When do we stop being a manager and cross into therapy? Understanding and analysing human behaviour is an essential skill for managers. But most managers aren’t professionally trained psychologists. How should managers be emotionally supporting their direct reports and what lines should they not cross? 0:50mins Where do we draw boundaries as an employer and… Continue reading #36 Manager or Therapist?

Managers have a responsibility to help their people discover and sustain the best version of themselves. But is this just in the context of our specific role and responsibilities? Or can we use work as a place to practice being a better human being? Tim and Pilar dive into people development. 1:50mins What sort of… Continue reading #35 Developing People

Handing tasks and responsibility to others is at the core of management. This is easy in principle but sometimes hard in practice. Tim and Pilar discuss delegation over a coffee. 0:30mins Do business owners struggle with delegation more than other folks. 3:00 We can attached to our routine tasks which means delegation can bring discomfort.… Continue reading #34 Is delegation hard?

There’s a degree of separation from your team members when you lead a team – and this sometimes can lead to feeling separated, and even lonely. Who should we rely on to get us through it? Pilar and Tim discuss this over coffee. 2.00 mins. Does some of this loneliness come from feeling like we… Continue reading #33 The loneliness of leading

Management is a tough job. It’s not for everyone. Managers need motivation to get up and do their job day after day. Tim and Pilar explore what keeps them going. 2:40mins Pilar’s secret sauce is the joy of collaboration. She explains why this is important to her and details the wonderful behaviours she sees when… Continue reading #32 Finding our motivation to lead

One of the least fun aspects of management is raising issues of poor performance with team members. Tim and Pilar share their own experiences and learnings along the way. 2:00mins Giving performance feedback to a friend, one of the few occasions Pilar needed to seek advice and the one piece of advice that helped her… Continue reading #31 Dealing with poor performance

What changes when you become a manager? Pilar and Tim continue talking about how boundaries and relationships shift when you move into leadership. 1.10mins It feels different to be promoted in a team where people already know you, than being promoted into a new team, where you start with a clean slate. With a new… Continue reading #30 Moving from individual contributor to manager (part 2)

What changes when you become a manager? In this episode Pilar and Tim explore how boundaries and relationships shift when you move into leadership, amongst many other things. 1:30 Typical paths into leadership roles and Tim shares his own journey. 3:20 Can managers be an unnecessary layer? Do all teams need a manager? 4:20 We… Continue reading #29 Moving from an individual contributor to manager (part 1)

Are we as competent as people think we are? In this episode Pilar and Tim dive into imposter syndrome . 1:30 We try to define imposter syndrome in our own experience 3:20 The positive aspects of imposter syndrome. Referencing an HBR article Pilar shared about how Impostor Syndrome Has Its Advantages. 5:30 We explore how… Continue reading #28 Imposter Syndrome for Managers

Pilar and Tim share how they learn and develop their leadership practice. 1:50 Tim’s largely self-taught experience of management 3:00 Where to look for information about being a good manager 4:00 We discuss role models and whether our role models are aware of their influence on us 5:10 Promoting managers based on skill vs seniority,… Continue reading #27 How do We Learn about Management?