The Manager Track

Imagine this... Emma, a leader of a product team, was known for her exceptional leadership skills and her unwavering commitment to her team's success. She possessed a unique quality that set her apart from other leaders—assertiveness. In team meetings, Emma always made it a point to actively listen to her colleagues' ideas and opinions. However, she didn't shy away from expressing her own thoughts...

This is a re-release of one of the most popular episodes of The Manager Track podcast. If you've ever struggled with things analysis paralysis, overthinking, or just plain 'ol stinkin' thinkin' then this episode is for you. ____________________________________________ When we think something over and over again, our thoughts quickly become patterns and those patterns then turn into beliefs. Now be...

If you've been leading people for a while then you've been through some ups and downs as a manager. And you know that to expand your scope of impact and influence in your career, you need to continuously and consistently strengthen your ability to lead yourself and others. This includes… having clear processes to hire, develop, and retain top talent, practicing behaviors that foster high-trust rel...

We all have those tasks on our to-do lists that we dread and often find ourselves procrastinating on. Whether it's making difficult phone calls, organizing messy files, or tackling challenging projects, these tasks can be a source of frustration and hinder our progress. Waiting for motivation to strike is an unreliable approach, but by implementing consistent strategies, you can conquer procrastin...

Today, we're tackling a common dilemma: what should you do when you're expected to assume a leadership role, but deep down, you're not sure you're ready for the role, or you're just not interested? Earlier last week, I came across a post on Reddit by someone seeking advice on their situation at work. Her boss was soon retiring, but she was having a difficult time getting others to believe that she...

Inevitably at some point we will fail, but that is part of pursuing new opportunities. The important part is that we take the time to learn from our failures so that we can grow as leaders. As a first-time manager back in 2011 and now as a coach, trainer, and podcast host, I have experienced my fair share of failures. But I try to look for and use the challenges to learn and improve. I never would...

Many of the issues, inefficiencies, and interpersonal conflicts we experience in the workplace can be traced back to a lack of trust between people. But how do we build trust in our teams? In this episode of The Manager Track podcast, I am joined by Doug Thorpe to discuss some common barriers to building trust, the importance of psychological safety, and how you as a leader can begin influencing t...

As a manager, delivering disappointing news to an employee who was expecting a promotion but didn't receive one can be difficult. Retaining and supporting employees in this situation is crucial, especially if you want to prevent them from considering other job opportunities as recruiting messages start landing in their inbox on LinkedIn. In my coaching conversations with clients, the topic of empl...

Struggles with time management are not rooted in a lack of knowledge, information, or any kind of perfect secret strategy. You have already taken the courses, listened to podcasts, read books, and with all of this newfound knowledge you can still struggle with time management if you don't first uncover and address the underlying causes. It is the lack of implementation that causes this frustrating...

Over the last 4 years, we've built and evolved our new manager training program called the Leadership Accelerator and I took some time to reflect on the key insights learned during that time. In this episode, we'll discuss: Peer support vs. individual learning Mindset vs. skill training Good leadership vs. right leadership Isolated training vs. integrated training — RESOURCES MENTIONED — Take the...

You might be surprised by this title. I don't think I talk much about feminine leadership traits or women in leadership and so forth, although I do coach a lot of women on specific topics such as being the only woman or working in a male-dominated environment. One of the things that prompted me to record this episode is that there are a lot of older books around the topic of leadership that were w...

How do you balance control and trust? This is the dilemma of micromanagement. While micromanaging is not a good leadership style it can be used as an effective time-limited and targeted management tool when a situation calls for it. In this episode of The Manager Track Podcast, I will be sharing when you should micromanage, and how to do it well so that it is not being perceived negatively by dire...

We've all been there: feeling like we're just repeating the same mistakes or not retaining the things we have heard. But what if you took a lesson from those experiences, rather than letting them slip away? On this episode of The Manager Track podcast, I'll show how creating and using your very own leadership playbook is the key to advancing in your career! Discover when and why it's useful as wel...

In this episode of the Manager Track Podcast, I'm joined by Atlas Aultman. Atlas is not only one of the top 150 speakers in the nation but a recent #1 best-selling author with his leadership books for kids. He has also received several bronze star metals in the military and is a former White House Military Officer of the Year. Listen in as he shares a lot of thoughts, controversial ideas, and sugg...

All managers will sooner or later end up in situation where they have to manage an underperformer. And these situations can be tricky. Many of my clients have asked me how to best navigate these situations but before we can talk about the "action plan" we have to understand the reasons why the underperformance occurs. In this episode of the Manager Track podcast, I will share the 4 reasons for und...

In this episode of the Manager Track podcast, we're going to talk about how you plan for and use your time, and how some decisions that you make about your time may actually slow down people on your team. Reflection Questions for you and your team: How do I spend my time and is it in alignment with my key priorities? What do I do that slows me down that I might not be aware of? Am I following thro...

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...