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. You might have noticed that last week there was no new podcast episode. And that is for two reasons. One is that the episode that I released when in my conversation with Maggie was so good. There was so much in it and it was a bit longer than I usually do.
And so I thought, you know what, let's just let that one have a little bit more space so that you have time to listen. And the second reason why I didn't do it is what I call strategic failure. And this is when you assess all of the things that you have on your plate, all of the demands and the requirements, and you make an intentional decision to not do something for very specific reasons. And last week, there were a number of things that ended up
needing my attention. And I decided, you know, I am intentionally going to not release an episode. And it's interesting because I know some of you listen every single week. So you might have been wondering. Some of you probably don't, and you might not have noticed at all. This might be news to you. And I'm sharing this in part because this mindset of how do you make decisions when things
are changing? How do you intentionally choose to not do things and not make it a big deal, not beat up on yourself about it and not let that feed a story that undermines your confidence and that gets in the way of the work that you're here to do and the way that you want to do it.
A lot of the work I do in my group program and with my one-on-one clients is around confidence, around trusting yourself when you're doing something you've never done before, around the feeling of a lot of responsibility on your shoulders and then that internal pressure that can create. And So what happens when you're trying to do all of the things
and it starts to feel too much. And it's so easy to get into a place where we feel overwhelmed, feel like you're feeling, feel like you don't know if you're doing things right, and it starts to erode all of the qualities that you already have that actually help you do your best in your work.
And we're often so much more scrutinizing of ourselves than others are, especially especially if you have had the experience in your life of having others criticize you or tell you that you're not doing good enough, or that you have to
try harder. If you observe that others in your field get the benefit of the doubt more than you do, if you've ever felt like you have to work twice as hard to get the recognition that you see others receiving for less effort or less work, these are things that happen. And one of the ways that we've tend to compensate is we try to get ahead of it by putting extra pressure on ourself and by kind of spinning the story that nothing we ever do is good
enough. We always have to try harder, and that can lead us into overworking and creating more stress and anxiety in the moment that we actually need. And so I share this because the Next group program is about to open. In fact, as this podcast episode releases, today is the very first day that you can enroll for the next round. The group starts in February, starts on February 6th. If you're on the wait list, then you already know cuz you've been getting the emails with the
information. If you are not on that list, go to my website kimnickel.com the new managers page and you'll see where to get on that wait list and get all of the information about the program. But I share this in part because for me as a coach and my goal and really my job, is to help equip you to be more calm and confident and capable every day
in the work that you're doing. And one of my philosophies around this is that a good foundation makes everything easier and it's never too late to revisit your foundation and make some improvements. So what I've noticed in IT that is so interesting is when I first started teaching new managers, I sometimes would get students who were first time managers, meaning they just got promoted or they just got a new job and for the first time they now had responsibility to
directly manage other people. But the other thing I noticed was people would come to my sessions and they'd say I yeah, I've managed people for over a decade, but I've never had training on it. I always had to figure it out on my own. And so I want to kind of revisit some of these foundational tools and frameworks and concepts and clarify them and improve them and understand more about them so that I I can do things better. I want like the fresh perspective.
And so I share that because you're welcome to this program whether you are a very brand new manager or whether you really want a new perspective. Because it's true always that a good foundation makes everything easier, everything that you're
building upon. The more solid you feel in your foundational tools, your ability to trust your decisions, your your sense of confidence in all of the conversations that you have, whether you are giving feedback to a, you know, direct report and maybe it's a performance feedback kind of issue or whether you're giving feedback up or having to navigate managing up to your manager and to other people who have positions of power above you.
We want you to feel equipped and to have a plan and a strategy. And I'll share, you know, the the reason why I see so many folks feeling anxious and stressed and kind of what brings all of that up is very often this feeling of I care so much about people, I want to do right by them, and I just can't tell if I'm doing a good job. There's this thing that happens
where it's almost like you stop. Like it's like you haven't recalibrated your internal success meter, meaning you're you're not sure what kinds of things count or qualify or signify that you're on the right track and you're doing a good job. Because sometimes being a manager and being a leader means that you will have to have conversations that are are uncomfortable.
You'll have to share information that maybe people don't want to hear and people might feel bad, but that doesn't mean that you're doing a bad job or something might happen where you know you have to choose a strategic failure. You have to choose. OK, we're going to choose to let this part go for now because our time and efforts are better spent on this other priority over here. And then you'll need to communicate the change. And you'll have to help people not feel like everything is
falling apart. Like helping keep people stay focused and connected to their own abilities and capacity to do great work together, even under challenging circumstances. Like all of that. Those are skills and mindsets that you acquire and develop when you are in a managerial role, when you are in a leadership role.
And a lot of this will happen organically and it happens better and faster, I've found, when we're very intentional about it. So I want to invite you to do some of this intentional foundational work for yourself, for your own internal Peace of Mind and your own internal feeling of calm and being connected to your natural, authentic confidence. And also realizing how very capable you are, even when you're facing circumstances or personalities at work that might feel very challenging.
Humans. Very. And sometimes the shocker is, gosh, I have to manage all of these people and they are so not like me. Like, if only they were like me, it'd be so easy. But they're not. They have different priorities. They have different things that motivate them. They have different things that they care about in their life and in their career. And so we we sometimes forget that what motivates you, what you care about, might be different than the people that you work with.
And that's OK, you know, especially once you understand that, it's not a problem. It just becomes part of the the circumstances and the situation that you have in hand and you're absolutely capable of addressing it. Especially when you have some perspective, when you have that good foundation, when you have some frameworks and some simple tools that you can use day-to-day.
And the benefit of this too is that when you start to feel more calm, more confident, and more capable, you feel better. But also everyone around you also feels better. If you've ever had a manager who is freaking out all the time, or they seem to like they were just kind of boiling beneath the surface and you felt really hesitant about approaching them with things you you weren't sure if they could take it.
Or if you ever had a manager who was just highly reactive and their stress stressed everybody else out, like, you know, it's really challenging. We want to have leaders and managers and colleagues who can bring a feeling of calm and confidence and really trust in their capabilities. It just feels so good and it makes things better for
everyone. But beyond the workplace, everyone that you live with, everyone who is close to you, they also benefit when you are feeling more calm and confident and capable in your work life. Because when you are, then you'll probably be more present for all of the important non work things that you do. You'll be able to really enjoy spending time with your family and friends. You will be able to sleep better.
You won't be distracted. Like, there are so many things that happen in our personal lives when we're feeling like, OK, I've, you know, work might be a little intense, it might be a little unpredictable, but I feel like I've got a very solid foundation. I know what to focus on. And I, you know, I just have a sense of what I'm here to do and how I want to do it that makes such a positive effect.
So I wanted to share that idea with you, the idea that a good foundation makes everything easier. It's never too late to revisit your foundation and make some improvements. And my intention for you is to help you to be calm and to feel more calm and confident and capable in your work life every day. It's good for you, it's good for your organization and it's good for your family and your community. And that's what I get kind of excited about.
So I want to invite you to come and join this program. You will get more information about it in the coming days. When you're on my list, go to chemical.com, the new managers page, join the list or just apply directly. As I'm recording this, the application is not released yet. It will be released to the list first on Monday, January 22nd.
All right. I think that this year is going to be such a different year than the last couple of years we've had, and we can make it really good and we can make it good together. You don't have to do this all on your own. I want to help. Come and join if that is something that is also important to you this year. Thank you so much for listening. I'll talk to you next time. When you're more effective at work, you're happier in your life.
And when you're happier in your life, you're more effective at work. I can help. Go to my website, kimnickel.com and sign up for a coaching consult. It can get better.