Struggling with Your Manager? Manage Them
Lisa Robyn Wood
The Middle Manager Coach | Being a Manager Shouldn't be ?? | Trainer | DISC Practitioner | Passionate about People, Personal Development, Success, & Wellbeing | Podcaster - The Coaching Cast
To be your best you sometimes have to help others to understand how to get the best out of you.
Firstly that requires you to know this about yourself. How you like to work, how you prefer to communicate, what excites and interests you, what scares you or what you find challenging, how you like to be pushed, how you want to grow and develop.
If this is a new idea for you, try answering these areas first. Working with a coach, a mentor, or utilising one of the many personality profiling tools like DISC can really support in this activity. (Contact me if you wish to learn more using the details in this newsletter).
Once you know all of these things, it's about sharing this with others so they can support you.
Your performance and your success is your responsibility. So if you want to achieve your goals you have to take action to build the relationships and environment that's going to facilitate it.
Managers are not mind readers. They're human beings. Despite their responsibilities and leadership expectations, they also need help to see and understand things, which is a skill that some have in buckets and some don't, so they need a hand.
I've taken this approach multiple times in my career and achieved greater, more effective, management relationships which have accelerated my success. It's also put me in control of my performance and job satisfaction. Has it been easy? No, but it's been worth it.
Look, this only works if you can build a trusting relationship with your manager and you feel safe to be honest and open. If this really isn't an option then it's time to consider your options and potentially find a new manager. You always have choices to improve your job - you’re in control.
The Power of 'And'
‘This makes me emotional and I’m expressing it. I have no difficulty holding both logic?and?emotion at the same time, and it does not diminish my powers. It expands them.’ Sharon Rooney’s ‘Lawyer Barbie’, Barbie The Movie.
There's this misconception - and over-simplification - that you can only ever be or feel just one thing at any given time. Which is nonsense. None of us are one-dimensional and we can be, and feel, and act, in multiple different ways, often close together or simultaneously. Our feelings flex and change depending on what’s happening to us, or around us in our environments. Our emotions are never fixed and immovable. We can all be:
Vulnerable AND Strong
Successful AND Humble
Disciplined AND Relaxed
Honest AND Kind
Likeable AND Have Boundaries
Logical AND Emotional
All of these don't just act together, but compliment one another, and enable us to be more effective and successful as emotionally intelligent human beings. It’s always about balance and putting ourselves in control by managing our trigger-response. As Dr Susan David describes; ‘emotions are data’ and information which we can utilise to better understand ourselves and the choices we have available.
领英推荐
What I've Been Up To
I forged my career in the utilities industry and so it was a pleasure, an honour, and hugely inspiring to be invited to speak at the Women’s Utilities Network (WUN) careers event on 20th September hosted by Microsoft in London.
The evening focused on career development and opportunities for women in the sector, and I loved sharing my story and speaking about the power of investing in yourself to enable your personal development, growth, and success.
Learn more about WUN by visiting thewun.co.uk where you can also watch the recording of my talk.
What I've Been Watching
On 26th September Training and Coaching Provider Mindgym hosted a discussion with Harvard Professor Amy Edmondson to explore failure and Edmondson’s research and experience?recently published in her new book Right Kind of Wrong: Why Learning to Fail Can Teach Us to Thrive. It was a brilliant and insightful discussion exploring the right and wrong types of failure, and ways to fail more effectively. Edmondson shared her belief that failure is an opportunity to learn and how businesses can achieve greater success by improving their psychological safety to enable employees to learn and grow more effectively. You can purchase Edmondson’s book now from all major retailers.
What I've Been Listening To
In recent years I have fallen in love with women’s football and have become a devoted Lionesses fan (crying at both our recent monumental victories and losses). I was therefore so excited to see Leah Williamson had joined Annie Mac on her Changes podcast.
Williamson shared her journey being named Captain of the England Team for the Euro’s and I loved her description of accepting the leadership position; “[It’s the] biggest change but all you’re trying to do is not change, because the person that you are is the reason you’ve been picked...authenticity is your biggest strength as a leader...to have all that noise and [to try and] not change as a result.” Listen to the episode now across all major platforms.
The Coaching Cast: New Episode, New Look!
The Coaching Cast Podcast is back! After an extended Summer break Suzy and I are back on the mic with a brand new episode and a bit of a makeover thanks to the support of Gary Jones from GROW Radio.
In this NEW episode we're chatting about Emotional Awareness at Work. We explore what it is and why it's an important skill for everyone in the workplace; Our experiences of emotional awareness - as recipients, and developing our own; How you can develop emotional awareness; How you can demonstrate emotional awareness when you’re at work with the help of our top tips! We’ve also got crystals (!), and a new bullsh*t bingo to share with you and it’s a cracker. Available to listen wherever you get your podcasts - Spotify, Google, Apple, and YouTube if you fancy watching rather than listening. You will also find all episodes, and further details about the podcast, on our website?www.thecoachingcast.co.uk. We hope you enjoy listening! Let us know what you think by emailing [email protected]
My Clarity Hour
I don’t think being a manager should be ?? so I work with middle managers, who work in the most pressured and conflicted layer in any business, to embrace their roles with energy and enjoyment, to get a grip of their personal development and growth, and connect with their confidence and capabilities, to ensure that they thrive and don’t get caught in the crap trap.
I’m filling my diary next month with my Clarity Hour - 1 hour with me, virtually, on a day and time of your choosing. In the hour we’ll explore together:
All of this for just ￡150. Plus I’ll give you an exclusive discount on any of my coaching packages which is only available to those who’ve completed a Clarity Hour with me. Visit www.gripcoaching.co.uk/services to book your hour. I’d love to work with you! Learn more at www.gripcoaching.co.uk