In this episode of Manager Lab, Greg Gillum explains how busy managers can coach effectively without long sessions by using Monique Valcour's approach: practice strategic silence, use a simple bridge structure (ask, guide, commit), and focus on high-impact micro-coaching moments. The episode includes five practical actions managers can try this week to build coaching into everyday work and develop a stronger, more autonomous team.
Oct 28, 2025•8 min•Ep. 89
In this episode of Manager Lab we explore why a feedback-rich culture matters, drawing on the HBR article “Building a Feedback‑Rich Culture.” You’ll learn how feedback drives trust, learning, and better performance, plus the four cultural elements that make feedback safe and effective. The episode also gives five practical tips managers can use today—modeling feedback, micro-checkins, balancing positive and developmental comments, preparing conversations with SBI, and creating peer/upward ritual...
Oct 23, 2025•10 min•Ep. 88
In this episode of the Manager Lab, Greg Gillum explores four organizational red flags that make top candidates decline offers: lack of role clarity, poor hiring practices, disengaged employees, and damaged reputation. Greg explains how to spot these signals during recruiting and offers clear, actionable tips managers can use to refine job profiles, streamline the candidate journey, audit candidate-facing culture, and communicate transparently to improve hiring and retention.
Oct 21, 2025•11 min•Ep. 87
In this episode of Manager Lab we explore Ron Carucci’s Harvard Business Review article on the emotional strengths required to lead through change, focusing on five key tensions leaders must hold: agency vs. ambivalence, belonging vs. disruption, confidence vs. humility, patience vs. impatience, and consistency vs. adaptability. Practical takeaways include building emotional awareness, being transparent about inner conflicts, recalibrating often, keeping a coherent change story, and protecting r...
Oct 17, 2025•9 min•Ep. 86
In this episode of Manager Lab, Greg Gillum explains why clarifying your personal core values improves decision-making, builds trust, and guides leaders through complex trade-offs. Learn a four-step process—reflect on pivotal stories, distill recurring themes, test your values, and make them visible—and five practical actions you can try this week: journal, run a values mirror meeting, frame trade-offs, anchor performance conversations, and run values retrospectives. Lead with clarity and act wi...
Oct 14, 2025•11 min•Ep. 85
In this episode of Manager Lab we explore Katie Best's Harvard Business Review article on self-coaching and walk through the SOLVE framework to lead yourself through high‑stakes problems when an executive coach isn't available. Learn the five steps—State the problem, Open the box, Lay out the solution, Venture forth, and Elevate your learning—and how to apply them to diagnose root causes, design practical plans, act carefully, and reflect to strengthen your leadership over time.
Oct 10, 2025•6 min•Ep. 84
In this episode of Manager Lab, we explore Rebecca Knight's HBR article "When Managing Your Team Becomes Too Much" and outline five practical strategies to reclaim time and refocus on strategic leadership. Learn how to segment your team, align work upfront, turn meetings into problem-solving sessions, empower your people, and have candid conversations about capacity. Discover actionable tips—like subgrouping direct reports, creating one-page briefs, setting rescue thresholds, and redesigning mee...
Oct 07, 2025•10 min•Ep. 83
Music. Welcome to the Manager Lab. This episode explores how loneliness is reshaping workplaces, driven by hybrid work, technology, and broader social shifts, and how that erosion of trust and belonging harms innovation, engagement, and retention. It highlights surprising insights—connection is part of the work, weak ties matter, and vulnerability builds trust—and offers practical strategies: build rituals and shared identity, design space for authentic connection, role-model vulnerability, crea...
Oct 01, 2025•12 min•Ep. 82
In this episode of Manager Lab, host Greg Gillum breaks down decision-making and delegation using Cheryl Strauss Einhorn’s HBR framework: "Should You Delegate That Decision? Ask These Four Questions." Learn the four questions to determine when to delegate—who’s closest to the action, whether a decision can be routinized, whose perspective will improve the outcome, and where momentum is stalled—plus a real-world example involving minor design approvals. Greg shares practical tools (decision audit...
Sep 23, 2025•14 min•Ep. 81
Music. Welcome to the Manager Lab, where we delve into the increasingly dynamic world of talent management. In this episode Greg Gillum breaks down the HBR article "The Secret to Building a High‑Performing Team," highlighting two foundational capabilities—open, structured communication and the courage to speak up and take risks—that drive trust, innovation, and lasting performance. Learn the culture map (connection vs. courage), see where your team sits, and get practical steps: lead with vulner...
Sep 18, 2025•12 min•Ep. 80
In this episode of Manager Lab, Greg Gillum breaks down Paul Ingram’s HBR article "Who Are You as a Leader?" and introduces the identity map — a simple visual tool to list, connect, and curate the roles and traits that shape your leadership. Learn practical steps to build your identity map, choose situational leadership selves, and use context-aware leadership to boost authenticity, trust, and performance. Try the quick exercise: sketch your map, highlight one identity in your next meeting, and ...
Sep 16, 2025•6 min•Ep. 79
Greg Gillum breaks down why managers struggle to delegate and how to make delegation work, drawing on Elsbeth Johnson’s HBR insights. Discover the four hidden barriers—task-driven dopamine, difficulty saying no, unclear expectations, and confusing doing with leading—and simple fixes: create routines, reframe delegation, clarify outcomes, practice small handoffs, and schedule reflection. Walk away with practical steps to free your time for strategic work and help your team grow....
Sep 11, 2025•10 min•Ep. 78
In this episode Greg Gillum breaks down a new HBR study showing that foundational "soft" skills—like communication, adaptability, teamwork and basic numeracy—form the backbone of long-term career success. The researchers map a nested skill structure and find that roughly 80% of the wage benefits from advanced skills depend on these core capabilities. The episode explains skill entrapment and its role in persistent inequities, and gives five practical steps you can use today: audit your foundatio...
Sep 09, 2025•9 min•Ep. 77
In this episode of the Manager Lab, Greg Gillum explores Harvard Business Review author Peter T. Coleman’s concept of Conflict Intelligence (CIQ) — an emotional-intelligence-plus framework that combines self-awareness, social conflict skills, adaptivity, and systemic wisdom to turn workplace friction into clarity and innovation. Listeners learn why conflict matters, how leaders can embed CIQ across teams, and three practical steps to start cultivating conflict intelligence today: reflect on trig...
Sep 04, 2025•13 min•Ep. 76
In this episode of The Manager Lab, Greg Gillum breaks down Jamil Zaki’s Harvard Business Review piece on the “super facilitator” — a role that integrates diverse expertise, ensures equitable contributions, and builds trust to boost team collective intelligence. Learn three practical practices — attunement (reading the room), communication (affirming others), and distribution (balancing participation) — plus a simple meeting exercise: a one-word emotional check-in, public acknowledgment of recen...
Sep 02, 2025•10 min•Ep. 75
In this episode of Manager Lab we unpack the HBR article "Job Interviews Aren't Evaluating the Right Skills" and explain why interviews often miss critical, role-specific competencies—especially emerging areas like AI. You'll get three practical tactics to improve hiring: audit and expand skill coverage, probe depth with structured follow-ups, and add skill-based assessments (simulations, work samples, case studies). Finish with a quick action plan: audit open roles, update interview guides, and...
Aug 28, 2025•9 min•Ep. 74
In this episode of Manager Lab we explore why kindness is not optional but essential for trust, psychological safety, and high performance. Drawing on HBR research and practical examples, we explain how respectful listening, thoughtful feedback, and inclusive practices improve engagement, retention, and business outcomes. Managers will learn concrete ways to embed kindness into routines and policies and leave with a simple action: ask your team what one thing you can do to make their work easier...
Aug 26, 2025•8 min•Ep. 73
Music. Welcome to the Manager Lab, where we delve into the increasingly dynamic world of talent management. In this episode we summarize Ranjie Gulati’s Harvard Business Review piece "Now Is the Time for Courage," exploring why bold leadership matters when uncertainty is high. The episode breaks down five actionable practices—crafting a purpose-driven narrative, preparing thoroughly, deconstructing complex problems, leaning on allies and mentors, and prioritizing calm and self-care—to help leade...
Aug 21, 2025•9 min•Ep. 72
Welcome to the Manager Lab, where we explore the dynamic world of talent management. In this episode, we dive into a data-driven approach to delegating, inspired by a July 2025 Harvard Business Review article. Learn how to effectively track, categorize, and delegate tasks to unleash your leadership potential. Discover the power of a time log, a simple yet effective tool for capturing how your workday is spent. By dividing your day into 15-minute intervals and tracking all activities, you gain va...
Aug 19, 2025•8 min•Ep. 71
Welcome to The Manager Lab, where we explore the dynamic world of talent management. In this episode, we dive into Vanessa Erk Druskitt's HBR article, "Do You Have an Emotionally Intelligent Team?" to uncover the importance of team-level emotional intelligence. Discover how fostering trust, shared identity, and group efficacy can transform individual stars into a cohesive powerhouse. Learn about the nine assessment questions that gauge your team's emotional intelligence, and how these insights c...
Aug 14, 2025•8 min•Ep. 70
Welcome to the Manager Lab! In this episode, we explore the delicate balance of effective leadership, drawing insights from the July 2025 Harvard Business Review article by Melody Wilding. Discover the transformative potential of the "visibility grid," a practical framework designed to help leaders determine the right level of oversight for various projects. With the visibility grid, leaders can effortlessly map projects based on risk and team experience to decide the frequency and detail of upd...
Aug 12, 2025•4 min•Ep. 69
Welcome to the Manager Lab, your destination for uncovering the secrets of talent management. In this episode, we explore practical strategies to enhance happiness and well-being, inspired by Arthur C. Brooks's book, 'The Happiness Files, Insights on Work and Life.' Discover how investing in relationships, engaging in physical activity, and fostering generosity can transform both personal and professional lives. Join us as we delve into ten effective techniques designed to unlock happiness for b...
Aug 08, 2025•10 min•Ep. 68
Welcome to the Manager Lab, where we delve into the art and science of talent management. In this episode, we explore the power of well-designed off-sites as a strategy for team development and morale boosting. Through insights from a Harvard Business Review article, we discuss five essential questions to consider when planning an off-site, starting with defining the desired emotional outcomes for your team. Discover how changing the venue, addressing decision-making obstacles, and shifting team...
Aug 05, 2025•10 min•Ep. 67
Welcome to The Manager Lab, your gateway to mastering talent management in an ever-evolving world. In this episode, join us as we continue our exploration of the five ways leaders communicate power, based on insights from Chris Lipp's article in the Harvard Business Review. We recap the first two communication techniques: focusing on action and thinking big. Leaders gain authority by presenting not just facts, but a vision that transcends data. In this episode, we delve into three more dynamic s...
Aug 04, 2025•7 min•Ep. 66
Welcome to the Manager Lab, where we delve into the increasingly dynamic world of talent management. In this episode, we explore the art, science, and strategy behind effective leadership communication. Taking inspiration from Ronald Reagan's renowned communication style, we uncover how leaders can exert power through words and presence. The discussion centers around Chris Lipp's article from Harvard Business Review, highlighting five techniques that elevate speaking power, the first two being "...
Aug 01, 2025•7 min•Ep. 65
Welcome to part two of "The Manager Lab," where we continue our exploration into finding joy in the busiest of lives. This episode uncovers five research-backed strategies for enhancing happiness amidst demanding schedules. We discuss the importance of engaging with others, avoiding passive activities, and following your passions. However, new insights show that focusing exclusively on a single passion can diminish joy over time, advocating for diverse leisure pursuits to keep experiences fresh ...
Jul 31, 2025•7 min•Ep. 64
In this episode of the Manager Lab, we explore the elusive element of joy in life satisfaction and reveal five research-backed strategies to optimize your free time. Discover the importance of engaging with others, avoiding passive pursuits, and following your passion to boost your happiness and fulfillment. Join us as we delve into practical insights for finding joy beyond work achievements and meaningful commitments.
Jul 23, 2025•8 min•Ep. 63
Explore the intricacies of giving feedback as a new leader in this enlightening episode of Manager Lab. Delve into strategies for assessing team dynamics and building trust swiftly to create a lasting impact. Discover practical tips inspired by renowned authors to help leaders navigate their roles and foster a culture of openness and growth. The episode emphasizes the importance of understanding team aspirations and balancing empathy with directness to cultivate a successful and trusting team en...
Jul 18, 2025•7 min•Ep. 62
Welcome to the Manager Lab, your definitive guide to navigating the fast-paced realm of talent management. In this episode, we explore the undervalued power of curiosity in high-stakes conversations. Discover the essential methodology known as the 'curiosity check'—a brief, three-step assessment designed to align your mindset, set intentions, and employ curiosity questions effectively. Learn how to identify your position on the curiosity curve and shift towards more open, productive dialogues. J...
Jul 15, 2025•8 min•Ep. 61
Welcome to the Manager Lab, where we explore the dynamic world of talent management. In this episode, we dive into the crucial role of committees in organizational decision-making by analyzing an article from Harvard Business Review. Discover why committees often struggle to surface essential insights and how seemingly minor procedural changes can drastically improve decision outcomes. We discuss three challenges committees face—cognitive, psychological, and social costs—and explore how these ba...
Jul 08, 2025•12 min•Ep. 60
