current management practices were developed when work was primarily done on a factory floor. The goal was efficiency. Yet today’s work context is very different - one in which the market is constantly changing, the work itself is evolving, and the goal is to be nimble and adaptive. Complicated systems are machines that can be fixed and optimized, like a wrist watch. Complex systems are dynamic and unpredictable. They can be managed but not solved, like a garden. Companies are complex and we need to stop treating them like machines and start approaching them more like gardens. It’s time to update our “operating systems” - the underlying assumptions and norms that guide how we work. We need do annual planning and more dynamic planning, empower the people doing the work to make decisions as they learn. For every process and practice in the workplace, there is a “command and control” way of doing it and a “trust and empower” way of doing it. Our organizations are overwhelmingly command and control oriented. The job of a manager is not to create perfect execution - it’s to create continually growing capability. Start by asking your team members: "What's stopping you from doing the best work of your life?" and then ask "Well, what can we do in our team to take one step forward on that issue."   KEEP UP WITH AARON Website: https://theready.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/aarondignan LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aarondignan/ Book: https://www.bravenewwork.com/

It’s been 1 year since I launched The Modern Manager podcast. To celebrate, I take a look back at some of my favorite episodes and lessons learned, and share plans for the future, including some exciting changes.   Get all the free mini-guides (episodes 1-52) in a single download.   There is a new community! Join the Modern Manager community to get the full guides, guest bonuses, access to the forum and more. Join before June 30th and get two special bonus gifts: a Modern Manager mini-notebook (usually reserved only as a thank you gift for my guests) and Meeteor meeting log to help clarify your meeting outcomes.   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and mini-guides delivered to your inbox.   I'm launching a new course for managers! Share you thoughts and get 10% off when the course launches: www.mamieks.com/new-course   Key Takeaways: Lesson from Elise Keith: Productive meetings is a mindset - when you expect meetings to be a waste of time, you don’t invest time preparing for them which results in the meeting being a waste of time, further proving they’re a necessary evil. Break this mental downward spiral by seeing meetings as an important place where work gets done and preparing appropriately. Lesson from Rob Toomey: Before responding to a colleague or team member, pause and consider how you can communicate in a way that’s best for them rather than what’s easiest for you. Lesson from Tara Mohr: Rather than trying to argue with someone’s inner critic, help them recognize that it’s their inner critic who is speaking out of fear, rather than a voice that is speaking from your aspirations or potential. Lesson from Robleh Kirce: When giving feedback, start by getting permission to speak with them about feedback. Share your observations without judgement by focusing on facts and the impact. Then open the conversation to hear their thinking. Lesson from Jesse Fowl: To help unleash more creative and risky ideas, focus on learning rather than success. Treat ideas that generate learnings (both what works and what doesn’t) as equally valuable.   Additional Resources: Episode 10: Effective Meetings with Elise Keith Episode 14: Personality and Preferences with Rob Toomey Episode 26: Quieting the Inner Critic with Tara Mohr Episode 32: Give and Receive Better Feedback with Robleh Kirce Episode 38: How to Unleash New Ideas Through Failure with Jesse Fowl Episode 23: Getting a Handle on Procrastination Episode 37: Designing Your Management Style Get my book Momentum Meeting Leadership online course Personality and Preference Coaching Options mamie@mamieks.com

How many languages do you speak or understand? Learning a new language helps you appreciate the importance and nuance of language and how it impacts your ability to communicate and connect with others. Leadership and management have their own language which you can learn. This week’s guest, Krister Ungerboeck, is a CEO Coach, and expert in The Language of Leadership.  Prior to retiring at age 42, Krister was the award-winning CEO of one of the largest family-owned software companies in the world.  His expertise in the Language of Leadership is based upon his unique experience as a global CEO leading teams in three languages while observing and doing business with executives in over 40 countries, building businesses in six and living in three Krister and I talk about the importance of language as a manager, how to use language to engage people, and how positivity can transform productivity.   Join the Modern Manager community to get special four tools from Krister including a leadership assessment, plus episode guides and other guest bonuses to support your learning journey!   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and mini-guides delivered to your inbox.   Read the related blog article: How Language Can Make You a Better Manager   KEY TAKEAWAYS: Leadership or management is all about how you use language. Even when the underlying meaning is consistent, how you say it matters. Choose words that are too strong and you risk alienated people. Choose words that are too soft and you risk not getting the behavior you’re asking for. Power your productivity with positivity by setting metrics that allow each person to compete with themselves rather than each other. Aim for each person to become their personal best. This eliminates room for excuses and allows everyone to be celebrated. Create metrics that can always be increased rather than a percentage so there is always room for improvement. It takes lots of energy to figure out answers, but asking good questions is often easier and leads to better answers. Ask open-ended questions that generally start with ‘what’ or ‘how’ as these will lead to more interesting answers than yes/no questions or questions that are really ideas disguised as questions. To improve your emotional intelligence, try guessing at the emotion the other person may be experiencing and why. What is it they’re needing? Use language like “I’m wondering if you’re frustrated by…because you want more autonomy to make decisions,” or “I’d imagine you’re feeling excluded from…because the team didn’t loop you in at the start of the project.” If your guess is accurate, the person will reinforce it, but if it’s not, they’ll likely correct you. This gives you more accurate information and helps them articulate their situation.   KEEP UP WITH KRISTER Website: krister.com Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/theleadershiparchaeologist LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/meetkrister Book: https://www.krister.com/book

Unfortunately, bullying is not limited to kids and playgrounds.   This week’s guest, Matt Paknis, is a senior management consultant who focuses on lessening bullying in the workplace. He was a former assistant coach at Penn State under Joe Paterno and has spoken publicly about being abused as a child. He is the author of Successful Leaders Aren’t Bullies and has over twenty-five years of experience helping global clients embrace healthy management practices. Warning: The content of this episode is likely not appropriate for young audiences. Matt and I talk about what makes a person act as a bully, what bullying is, what to do if you are bullied or observe someone being bullied, the legal stuff and more.   Join the Modern Manager community to get 10% off a speaking or consulting engagement with Matt. Plus, get past and future episode guides and guest bonuses to support your learning journey!   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and mini-guides delivered to your inbox.   Read the related blog article: Dealing With A Workplace Bully   KEY TAKEAWAYS: Bullying in the workplace is repetitive, intentional, very negative, even derogatory language and actions that undermine motivation, capability and trust. Bullies are often afraid that you’ll outshine them so they set you up to fail. The best employees are often the targets of bullying because they're the ones that are most apt to trigger the incompetence fear of the boss. A tough boss sets high expectations and then supports you, even if it’s with tough love, to meet them. You always know they’ll go to bat for you and you’re on the same side even when they’re being hard on you. Organizations without clear goals, roles and processes are primed for bullying. Bullies take advantage of the lack of clarity while victims don’t have the structure to back up their concerns. One of the best things you can do as a manager to prevent bullying is to be clear about roles, goals and processes. Encourage other managers to do the same. 5% of the people in an organization will be perpetrators of bullying. 10% will be targets. 85% will be bystanders. If you are experiencing bullying or observe someone else being bullied, report it to HR and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In most states, recording is legal with one party consent - be sure to check your state’s laws. If you're being bullied, you're the one person that's consenting to that recording so you can record the conversation. Then bring that to a labor attorney or the EEOC, or the human rights commission and they'll refer you to a reputable attorney in the area.   Other resources: Episode 6: The Importance of Healthy Workplace Culture w/ Fran Sepler   KEEP UP WITH MATT Website: http://www.mattpaknis.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-paknis-7227454/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mattpaknis?lang=en Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matt_paknis/

Virtual meetings are laden with problems. Incorrect or missing call-in numbers, strange echoes, and the occasional choppy connection delay and interrupt what is already a difficult situation. But even without technological issues, virtual meetings have all the typical challenges of in-person meetings and more. So how do we make virtual meetings engaging and productive?   Get the free mini-guide with suggestions for virtual meeting practices and how to use technology to enhance your online gatherings.   When you join the Modern Manager community, get the full guide with step-by-step instructions for using Trello to facilitate brainstorming, along with access to prior episode guides and guest bonuses.   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and mini-guides delivered to your inbox.   Key Takeaways: Virtual meetings feel less important than in-person meetings, so we treat them with less respect. It’s easy to hide during a virtual meeting which enables multi-tasking, coming unprepared and not being noticed, and/or avoiding participating in general. For teams that are not generally co-located, virtual meetings may be mis-used for relationship building. To make virtual meetings more engaging and productive, treat them more like in-person meetings: (1) Have a desired outcome, agenda, and prework. Be more intentional in planning them and take them seriously even though they may feel informal. (2) Clarify your virtual meeting practices as a team. Consider norms for processes, technology, and participation so everyone is aligned and expectations are shared. (3) Use technology to drive focus and engagement. Use video over audio. Use Trello to mimic sticky-note brainstorming. Use Zoom breakout rooms to mimic small group discussions, etc. (4) Use a chat tool to build relationships between meetings. Create ‘water cooler’ channels so people have a place to talk about interests outside of work instead of using meeting time to connect.   Additional Resources: episode 33: Do You Really Need That Meeting mamie@mamieks.com

What sets apart great leaders and high performers from everyone else? Why is it that some people seem to create magic over and over again for themselves in their personal life, with their team, or their organization? This week’s guest, Rob Shallenberger, is one of the world's leading authorities on leadership, planning, and execution. Rob is the CEO of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership and has spoken to and trained more than 200 organizations around the world. Rob and I talk about two of the 12 principles of highly effective leaders. Rob shares stories and examples of how these principles can transform your life and your team. We also get into the process of pre-week planning, what Rob calls a “game changer” for managers and employees alike.   Join the Modern Manager community to get 30% off the Becoming Your Best Planner plus episode guides and other guest bonuses to support your learning journey!   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and mini-guides delivered to your inbox.    Read the related blog article: How to Become a Great Leader   KEY TAKEAWAYS: Rob and his father studied high performers in a variety of roles and industries and distilled 12 principles of highly successful leaders. Putting the 12 principles into action together creates a chemistry of excellence that is predictive of success. Principle 2: Lead with vision - This means having an articulated, written down vision for the team as well as for yourself. And, as a manager, helping each of your team members to define their own vision which will help them achieve their highest potential. It’s incredibly powerful when everyone knows the vision, is inspired by it, and takes actions in line with achieving it. Principle 4: Prioritize your time - 68% of people feel their number one challenge is how to prioritize their time. In order to be a transformational leader or effective manager, you need to focus on the things that matter most. The things that matter least will always be pulling at us, whereas often, the things that matter most, get lost in the chaos. This single biggest game changer for most managers is doing pre-week planning. For 20-30 minutes, between Friday afternoon and Sunday night, look at your vision and goals, the roles you play (parent, friend, spouse, self, etc) then do a mini brainstorm on what you can do this week that matters for each of the topics. Then schedule these onto your calendar. The pre-week planning process is simple, but developing the habit of doing it can be hard. Set two reminders for yourself over the weekend to trigger you to do the pre-week planning. Read Becoming Your Best with your entire team, practice together applying one principle per month.   KEEP UP WITH ROB Website: www.BecomingYourBest.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/byb

We all experience stress at work. Ideally, it’s short lived and easily manageable. When a heightened state of stress becomes the new normal, you may be on the way to burnout. While burnout is the extreme and typically rare case, it’s critical to notice when stress, frustration, overload and overwhelm are taking over. They’re the signs burnout may be coming.   Get the free mini-guide with questions to help you identify stressors in your life and your team members’ lives.   When you join the Modern Manager community, get the full guide with suggestions for how to manage stress, along with access to prior episode guides, guest bonuses and 30% off personality based coaching to help you better understand your preferences and learn new strategies to help you be a rockstar manager.   When you join before midnight Eastern April 23, 2019, you are eligible to win a free coaching session with Amy Born, guest from episode 44: Manager as Coach.   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and mini-guides delivered to your inbox.    Key Takeaways: Job burnout is different from depression or other mental or emotional conditions. Burnout occurs when you are physically or emotionally exhausted from work in ways that lead to a sense of lack of accomplishment, reduced motivation, and loss of personal identity. Burnout is caused by a number of factors including (1) lack of control, (2) unclear expectations, (3) extremes of activity, (4) dysfunctional workplace dynamics, (5) lack of social support, and (6) work-life imbalance. Look for signs of stress, frustration, overload and overwhelm so you can manage stress and avoid burnout. Find a de-stressor that works for you which you can use ‘in the moment’ to regain a sense of calm. Change your situation or change the environment. Do something to get yourself out of the stressful situation if only for a few days. Plan a no-meetings day each month to catch up on work, have uninterrupted focus time or do some self care. Admit when you’ve got too much on your plate and ask for help or let things go. Know what’s most important so you can make choices and not feel guilty. Invest in your health by getting enough sleep, exercise and healthy eating. Nourish your soul and recharge by doing things you love. Remember why you do the work you do and what about your role you find meaningful. If all else fails, consider if it’s time to change organizations, fields, roles or careers.   Additional Resources: Episode 19: Time Management Methods, Mindsets and Approaches Mayo Clinic article: Job Burnout: how to spot job it and take action mamie@mamieks.com

Team building can develop relationships in ways that profoundly impact the team. When people get to know each other, they are able to work together more effectively and efficiently.  This week’s guest, Amani Roberts, is a DJ, music producer, podcaster professor and creative who loves to help people unlock their creativity by teaching them how to DJ. After a successful career as a corporate executive, Amani took the leap into the creative space. Amani and I talk about his experience in both corporate and creative settings, lessons learned, and his new business of team building through DJing.   Join the Modern Manager community to get 25% off Amani's team building program plus episode guides and other guest bonuses to support your learning journey!   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and mini-guides delivered to your inbox.   Read the related blog article: Insightful Management Lessons from a DJ   KEY TAKEAWAYS: Creatives and those with an arts background tend to be more comfortable taking risks and being vulnerable. It comes from years of practice in their art-making of creating something new, pushing themselves and the boundaries and getting feedback. As DJ or manager, it’s helpful to be able to read the room - to look around and recognize when the energy has dropped, people are mentally checked-out, feeling frustrated or uncomfortable. Look for signals of disengagement such as: leaning back in the chair, eyes wandering the room or glazing over, starting to speak but then stopping. Music is a universal language that brings people together and helps them learn about each other. A great team building activity will transform a group of uncertain participants into a high energy, engaged group. At the end of the exercise, the people will still be talking about the experience and connecting personally. Team building should be fun with times of laughter, but also serious in that people are authentically connecting. With music, it’s not unusual for people to become emotional and that enhances the relationships. Team building brings people together into a tighter team, enabling them to work more effectively and efficiently together. It’s like a shortcut that speeds up the getting to know each other process, even if you’ve known each other or worked along side each other for years. Especially for geographically dispersed teams, the relationships and bonds that get formed in these activities can have a halo effect that lasts for weeks, months or even years afterward.   KEEP UP WITH AMANI Website: amaniexperience.com/teambuilding Twitter: twitter.com/amaniexperience Facebook: facebook.com/amaniexperience Instagram: instagram.com/amaniexperience/ Pinterest: pinterest.com/amaniexperience/