Management Material

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We all face difficult conversations at work. How you handle those difficult conversations sets you apart as management material or not.

This episode goes into the amygdala hijack phenomenon and how to handle yourself when your emotions rise up to take over.

You have a choice. 

You have a choice to take a step back between their action and your reaction. 

You can identify what story you’re telling yourself and find out if it’s true. 

Often - very often - the story or narrative you’re telling yourself is not true or isn’t the whole story. 

Listen to find out how to become management material.

Book a complimentary management coaching conversation at https://calendly.com/catherine-vanderlaan/free-60-minute-leadership-consultation

Email me at [email protected] to ask a question or get in touch.

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Find out more about Management and Leadership Coaching at https://managementmaterialcoaching.com/

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Get around a micromanaging boss.

If your boss is a micromanager, then you probably aren't given the opportunities that you deserve and need to prove your management skills. 

Don't give your boss control over your career. Come up with your own extra projects.

Listen more to find out how to be management material when you have a micromanager of a boss.

Book a complimentary management coaching conversation at https://calendly.com/catherine-vanderlaan/free-60-minute-leadership-consultation

Email me at [email protected] to ask a question or get in touch.

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Find out more about Management and Leadership Coaching at https://managementmaterialcoaching.com/

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Do that thing you're putting off. 

"Swallowing the frog" or "eating the frog" is a phrase people use to mean "do the hard thing."

Whenever I've swallowed the frog in the morning, my career takes off. I get known for getting things done. Everyone wants to hire a "get stuff done" kind of person. 

Be that person and you'll be more likely to get promoted. 

So go swallow the frog.

Listen for some techniques for getting your nerve up to face the tasks you've been putting off.

Book a complimentary management coaching conversation at https://calendly.com/catherine-vanderlaan/free-60-minute-leadership-consultation

Email me at [email protected] to ask a question or get in touch.

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Find out more about Management and Leadership Coaching at https://managementmaterialcoaching.com/

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Never corner an executive on an airplane. 

I was furious and cornered the second-most powerful person in my company in an airplane, telling him what he did wrong and why it was the wrong thing to do.

Boy, was that stupid. 

After licking my wounds and realizing my job was in jeopardy, I apologized and learned exactly why the C-Suite guys weren't talking to the rest of us.

They were deciding who to lay off. 

Listen to learn a better way to confront the powerful people at your office, the ones who make decisions about your job, your department, and the strategy of the company.

Book a complimentary management coaching conversation at https://calendly.com/catherine-vanderlaan/free-60-minute-leadership-consultation

Email me at [email protected] to ask a question or get in touch.

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Find out more about Management and Leadership Coaching at https://managementmaterialcoaching.com/

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Connect with people and people will like you. Realize that people who connect with you will help you, because they like you. There’s nothing wrong with that, and it could be the reason you’re not in the position you want yet.

A boss of mine told me once that I needed people to like me to succeed in my job. He was right. I'm not naturally likable and had to work on it.

Affinity bias is the unconscious tendency to get along with others who are like us. It is easy to socialize and spend time with others who are not different. It requires more effort to bridge differences when diversity is present.

Here's what it means: people hire people they like. Senior leaders promote people that they like.

If senior leaders aren't personally connecting with you, then they might not like you as much as someone they've personally connected with. Which means they might not promote you. They'll promote the other guy. 

Let's fix that.

Book a complimentary management coaching conversation at https://calendly.com/catherine-vanderlaan/free-60-minute-leadership-consultation

Email me at [email protected] to ask a question or get in touch.

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Find out more about Management and Leadership Coaching at https://managementmaterialcoaching.com/

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Senior leaders should not be scary. They’re just people with different experiences, perspectives, and responsibilities from you. 

The CEO NEEDs to know what you think, so he or she can communicate effectively and make the right decisions. 

Talk to your senior leaders. A good leader will welcome it when she or he has time.

And, if that's not enough, visualize their hairy legs. 

Book a complimentary management coaching conversation at https://calendly.com/catherine-vanderlaan/free-60-minute-leadership-consultation

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In a management meeting with senior leaders deciding on the future job hierarchy structure of the department, one manager said, “Move up or move out.” 

I heartily disagree. 

You can find your level of interest or competence and stay there. 

You don’t need to constantly be trying to move upwards in the career ladder. It’s okay to be content and NOT try to shatter that glass ceiling yourself. 

But, from where you are, influence the culture and the company norms to be inclusive. Look around and give others a hand up for their work, their merits, their character. 

Be the kind of person that leaders want to promote, even if you don’t want the promotion. You don’t have to take a promotion you’re offered. That’s okay. 

Book a complimentary management coaching conversation at https://calendly.com/catherine-vanderlaan/free-60-minute-leadership-consultation

Email me at [email protected] to ask a question or get in touch.

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Find out more about Management and Leadership Coaching at https://managementmaterialcoaching.com/

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Let’s talk about your “dream job” or “dream career.” 

At one point, we had a lovely product assistant on our team. I was her boss’s boss at this point and I’ve always taken an interest in helping people get to their dream careers. 

She wanted to be a Technical Product Manager, but started out in seemingly the wrong place for that. No worries. We plotted it out. What skills was she learning in her current role that could get her into a new one? More importantly, what skills and qualifications did she need to be hired for a TPM position? 

We listed those out from a current job listing and then worked backward from there, plotting out her career path and further schooling path. She’s such a bright young woman - a young leader herself. 

Work backward. 

If you know your dream job or dream career, find your end goal, read one of those job descriptions, and then plot out what you need to get there. You learn all sorts of things in different roles. Plot out what that is, then make your path.

Book a complimentary management coaching conversation at https://calendly.com/catherine-vanderlaan/free-60-minute-leadership-consultation

Email me at [email protected] to ask a question or get in touch.

Join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/managementmaterialcoaching

Find out more about Management and Leadership Coaching at https://managementmaterialcoaching.com/

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Look, we all have nervous habits or unconscious activities that we do.

You have to stop doing them in the office. Or in front of people. It makes you look bad. It puts you lower on the unspoken hierarchy. It stops your chance of being seen as management material.

So stop touching your face.

Book a complimentary management coaching conversation at https://calendly.com/catherine-vanderlaan/free-60-minute-leadership-consultation

Email me at [email protected] to ask a question or get in touch.

Join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/managementmaterialcoaching

Find out more about Management and Leadership Coaching at https://managementmaterialcoaching.com/

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Run your own race. Be your own person.

I'm a better "me" than I ever was a better "someone else." 

How do you stop comparing yourself with other people? 

Listen to learn how to be the best YOU that you can be.

Book a complimentary management coaching conversation at https://calendly.com/catherine-vanderlaan/free-60-minute-leadership-consultation

Email me at [email protected] to ask a question or get in touch.

Join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/managementmaterialcoaching

Find out more about Management and Leadership Coaching at https://managementmaterialcoaching.com/