Welcome to the new manager podcast. I'm your host, Kim nickel. Hello, and welcome. I'm glad you're here and I hope you're doing well. Today's episode, I want to start with a shout-out to one of my listeners Maureen, because Maureen wrote to me and she said, Hey listen to your episode about the support and Authority map. Do you have some kind of visual that could help me understand and see it. And I thought, oh yes, I am. Absolutely do. And so I emailed her with a link to this article.
I wrote back in 2019 and it has a visual of the map. And so I thought, you know what, this is a great opportunity to revisit this topic and I will put in the show notes, a link to the same article that I sent to Maureen. Or you can also see a picture of the map and what I'm going to do today. Also, I'm going to save you Of the time of having to read the article by actually reading through most of it for you so that you can simply listen to
it, have it available. And then you'll have the article as both a reference tool and you have that visual as well. And the support and Authority map is a tool that I used a lot. When I was teaching back in 2017, 18 19 when I was teaching my All skills for new managers class in person. And I found it just became a very helpful way to think about everything that we described as a soft skill.
So all of the inter relational skills of communication and listening and you know, it can feel like there's a lot that goes into that. Once you start digging in it's like, oh, there's so many things to be aware of and how do I even begin? And I found That the thinking about it in these terms of support and Authority, just became a very easy way to organize the thinking around, you know, how, what, how do you do this?
Like, how do you understand it? And then put it into practice with actual humans in the workplace. So to get oriented. I want you to think about the support and Authority map as something that describes where Are you are not who you are. So think of it, in terms of I am in this place right now, rather than I'm this type of person. And we all have a place on the map. That is most familiar to us where we feel most comfortable, especially, when you are under pressure or stressed.
Simply because when you are under pressure or stressed, you will be most likely To do the most familiar thing because it feels known and safe or you can think of it as you've built up the strongest muscle memory in that way of responding. And so, when you're feeling stressed and Under Pressure, you will tend to go back to the place that feels like home on that support and Authority map and we can all visit All of the regions of the map in a single day, depending on the situation.
And depending on the people we're dealing with, for some of us, we are really confident and we feel very steady when we're communicating with peers or even, you know, leading our team. But the moment we're in a room with someone who is in a higher position, we start to feel a little more insecure, a little more worried about how we are being perceived when Power, differential that can really
feel destabilizing. And so, you know, we just want to be mindful that we can visit all these different places depending on the situation and context. Also, these different locations on the map are not bad or good, each location can be useful sometimes. And so, you're not like a good person or a bad person on this map again. Want to offer this idea of the support and Authority map as a way to help you be more effective by being flexible in how you think and then adapt to
the humans that you work with. It can be a way of sometimes, kind of decoding. Like what is going on here? Like, why is this either? Why is this not working? Or why is this person behaving this way? I don't understand. And when you have a sense of which location on the map is home base for the people, you work with it. Can help you be a better manager for them, which then benefits everyone.
So, I see this as a very human centered perspective, and I do believe that humans who work well together create great work together. We just don't always know how to do that. So, Support and Authority. Let's start by diving into a bit more about what I mean by support. So, when I talk about support essentially, this is the idea, the power to uplift or assist the power, to stabilize in a foundational way. And this can show up as caring about the well-being of others.
Noticing, if people get a long being able to tune into or just Percy, leave the emotional, you know, the emotional state of other people. And I found that people who identify as highly sensitive, highly empathic folks, who experienced a compassion. Fatigue tend to be at home in
this element. Also, if you're a person who has felt like you're very aware of sort of who has and who doesn't have power in a room and you have a Of wanting to be supportive of those who are either on the margins, or who may need a bit more support a bit more allyship. This also might be relevant to you in that way. So then dialing up the amount of support means considering questions, like what does this human need to feel supported? And we do want to hold that as a question.
We don't necessarily want to assume because sometimes we are inaccurate. In our guests because humans are different. And so the kind of support that we want can also vary from person to person. That means you can ask them questions. Like, what do you need to feel supported right now? Or how are you doing as a human? And also to be clear being supportive, doesn't mean you have to talk about emotions or pry into people's personal lives.
Some people prefer to keep their inner World Private So, being supportive, can mean asking about their career goals, talking about professional development and growth being interested in what's their big picture and how can you help? So showing that you see and respect someone as a whole person, is one of the most supportive things you can do, and on the map, this is the kind of bottom line, the horizontal line, and it goes from low to high solo support to high
support. Now Authority, what do I mean by Authority? Essentially? I think of it as the power to create by declaration. So for instance, look for the word author in Authority, similar to how an author creates by declaration, by setting words to paper, they create something into being, they create a world, they create characters, they create a story. By an author creates by declaration.
And you can also think of it. Like sometimes in movies, there will be people getting married and there's a person who is officiating the wedding and they will say by the authority vested in Me by the state of whatever. I Now Pronounce You, you know, married. It's this idea of I am creating by declaration, I have the authority to now. Say that this is true. The other place you can think of it as like the authorizing signature.
Are you authorized, do you have the power to create by declaration and agreement by signing something like some of us, you know, especially in organizations there are different levels of authority that you have to authorize certain expenses for example, and you might be totally authorized. To okay, you know like having lunch brought in for your team and that expense you can totally authorized you don't have to check with anybody.
But if you wanted to like do some big event and do this really big fun team building activity and bring your team, you know, off-site to this full-day event you might require getting authorization going to someone who has the power To create by declaration. Yes, this is an authorized, you know, expense. You can go ahead and do that. So again, in this context, I'm not talking about Authority like authoritarian to bully or exert power over someone.
But as a side note, this is also why the word Authority authoritarian really carries this sense of because I said so it can feel like this unyielding Demand, they can feel very arbitrary like authoritarian, I said, so, this is why it has to be this way because you're creating by declaration but just that's not, that's not what we're going for here. But I mention this because I know the word Authority can also be quite charged and have a negative meaning for some folks.
And so, if you have experienced the word Authority, only in a context where it was used as like power, Were you or if it's been used along with, for example, a threat of violence, or a punishment or it's been used as kind of a reason or a way of diminishing or disrespecting. You and if that word just like doesn't feel good for you, then you can find another word like you don't. It's not required that you use this.
And I just want to acknowledge that here because, you know, we have different relationships to language. So the authority is Section on the map is the vertical line that goes from the bottom up to the top and it's from low to high. So in this light a sense of authority like author in the workplace, can speak to your creative power, to clarify things to be direct and give direction to decide to make decisions. Or simply to determine by declaration.
I have determined that, we will do this. That's what I mean by Authority here. And so in this light, if you are thinking about, how do I dial up the amount of authority that I'm bringing? That would mean asking a question, like how can I be more clear and direct with people? It can also mean protecting your team from other demands standing up for them advocating for them or committing to and communicating a clear course of action. So people know what to focus on
and they know what's expected. So there are four locations on the map. And again, remember these are, you know, available to all of us. We tend to go to all these different places depending on the situation. None of them are bad. We want to be familiar with them all. So, first we have Hi, support low Authority.
This will look like having a high priority on keeping the peace and being friends with everyone avoiding confrontation and hard decisions difficulty and standing up for the team or
advocating for yourself. So, for example, if you have had a manager who in your one-on-ones, always says, you're doing a great job, but then in your performance review, they say there are all these Things that you've been falling short of that would be really frustrating because like, why didn't they say something earlier? If they didn't tell you, you couldn't know to change it, but they were so uncomfortable with giving the feedback because it
felt confrontational to them. They avoided it, they just tried to be no supportive, good job, way to go, but they didn't actually give you that clear information and feedback that you needed. This also can look like someone who sugarcoats Everything the kind of cover-up feedback with so much other language. It's hard to hear the message of
what needs to change. Then we have low support, and low Authority. And in this part of the map, it can look like someone who is distant distracted dis engaged avoidant. They might simply be over extended or unavailable. They're not providing guidance or mentoring. And it can be offered as a form of trust or like tossing you in the deep end and it might sound like, hey I trust you to figure this out and you think okay could I have some guidance here and they say nope way too busy.
You've got this I'll see you later and I think sometimes that happens more than we realize, you know, somebody is either super busy, they just are not, they don't have the bandwidth to be. Able to slow down and say, okay let's let's kind of give you a little more support.
They instead just sort of toss you in and they're like you'll figure it out and it can be very frustrating because while it's nice to be trusted it's also nice to have the support you need in order to do well in the situation that you're in. Okay, third quadrant we've got low support High Authority and this is where it looks like there's a high priority. Authority on the work that the person forgets about the humans
doing the work. It can show up as being controlling or inflexible, it can look like micromanaging. And I know that so many people do not like being micromanaged and yet it is incredibly common. It is also very, I want to say it's very subjective. So for one person, what? What feels like being Edged. The other person might be so glad that you are giving very clear directions and guidance.
Like the way, it's perceived might landed differently on the person but we do know that micromanaging is very common and nobody team sends tends to like it and yet, you know it, I think it shows up in every Workforce every workplace to some extent, so we want to be aware of that. So sometimes this This idea of being kind of, you know, very controlling and inflexible can be very useful and I'm thinking of situations, like I'm envisioning, you know, Emergency Medical Aid.
There's a very specific order of things that need to happen here, or I'm thinking about legal compliance. There are certain things that must be adhered to, or must be done in a certain way or even, I don't know, like, decorating a cake. There might be a very specific order in. To do things in order for it to all work out. So, sometimes things do have to
happen in a very specific way. But, you know, for some of us when we're in that work situation, what I've heard some of my students say is, they'll say, you know, I don't really care about people's personal lives. I don't care about their feelings, I just want them to do their work and that's totally fine. But if that approach is not Not helping you to get the work done through your team that's when we want to question.
What else can we try? There might be a more effective way to manage people so that they work better together and you can sleep better at night. Knowing that the work is getting done and it's getting done well and then we have high support, High Authority and this is, you know, it kind of looks like clear kind Direct And with others being skillful and giving direction and corrective feedback, effectively advocating for the team, and for yourself. And this tends to build trust.
And most of us have to learn how to operate in this space. Most of us did not learn how to do this. Organically, we had to either increase our comfort with authority or increase our comfort and skill with being more supportive. So what I like is it's this idea that you don't need to be brutally honest, you don't need to sugarcoat things. We can actually think in terms of I'm going to be direct and clear and kind it might take some practice but it has so many benefits.
So one story about using this map. So my home base where I am, why I tend to go especially when I'm very stressed or under pressure is high support low Authority. I care a lot about Harmony. I want to make sure people feel welcomed and cared for. And I used to work with someone whose home base was low support, High authority, meaning he didn't really care about how people felt or if people were getting along, he valued Clarity doing the work in the way he
thought was best. So, can you imagine how easy it was for the two of us to create some Interpersonal friction, it was so easy. There was a little Mutual irritation, just this feeling of unease, not a lot of trust and then one day I realized, oh wait a minute, he just doesn't value interpersonal harmony with others. The way that I do and that is totally.
Okay, so instead of then trying to offer him more support, instead I responded with a little more uh Authority being a bit more direct a bit more clear and I could do it from this really kind place so you know, I didn't I didn't need to be harsh about it. I also didn't need to ask them, you know, how are you feeling? He actually didn't want to talk about feelings for him. I think that was, this is my guess. It was just like a very private
kind of part of his life. He was, he was not going to connect by sharing how he was feeling. And so what happened was, I was able to then stop taking it personally. Lee that he didn't seem interested in connecting with me in what I thought was a harmonious very human centered way. Instead I could adjust my focus and my communication on being more clear. I could focus on specific behaviors on timelines on commitments and agreements and
it made it so much easier. And so, as I changed my mindset about how I communicated with him and then kind of readjusted my skills, the way was communicated. He changed how he responded to and this is one of the things that is so cool is when we are stepping into that role of management and of leadership we can't control what other people will do. We can't control how they will feel, but we can influence the environment.
We can influence the relationship, by the way, that we show up. Because when you show up with this perspective, with a slightly different mindset in a slightly different skill set, you're now giving the other person, something different to respond to, and to be in relationship with. And that is wonderful to know. So in my situation, kind of created this ease of tension, we worked better together and it was like, he didn't need to change. I didn't need To change.
I mean, like not who I am as a person. I just needed to adjust the way I was looking at the situation, I just had to adjust the mindset and then I had to tap into my skill set in a slightly different way so that is the support and Authority map. They can be a very elegant way to understand kind of where you feel most at home. And what I found to is very often where we feel most at home. Home is in the place that we found to be helpful when we were in a situation that felt
stressful for. So for some of us we found especially growing up because that's such our first experience with relationships or when we're is when we're kids. And for some of us, we learned, you know it, if I can just make everyone get along, then we'll be okay. And that eases the tension for some of us we learned, you know, when things are kind of intense, I just need to give everyone
some space and back off. I just need to like keep a low profile and let everything blow over and then I'll come back and things will be fine. Some of us learned when things are a little intense, I need to exert as much control as I can, over the situation in order to help navigate us to safety.
And so we each grew up in different environments and we each developed different strategies for being successful with the Situation, and the humans that we were with and then we just bring all of that mindset. And those habits into the workplace and we forget, oh, no, not everybody is going to pull from the same perspective and
skills that I have used. So the more awareness you have for yourself about where you tend to go, what your habit is and then the more kind of awareness you bring around. What are your options? What might you try differently? The more you become aware. Of other people have different ways that they do things to it. Starts to show you the path forward where people can start to work better together even in the midst of all of these different variables.
And I find that to be really delightful because throughout the course of your career, you're going to work with different humans. You're going to face different situations. Some of them will be unanticipated and unexpected and sometimes you won't know. What to do and there won't be a guidebook. So what you want instead is kind of a grounded sense of you know, like what is the perspective or the tool that I can bring into this situation and then I don't have to be afraid of the
unknown. I really can feel a sense of internal centeredness and groundedness and calm and confidence and my goodness. We want that in our colleagues. We want that feeling of internal. Security and groundedness and confidence in our managers. And in our leaders, we don't need you to know everything. We don't need you to be the know-it-all or the, you know, the person of perfect information and guaranteed, you
know, predictability. But when things get intense, are you someone that folks can look to and feel a sense of ease because you feel re sourced and centered and Ain't about how you will navigate this new situation so that is the support and Authority map in a nutshell. Go into the show notes, I will put a link to the article so you can read it more fully and also look at my very simple but very useful illustration that will be
available to you. And hey as you're listening to this podcast, if you have questions, you can email me, you can message me on LinkedIn. You can go to my website, chemical.com, you can send me a message through there if you want to work with me, one-on-one. I am taking new clients and I would love to talk with you about what's going on where you want to get to and how I can
help. So, there is a link in the show notes to my calendar and I invite you to schedule a free consult with me and let's talk about it. Alright, thank you so much for listening. I will talk to you next time. Oh hey, before you go if you like this podcast, leave a review. Tell me why you listen and what has helped you. Thanks so much. I'll see you next time. Oh hey, before you go if you like this podcast, leave a review. Tell me why you listen and what has helped you. Thanks so much.
I'll see you next time.