This month, I’m sharing feedback from leaders who shared what makes them the most anxious about giving performance feedback, what happens to them physically, what happens to them mentally and how they work past their body’s responses to the anxiety they’re feeling. In this episode, we cover feeling like you aren’t being taken seriously, not letting emotions come into play, making lists (the do’s and don’ts) and of course the mindset about getting the conversation done and over with. Lots of helpful information to help boost your confidence if you see opportunities for yourself in this area. Hope they help!

I’m going to debunk the biggest lie you were ever told as a leader. Then I’m going to help you shift your mindset by doing some practical things to actually help you feel more comfortable having high stakes conversations with your colleagues. By leveraging these recommendations and reflecting on your mindset, reactions and feelings, you will become more comfortable having conversations with just about anyone, on any topic with little to no preparation.

It’s easy to draft the perfect performance document, slide it across the table to the employee and check the box that you’ve taken care of addressing the issue. Unfortunately, no one remembers what’s on the performance document. They do, however, remember how they felt. Here, I break down the three main reasons performance documents should be used, how to address conduct in a way that isn’t demoralizing, but informative and supportive and why you should always make the conversation a priority over the documentation.

Poor behavior can be one of the hardest things to address. Many times, it’s not blatant and as a leader, you might not see it. Here we discuss how to address behavior to ensure everyone is creating the culture you envision for your team and how to address behavior that you don’t witness but is reported to you.

No one likes to be told they aren’t meeting performance expectations. But what if you took your titles and set them to the side and focused on what is actually going on. I guarantee you it’s not whether someone is meeting expectations. That’s the result. Instead of focusing on the outcome, look at what happened to get to that outcome and work out from there. You don’t need fancy titles and if you catch performance issues early enough, you won’t even need formal documents. And guess what? You’ll likely strengthen your work relationship in the process.

Many times leaders avoid conversations with people, be it on their team or those they collaborate with, because they have this vision of a conversation going perfectly. In this episode, I challenge you to look at your true goals when you have high stakes conversations with others. We’ll look at the myth of saying the “wrong” or “right” things, showing up to conversations emotional and thinking quickly on the spot. Get ready for a total mindset overhaul!!

If you grew up in leadership with the belief that you should know everything and be perfect, it’s time to lose that thought process. You don’t need to know everything and guess what, despite your best efforts as a leader, the people you work with already know you’re not perfect. So when you don’t apologize for something you should, it just makes you look untrustworthy and not part of the very team you manage. Here, I highlight the benefits of a heartfelt apology for both you and those you work with.

We’ve all had weeks where we feel like we’re completely unqualified to do our jobs. And unfortunately, as a leader, those weeks are very visible. People are looking to you for advice and to solve problems but what they may not realize is, it’s just not that easy. So what are your options? Well, you could take a while to think through it or after thinking through it long enough to realize you need a fresh perspective, you could seek out others’ opinions. In this episode, I share the groups I tap when I’m stuck. So take some notes and create your own list of people to turn to. It will make the most daunting situations much more manageable.

If you are not connecting with your team, you can be certain of one thing. Other people are. As a leader, the worst position you can be in is where other people (leaders included) know more about your business than you do. In this episode, I’m trying to raise the value of connection as opposed to the tasks leaders are responsible for. And while I don’t disagree that it’s a constant push and pull between the two needs, one thing is for sure. Connecting with people in any area of business is not optional.

As a leader, it’s an expectation that you’re coaching and guiding people. But quite honestly, sometimes it doesn’t feel the most genuine and if you’re in introvert, you might downright dread it. But understand this…you’re a leader and you have something to offer. And the people you’re working with have something to offer too. In this episode, I share why it’s important to have a constant cycle of assessment and discussion with those you work closest with and how you can do this to create natural, productive conversations where mutual learnings are shared.