I was fortunate to have a business trip to Florida recently which afforded me the opportunity to interview my big brother, Guy, and my niece Chelsea. It was a quick day and a half with all of my nieces in Florida, including my Grand Niece (who you will hear in the background)! Guy Owen shares his insights on leadership vs. management. He has years’ of finance experience across multiple industries. His approach to work-life balance is stellar. Chelsea Owen has recently started her own business. We discuss the change in mindset from working in the non-profit space to owning your own business. A few of The Best Boss tips in this episode include:

• Always look and grow someone to take your job.
• Handle conflict directly and with respect.
• Although you're part of a team, always distiguish yourself as the leader.
• All connections matter.
• Be clear with expectations and feedback.

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I have the pleasure of talking with my great niece, Robyn Lambert and her friend Zach Carlson about their experience leading people. They are my first Millennials to interview for The Best Boss and there are certainly tips for everyone, especially new leaders.

• Networking with other stores and departments in your company can prove to be beneficial when in a bind.
• It’s critical to take a step back for a few minutes to watch the process in order to identify the root problem: it’s not always where you see think it is...
• When first becoming the leader, it’s important to realize what can and can not be shared.
• You, as the leader have great influence on your team… even your moods and behavior!

I would like our listeners to meet our cat, Noodles… he makes himself heard in the beginning!

Enjoy! And thank you Robyn and Zach!

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Are you managing people in another country or perhaps multiple countries? Christine Vera has more than 25 years expeience working in and around the Business Process Outsourcing industry. We talk about leading a multinational organization and how cultural differences affect the workplace.  Chris offers great advice for balancing work and family as well as women supporting one another. 

The other stand-out tips include:

• Key to success is surrounding yourself with those that are smarter and more creative than you
• Use a common language = numbers
• Be an agent for your people and look for everyone’s strengths

 Thank you Chris for a great podcast!

 Chris Vera on LinkedIn

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This week I speak with James Call, mortgage loan consultant and producing sales manager. His wife, Lorraine Call assists with the interview! (Lorraine is a contributor to The Best Boss and I appreciate her help on this interview.) James has experience in sales as an individual contributor and as a leader of others in sales. Highlights include the following:

• As a leader, it’s important to understand the reason your team is “at work” and remind them when they get off track what they are working for.
• Establishing a process relieves stress and ensures consistent quality for the entire team.
• When at work, work hard; when recreating, recreate hard; when with family, family hard. Work-Life balance can’t happen every minute of every day. Do the best you can and focus on the “now”.

Thank you James and Lorraine!

James Call on LinkedIn

You can reach James at Guild Mortgage Company or at 970.250.6800

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This week, I speak with Susan Rogers, owner and President of thresholdHR. Susan reflects on her corporate career as well as her more recent adventures with her own consulting company. She has more than 30 years’ experience in Human Resources. Several of the tips she provides are:

• Meet each person where THEY are not where YOU want them to be. They may be a "hot house orchid" or a nothing-but-the-facts Tech God - understanding how to approach them is one of the keys to being The Best Boss.
• Your team members are on different paths and you need to listen and observe to understand as the leader of the team.

Susan's unusual management story is about a poltergeist - make sure you listen for that! (I apologize for the different sound quality of this episode. Due to some technical problems we could not use our original recording. Luckily, I had a backup recording available from my Zoom recorder.)

Susan Rogers on LinkedIn

thresholdHR website

Music for this episode:

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In this podcast episode, I talk with Courtney Sherwin, CCP, CBP, MA, PHR. She has been helping organizations achieve goals, enhance effectiveness, and develop capability in the area of Total Rewards compensation for over 20 years. Her areas of expertise include designing and implementing programs that help attract, retain and engage high-performing employees including base pay, incentives, performance management, executive compensation, benefits, work-life balance and leadership development. Courtney has worked in a wide range of industries including hospitals and complex integrated healthcare delivery systems, biotechnology, and manufacturing.

Courtney explains Total Rewards compensation and highlights multiple tips for managers working with their employees such as:

• As a new leader of people, it’s critical to keep compensation details confidential. Do not share yours or anyone else’s compensation with other team members.
• Know all the benefits offered or available for employees and learn which ones are most important to your team members.

Courtney offers several career coaching tips as well and one of my favorites is “know when to shut your pie hole”! A great take away from this podcast is the 5 quarters trick:

• Tuck 5 quarters into your right pocket at the start of each day
• Every time you praise a team member (catch them doing something right), move a quarter to the left pocket
• Goal is to have all 5 quarters moved from the right to the left pocket by the end of the day

Courtney Sherwin on LinkedIn

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Joe Bardgett talks about evolving from a team of one (himself) to leading a small team critical to his company's IT Operations. His tips include "What can you do for me?" and "What can I do for you?" when working with management and employees respectively. We also discuss specific about managing IT workers and how you need to coach in different ways based on your individual team members needs. Also listen for his story about when you NEED to be looking over your shoulder in the workplace!

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Dan Lambert has been in the healthcare/medical industry for 20 years as a Registered Nurse. The past 6 years, he's been in leadership positions in hospitals and clinics, managing nurses and techs. Dan emphasizes to "never forget where you came from" and to stay true to who you are when managing - both up and down the chain of command.

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Brad Richards has nearly 30 years experience in the corporate world across the world - as both employee and consultant. With experience in sales, marketing finance, and IT, he has extraordinary depth of experience. He really likes to "make things go!" too. In our interview, Brad highlights the need to be direct and respectful with all employees. He also offer a great tip to new managers (as well as reminding experienced leaders) "To observe the environment and behaviors before making decisions." Make sure you listen through to his crazy management story at the end!

Brad Richards on LinkedIn

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Dawn Willging has extensive experience in the Customer Service industry. Her expertise around People, Process, and Technology solutions has been greatly appreciated in many industries, including Telecom, Finance, Healthcare, and Insurance. In this podcast interview, Dawn provides a number of valuable tips for first time managers, including:

• "You don't need to know all the answers; you need to be able to find the people who do."
• "Define success daily: Did I teach someone something new today? Did I learn somthing new today?"

Dawn is also co-author, with Tom Calvert, of Mastering The Big 5, a comprehensive training package for Operational Excellence for the contact center industry.

Mastering The Big 5 website

Dawn Willing on LinkedIn

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