The Manager Track

Are your employees engaged in their work? Would you notice the red flags of their disengagement? In this episode of the Manager Track podcast, I am joined by Sri Chellappa to discuss employee engagement, how to spot disengagement, and some tools that you can utilize to drive better engagement within your organization. Sri Chellappa is the president and co-founder of Engagedly , a people strategy m...

Have you second-guessed a decision you made earlier today or earlier this week? If you've ever been in a situation where you made a decision or chose to do or not do something... it is likely that you have found yourself ruminating over whether or not you made the right choice. For many of my clients, this kind of second-guessing can lead to feelings of overwhelm or  turn into hours of unprod...

We all stereotype people, whether we like it or not. We do it so quickly too. In a split second, we form assumptions and we often do it unconsciously. We might assume that... older people are less tech-savvy women are more emotional Gen Z'ers want to get promoted right away people with a Harvard degree are rich the guy coming to work in a hoodie doesn't take his job seriously And the list goes on....

How do you manage someone performing a job you know nothing about? Or lead someone who values something totally different than you? In this episode of The Manager Track podcast, our guest Shane Foss answers these questions and shares other leadership lessons from across his 20 years as a medical industry executive, and now as a Founder/CEO. Tune in to hear about some of the biggest challenges he h...

Do you hide or guard your emotions at work? Or do you worry about coming across as "too emotional"? Yes, you might want to bring your whole self to work but you also don't want to lose credibility by being too emotionally involved or by losing your poise. In this episode of The Manager Track podcast, I am going to share how you can manage your emotions effectively while being intentional and aware...

Preparing for the worst isn't about having a pessimistic outlook. It's about being realistic and prepared so that you can make smart choices if stuff hits the fan. When we think ahead, evaluate risks, and prepare for the worst we demonstrate the skill of being a proactive leader (vs. a reactive leader). And as a result, we are way better prepared, aware, and able to navigate challenges than when w...

Chances are high that you've heard the buzz about ChatGPT. The discussions about this newly released AI tool has spread like wildfire on social media and beyond. So for this episode of The Manager Track podcast, I decided to share 8 common tasks that you could begin streamlining in the new year using ChatGPT (or other AI tools for that matter). Yes, some of these tasks might have taken me an hour...

This episode is a bit different than what you might be used to hearing. It's a conversation about how secure your team's passwords are and the risks associated with the sensitive employee and client information that used to live at the office, but has now become accessible from your employees' homes. When the pandemic hit, most of us tried to figure out how to be able to work from home within a ma...

This episode is a re-release of Episode # 106, one of the most popular episodes of 2022. In this week’s episode of The Manager Track podcast, we’re going to talk about what your leadership philosophy is, why you should have one, and how to create it. You will learn about my unique approach to leadership development, The APS Method , which I developed to help new and mid-level managers become leade...

This episode is a re-release of Episode # 108, the most downloaded episode of 2022. In this week’s episode of The Manager Track podcast , we’re going to talk about some of the most common mistakes that I see with people running one-on-one meetings. We know that it is important to have recurring meetings with our direct reports, but when not run effectively, these meetings can turn into a huge time...

Over the past couple of months, I have done numerous 360-degree assessments and debriefs with leaders across the ranks. While the results are highly personalized based on the specific feedback from direct reports, colleagues and managers, there are also some themes that stand out to me as broader common challenges for leaders. In this episode, I'll share with you my personal observations on what t...

How would your team members describe the culture of your team? And would you even know how to begin designing a team culture? In my first few years as a manager, I definitely had no clue how to do this. And in honest reflection, I think I even abdicated the "culture work" to the company, i.e. the executives and HR. But that was a mistake. As leaders of a team, no matter how big or small, we have i...

Similar to your GPS recalculating the best route during a car trip, we need to constantly deal with changes in the workplace, and maybe even in our careers. We might encounter unexpected obstacles or circumstances and have to recalculate where we're going. If you've been thinking about career moves, are dealing with a setback, or are in the midst of a role transition, you probably know exactly wha...

Workplace belonging is critical to employee retention, happiness, & productivity. In fact, a study found that employees with a strong sense of belonging have a 56% higher level of overall job performance. Building and maintaining a strong connection with your team members is probably something you're thinking about a lot. We are going through times when people are resigning more frequently tha...

For the past 4 years, I've had the honor to support a nonprofit organization called Ignite, which stands for Inspiring Girls Now In Technology Evolution. In addition to a range of work I've done together with the Ignite team, the tool we've been using to help facilitate their growth in communication and what we're going to talk about in this episode is called Cloverleaf. I'm joined by Amber Zertuc...

9 out of 10 people on your team are thinking about their next career steps, their growth, and their development. If that's all chatter in their heads or chats with their friends, then you might be caught off guard by resignations or disengagement. As a manager, it's your responsibility to create the time and space to speak about your direct reports' careers (inside AND outside your org!) so you ca...

In a time when phrases such as quiet quitting , the great resignation , and employee disengagement continue to gain traction, it is vital that we as leaders talk about employee engagement. While occasionally, it's better for employees to leave and move on, in most cases that loss of great talent could have been avoided. When leaders create alignment and help people see and even co-create their pur...

If you want to hear from an experienced leader who has started and built a number of companies about what it takes to step into a leadership role and let go of the habits that once made you successful as an individual contributor... then this episode is for you! In this week’s episode of The Manager Track podcast, I am joined by Jason Scott . Jason is a CEO, founder, speaker, author, instructor, a...

What does dating someone and onboarding a new team member have in common? Both are about discovering the other's preferences and values and communicating your own. In this week’s episode of The Manager Track podcast , I will share why you should be creating a User Guide (aka READMEs) for the people you work with. Within the employee-manager relationship, there are only a few things more vital than...

Feedback is our #1 tool for improvement. But most of us need to learn how to give feedback effectively as it's not something we really learn until we find ourselves in our first leadership role. In addition to learning and practicing the tactical skills, we also need to pay attention to the feedback culture within our organization or team so that feedback is intentionally built into the habits and...

“How will I know that it's the right time for me to work with a leadership coach?” This is a question that I was recently asked in a podcast interview and I wanted to share my answer with you here on The Manager Track podcast . I'm going to share one of my own experiences working with a coach, along with three specific signals that it's time to work with a leadership coach. — RESOURCES MENTIONED —...

The question is how to lead a thriving team… but not just any team. We don’t want mediocre teams, but rather thriving teams where people feel like both they personally, and the team as a unit are thriving. In this week’s episode of The Manager Track podcast , I am joined by Kirsten Moorefield, who has spent countless hours with hundreds of teams from startups to Fortune 100 companies, observing a...

“Quiet Quitting” has been a buzzword for the last couple of months…and if you’re a little bit like me, you might even have started to cringe every time you hear the phrase now. I’ve refrained from speaking about the topic so far because it seems to be broadly misconstrued and it aims to address a complex problem with an overly simple term or solution for that matter. However, after sharing my thou...

Did you know that a good 70% of employees avoid conflict? Where do you land on this? Are you avoiding conflict at work? I definitely used to be guilty as charged ;-) and even though I feel equipped to navigate conflict these days, it still doesn’t come easy. If this sounds at least a bit familiar to you, then you've got to meet my colleague Sarah Albo. Sarah is a Conflict Coach (yes, that’s a thin...

In my first few months as a new manager, I couldn’t bear the thought of having to give feedback to my direct reports… …who happened to also be my former peers. But I knew it was inevitable. So I braced myself and started having feedback conversations in 1-on-1s and throughout the week. Although I was giving feedback (as I had to), I hated it. It felt uncomfortable, awkward, and weird. Over time, t...