Pilar and Tim have a meta conversation about conversations . Participating in a good conversation means we listen, we get to talk, we feel heard, we deepen our understanding of a topic and we build connection with the other person. However not all conversations are created equal. Sometimes we are in a glorious free flowing exchange of ideas and other times we have internal dialogues about the conversation running parallel with the conversation itself. "Am I talking too much?" or "Are they talkin...
Oct 30, 2023•24 min
As managers we will normally have a peer network within our company. But occasionally we might experience problems that our in-house peer network can't help us with. For example, when the issue is with those same colleagues or our organisation itself. At times like this an external professional network can be invaluable. In this conversation Pilar and Tim primarily talk about networks which can provide different forms of support such as showing a different perspective, learning from someone with...
Oct 16, 2023•23 min
Our hosts discuss the recent research by Jindi Mann into men's emotional experiences at work. It is easily downloaded as a pdf and it's freely available - no email signup or any hoops to jump through. They surveyed 55 male managers, primarily British and working in a mid to senior management role. The results show a surprisingly broad range of responses. Over coffee Pilar and Tim explore what it means to be a male manager. A big theme that emerges is that whilst 21st century corporate leadership...
Oct 02, 2023•30 min
Pilar and Tim discuss the fascinating article 3 Ways Our Brains Undermine Our Ability to Be a Good Leader by Cian McEnroe and David Rock at the Neuroleadership Institute. David's book " Your Brain at Work " was one of the first to bring brain science into leadership. In this latest research they argue that our basic brain behaviour can get in the way of our work as leaders. They go even further to suggest that the experience of leading can evolve our brains in ways that make it even harder to be...
Sep 18, 2023•31 min
Action-centred leadership asks managers to juggle three priorities: the team, the task and the individual. and in this conversation Pilar and Tim discuss one-on-one meetings, one of the best tools that managers have to work on their relationship with an individual employee. Over coffee we talk about the nuances of this style of meeting and the myriad ways managers can benefit from them. Spoiler alert: Tim is a huge fan of one-on-one meetings. Today's shows are full of links, and one or two analo...
Sep 04, 2023•30 min
Going deeper into their exploration of different leadership styles, and inspired by this article on the MindTools blog, Pilar and Tim look at the Emotional Leadership Theory pioneered by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee . It ends up being another therapy session in the café as Pilar and Tim talk about their own preferences, strengths and weaknesses. 02:30 mins We step through the six styles of Emotional Leadership: Visionary (come with me), Coaching (try this), Affiliative (peopl...
Aug 21, 2023•28 min
There are far too many leaders who don't really want to be managers. Given most workers cite their manager as their main reason for leaving a company, this is a big problem. It's hard to love your job when your boss hates theirs. How do so many people end up as managers when they shouldn't? Who should be a manager? Is leadership a natural trait or a learned skill? It's a wide ranging conversation in the café today, including a rare disagreement between our co-hosts Pilar and Tim! 00:00 mins We o...
Aug 07, 2023•24 min
Continuing with our discussions on leadership frameworks, Pilar and Tim discuss John Adair's Action-Centred Leadership which was first introduced in 1973. Adair uses three overlapping circles to illustrate that effective leadership happens at the intersection of the task, the team and the individual. And it is this deceptive simplicity which is a big part of the appeal. The model doesn't rely on a particular leadership style or organisational culture. Instead it reminds us that if we "zoom out" ...
Jul 24, 2023•19 min
Inspired by the article about leadership on the Asana blog , Pilar and Tim discuss Kurt Lewin's 3 leadership styles. In a seminal study conducted in 1939, groups of 10 year old children were given a craft task and assigned an adult leader using either an authoritarian, democratic or laissez-faire leadership style. They concluded that democratic leadership was the most effective. Pilar and Tim share their experiences of these 3 styles and spend some time debating the laissez-faire and authoritari...
Jul 10, 2023•27 min
Inspired by Liz and Mollie's wonderful book " No Hard Feelings " we talk about the role of emotions in our work, especially when hiring. One of the key principles in this book is that our emotions are a part of who we are at work and they impact our behaviour. Being aware of this helps us better understand ourselves and others, and ultimately helps us make better decisions. Choosing who to hire is an important task for any manager. It's also a great example of a decision where we need to be awar...
Jun 26, 2023•27 min
One of the pressures we can feel as a manager is the pressure of attention. We watch our managers closely. We analyse their behaviours and motivations. We guess at their intentions. And this informs our judgements about cultural norms and which behaviours are encouraged or discouraged. In fact, the attention of our team gives us the opportunity to be a positive influence through role modelling. We can use their attention to encourage people (including us!) to adopt behaviours that we think are i...
Jun 12, 2023•21 min
For this episode we used a different format. Pilar and Tim spotted a question in a community they're members of, and with the permission of the poster, we've chosen to discuss it over coffee. This was the question: " Remote workers are faking enthusiasm. As a manager, I struggle to assess the motivation and engagement of my remote workers. Employees are very good are presenting a positive image during check-ins.This makes it very hard to identify issues and provide targeted interventions to impr...
May 29, 2023•23 min
We reference this book all the time. In today's conversation we learn why Radical Candor resonates so much with us and how we've used it in our own work. The core principles of the book shouldn't really feel radical, it should be commonplace to care about the people we work with and tell them our honest thoughts and feelings. And yet for many of us this is hard to do. Radical Candor challenges us to be vulnerable with our emotions and more adaptable in our communication. This can be particularly...
May 15, 2023•27 min
As a manager our success is really dependent on the success of our teams. Yet there is something a bit topsy-turvy about the idea that managers are responsible for the motivation of our people. Much of motivation is intrinsic, most people inherently want to do good work. In fact often times work, even the work of the manager, can get in the way of people's natural motivation. If the manager's responsibility is to remove obstacles for the team... are there times when we should remove ourselves? 0...
May 01, 2023•23 min
Jeff Bezos called the one-pager the " smartest thing we ever did at Amazon ". And everywhere we look there are best practices and frameworks which worked wonders for big & successful organisations. So why do they often fail when we apply them in our organisations? We propose that best practices are not something to "lift and shift". Adopting practices without a proper assessment is risky. But going too far the other way can be it's own trap. We can dismiss something too quickly if we haven't...
Apr 17, 2023•27 min
A quick voice note to let you know that we'll be back in a couple of weeks. Until then, let us know if you have any questions you'd like us to answer on the show, or any topics you'd like us to tackle. Get in touch through our Contact Form https://managementcafepodcast.com/contact/
Apr 03, 2023•3 min
The notion of a manager as a protector of the team is deeply embedded. After all, a primary part of any manager's job is to remove roadblocks and distractions so their team can stay focussed on their objectives. But it's not always easy to decide what will distract the team versus what might be helpful to them. Should the team know when a storm is forecast? When a storm is happening? And how much context do they need about the storm itself? Pilar and Tim explore some of their experiences with sh...
Mar 27, 2023•21 min
We tend to miss the smaller moments of achievement. Our focus is often on big organisational or team goals, huge milestones where we come together to celebrate (like the 50th episode of Management Cafe!). But in today's coffee catchup we are talking about more personal achievements. The sort of things which seem less consequential on the surface but can have an outsize impact on our performance. "Small-c celebrations" can tap into our deepest personal motivations as a manager, highlighting the b...
Mar 20, 2023•20 min
Is it just us, or does it feel like the last few years have been a particularly torrid time for managers? Managers have always been the interface between employees and their organisation. They act as a kind of translator between the two. In recent years there have been extraordinary challenges in both directions of those relationships. And all this against a backdrop of pandemics, social polarisation, economic uncertainty, tight labour markets and of course the remote work / back to office / hyb...
Mar 13, 2023•21 min
Many leadership journeys start with a natural career progression: we get promoted to manager and leadership is viewed as just another work task. Over time this evolves into a broader understanding. It's a challenging job. We will get tested in all sorts of ways. And it can be an opportunity to learn so much about ourselves, to grow as a person and build invaluable skills. But we all have to start from somewhere. And the way we manage is heavily influenced, even constrained, by the culture and ex...
Mar 06, 2023•25 min
Following on from episode 44 where we discussed vulnerability and authenticity, today in the café we go deeper on how much of our true character should we show at work. Is it entirely our choice? Are there parts of ourself that shouldn't be in our workplace? This is such a nuanced topic as we have to juggle our level of self-awareness, our assessment of our work environment, the degree of comfort that we feel and, of course, our highly subjective interpretation of how others perceive us. For us ...
Feb 27, 2023•22 min
The pandemic changed workplace awareness of physical and mental wellbeing. So what does it look like in 2023? We discuss what managers can do to pro-actively improve wellbeing for their workers. This can be a challenge for leaders as wellbeing is something we experience at an individual level, but it is influenced by factors inside and outside the workplace. What is a manager to do? 0:10 min Did the pandemic change workplace wellbeing forever, or was it a temporary shift? 5:30 Work isn't only a ...
Feb 20, 2023•29 min
Metrics are very alluring for managers. Our software tools are full of data and reporting... with just a few clicks we might get the magic mix of numbers that will give us control. But for staff it's a different story. Too often metrics are used as a kind of straight jacket. Work becomes narrowly defined, devoid of nuance and complexity. Targets creep ever higher. And as the pressure mounts, inevitably people will try to game the system. Over coffee Pilar and Tim try to imagine an environment wh...
Feb 13, 2023•19 min
For a long time the dominant narrative of leadership has been of fearless leaders who move from triumph to triumph without serious flaws or doubt. But in recent years there has been a move towards authentic leadership. Leaders who show vulnerability and who share their weaknesses as well as their strengths. Over coffee Pilar and Tim dig into authentic leadership, the benefits it can deliver for leaders and companies. And also why it isn't for everyone. 0:30 min Tim references this quote from Bri...
Feb 06, 2023•25 min
We often need to experience some challenge in order to grow. But tension can easily spill over into destructive interactions. As leaders we need to demonstrate that we can challenge and be challenged. In this chat Pilar and Tim learn they have quite different thresholds for conflict. And they explore the difference between being challenged constructively vs destructively. 0:30 min Sometimes creative tension is actually just fighting. 3:10 People are always watching how their leaders deal with co...
Jan 30, 2023•24 min
In today's coffee Pilar and Tim discuss the concept of Peacetime CEO/Wartime CEO introduced by Ben Horowitz in 2011. Our companies and teams will all face difficult times where there is an existential threat or huge change looming. How do we lead through these challenges? Do we need a different leadership style to match the situation, and what is the impact "wartime leadership"? 3:50min Some people thrive off the energy and pressure that comes during times of crisis or change. 5:30 We worry that...
Jan 23, 2023•21 min
Pilar and Tim explore their experiences of being co-founders or co-managers, as well as being solely in charge. The co-founder dynamic is inevitably going to experience some challenges as a business has its ups and downs. The way that founders communicate, collaborate, challenge and complement each other has a huge impact on the culture of the company and its success. This coffee is, yet again, something like a joint therapy session... prepare for a lot of talk about communication, values and al...
Jan 16, 2023•25 min
This concept comes from Kate Murphy's excellent book " You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters ". For many of us silence can be challenging, it is often considered a sign that something is wrong. What happens when we approach the quiet ones with curiosity? 1:30min Who are the quiet ones? Why might they be quiet? 3:00 Tim shares a story of a manager who was often quiet for an unexpected reason. 5:00 There is a big difference between choosing not to speak and not feeling able ...
Jan 09, 2023•25 min
From the hidden power of the humble custard cream to the value of fancy restaurants, Pilar and Tim explore the role that food can play in our leadership practice. This is not discussed in business school curriculums, but something changes when we make the conscious step to stop our work activities so we can share food together. Eating together can be a powerful way to change the atmosphere of a workplace. 1:00min Pilar shares her brilliant theory of how bringing custard cream biscuits to a meeti...
Jan 02, 2023•25 min
What happens for managers when work moves away from real time meeting focussed and more towards asynchronous? Communication and team interaction can be as unique and nuanced as each individual human. So how do we navigate management when our team are spending large parts of their time working async? 1:30mins We talk about some of the pros and cons of asynchronous work. 6:00 Tim highlights the importance of having alignment within a team about what is async work and what needs to be done more syn...
Dec 19, 2022•22 min
