It's that time again, time for another bonus episode. Dear listeners. Now for this week's after pod, we thought we'd put some of your workplace quandaries to our guests from last week, psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, and leadership expert Carrie Pulkotz. So we have carry here. We have some listener voicemails we're going to play for him, and some additional questions about his work with leaders in
corporate America. So let's get to it. Here's a voicemail from a caller named Jonah who is a new manager, and he had a question for you. Hi. I'm the editor of a small publication that is business to business UM and I've recently started to manage just a couple of reporters. I'm exploring a lot of resources for managers, but a lot of them seem to assume that the team is all centralized in one place, But I and managing a remote team. But I only really get to
talk to by phone and not slack. So I guess I'm wondering what are some ways to really build a good bond or remport with team and being affected manager when you're managing people on the other side of the country. Thanks so much, Right, that's interesting. You know this talks about sort of the disruption of management in this country because of technology. Jonah, I'm sure isn't the only person dealing with this, So what advice would you give him?
Carry This is such a common challenge these days of managing a remote team, and most managers manage remote teams these days. It seems, um there's no substitute, first of all, for face to face contact. So even if the team is remote, if it's possible economically to try to get this team together from time to time in person, I
think that makes a huge difference. That's one. The second is that given that remote management puts some barrier between the manager and the people that he or she he in this case is managing, um, it puts even more of a premium on the manager to get to know his people and allow them to get to know him and so uh so a greater degree of personal disclosure, of making himself more vulnerable to them, of not just making the time that they speak on the phone or
via Slack or whatever technological aid they use, making that time not just transactional, and in his case, talking about the stories that they're covering, but also getting to know them as human beings, understanding something about their families, their personal lives, and letting them get to know him. Establishing that personal bond deepens the trust and helps mitigate to
some degree, the challenge to managing remotely. Is there some single business challenge that you consistently see ceo s or
boards facing in addition to sort of this type of dislocation. Well, in regard to remote management, it's not just the one on one relationship between the manager and whoever he's managing, but it's also the ability to create a healthy team dynamic because the team is often dispersed, and so I think teams find that, for instance, if you get together off site h every now and then, it makes an
enormous difference. And again, those off sites shouldn't just be with a rigid agenda of topics to cover, but there needs to be a social component, and it's that social company something that that certainly members of Congress need to do more often. They say, if they get to know people personally, their willingness to work together and to compromise increases,
you know, immensely. But I wanted to ask you what about not just remote working, But do you hear sort of an issue that business leaders come to you about that seems to be a thread among a variety of workplaces today. Some of the themes that are coming up in my travels through the business world these days that are new, even though many aspects of management and leadership are really unchanged, probably since the dawn of time. One
is remote management that's new, relatively new. And another big trend that I've seen in business these days is that traditional vertically organized organizations, meaning were the people who have the most power and the most authority on top and those with with lesser down on the bottom, are being
flipped over. And so the given the interest in the emphasis on technology these days and the startup culture that we're living in, it's usually the young, the millennials, the people in their twenties thirties too, who know a lot more about what's going on in the business than the CEOs and the senior managers who may be in their fifties and sixties. And so I think that it behooves leaders these days to not be hierarchical and to listen
and learn from the bottom up. I met someone at the Aspen Ideas Festival who said we need to have reverse mentoring, in other words, young people teaching older employees because things are changing that quick. Along those lines, we have a voicemail from Joyce who wants to know how to navigate going from being a chief executive to answering
to younger colleagues, which can hurt sometimes. Let's listen, Hi, this is Joyce, and I am calling a out being a former leader of an organization, I was executive director
of a small museum. I have led campaigns, and I am looking to find out as I move into my later stages of my career, and I'm hoping for a little bit less stress and less responsibility how I go about working with people that are younger than me, who will probably be in higher position, but yet still will be looking for leadership within my position, yet will probably also need to be somewhat subservient, which is a hard
thing to do after you have led organizations. So I'm looking for a way to navigate those two somewhat opposing situations within the workplace and and seeking your guidance. Thanks so much, by What would you say to her? To Joyce? It's a great question and one that I think will be increasingly common as people don't want to retire when they're in their fifties or six season want to keep working in some way even if they're not running an organization anymore. And the secret to it, if there is one,
is does one feel comfortable being a little humble? And um, I was going to say you have to leave your ego at the door a bit, right, Yeah, I love that term, even though it's of course not really possible. But um, but yeah, if there's there's nothing wrong with admitting that, you know, you used to be an executive director or a CEO, uh and you're not doing that anymore, and that you want to learn. You have a lot of wisdom presumably and have a lot to offer these
young people. But it's a it's very mutual. They have a lot to teach you and if you can approach it not about being subservient. I actually am a little troubled by that word. It's less about subservience and more about a kind of mutuality and sharing. Um, and the learning can go in both ways. Carrie Salkowitz, Carrie, thank you so much. That's it for our Afterpod with Carrie Salkowitz.
As usual, we want to hear what you thought. You can leave us a voicemail at four six three seven, or email us always at comments at current podcast dot com. We hope you enjoyed that little bonus episode and we'll talk to you next week