Planners’ Picks
A collection of resources from CSN planning committee members worth mentioning
This week: Don’t believe everything you think. Stay in view even when working remotely. Take about your vulnerability openly. Coach those in your care.
:: Image of the Week
Even our worst enemies don’t talk about us the way we talk to ourselves. Some call this voice the obnoxious roommate living in our head. After many years trying to evict my obnoxious roommate, maybe you’ve managed to relegate her to only occasional guest appearances. Enjoy this photo by Jaime Ledesma, a well-being manager at Deloitte, reminding us that how we talk to ourselves is a form of self-care.
:: Resources on Work Culture & Team Development
How to Be a Compassionate Manager in a Heartless Organization
Being a compassionate leader is being a good leader. It can be hard to do that when the rest of the company’s culture seems to rely on favoritism or neglect. What can you do if you want to manage your team with compassion, but your leadership hasn’t bought into this philosophy? The author presents six strategies that will help you be a compassionate leader in a less-than-ideal environment. You can make a difference for your people and for the business, and eventually, others outside your area may come looking to see how you’ve been so successful and learn from your actions.
https://hbr.org/2022/05/how-to-be-a-compassionate-manager-in-a-heartless-organization
Why the Most Productive People Don’t Always Make the Best Managers
Not every top performer makes for a good manager. In this piece, the authors argue that the difference between a good individual contributor and a good manager hinges on six key abilities: being open to feedback and personal change, supporting others’ development, being open to innovation, communicating well, having good interpersonal skills, and supporting organizational changes. The problem for most organizations is that they hope their new managers will develop these skills after being promoted, but that’s exactly when overwhelmed new managers tend to fall back on their individual contributor skill sets. Instead, the authors suggest that organizations should start developing these skills in all of their employees early on — after all, they’re useful for individual contributors, too.
https://hbr.org/2018/04/why-the-most-productive-people-dont-always-make-the-best-managers
6 Techniques to Help Introverted Women Ace Their Next Job Interview
Author and Keynote Speaker Carol Stewart says:
“In the past week two of my coaching clients were successful in securing promotions, something they had both worked hard for, and which is well deserved. They have had to overcome many a challenge to get there, but they’ve done it and I am very happy for them. There are some challenges that I frequently see amongst some introverted women going for interviews for senior leadership roles. These make interviews an unpleasant experience and hinder them being at their best.”
Here are a few suggestions on how to overcome them which will help you to win the interview panel over:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/6-techniques-help-introverted-women-ace-next-job-carol/
:: Resources on Empathy in the Workplace
Reframing ‘strength’ to include vulnerability, openness, and emotion
One of the greatest misconceptions of a strong person is that they’re bulletproof, says this resiliency expert, and that they somehow don’t feel stress, pain, fear, worry, or loss.
“Vulnerability is not a weakness; it’s our greatest measure of courage. – Brené Brown
How to Be More Empathetic
More and more, we live in bubbles. Most of us are surrounded by people who look like us, vote like us, earn like us, spend money like us, have educations like us and worship like us. The result is an empathy deficit, and it’s at the root of many of our biggest problems. It’s because of how homogeneous people’s social circles have become, and also because humans naturally hold biases. But researchers have discovered that far from being an immutable trait, empathy can be developed. There are steps people can take to acknowledge their biases and to move beyond their own worldviews to try to understand those held by other people. Bonus: You’ll make new friends along the way.
https://www.nytimes.com/guides/year-of-living-better/how-to-be-more-empathetic
:: Resources on Hybrid and Remote Work
Staying In-Sight and In-Mind as a Remote Worker
There’s some truth to the adage: out of sight, out of mind. If you’re a remote worker you may be wondering if this applies to you. Does the adage hold weight on our virtual teams? Are we left to the mercy of cloud-based collaboration tools to remind our employers of our existence? If we’re only “in sight” when we’re on-screen, can we still have an impact on our organizations?
https://www.leaderfactor.com/notes/staying-in-sight-and-in-mind-as-a-remote-worker
:: Resources on Self-Leadership Development
The Qualities of a Great Leader
What are the qualities of a great leader? Everything begins with honesty and your ability to tell the truth. See this short Linkedin post from Christopher Connors.
“I do not regret the things I’ve done, but those I did not do.” – from the movie Empire Records
How do I overcome imposter syndrome?
In this episode of Big Questions, Short Answers, Local entrepreneur Jackie Hermes is talking about that nagging feeling that plagues many successful people: imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is what happens when you achieve success but feel like you don’t deserve it, or that you’re somehow a fraud.
She’ll answer the big question of the episode: you do not overcome imposter syndrome. No permanent solution exists because the bar is always getting higher. When you overcome one challenge and finally feel confident, the next challenge comes along and you feel like crying again because you know nothing (or is that just me?).
https://the-art-of-entrepreneurship.captivate.fm/episode/overcoming-imposter-syndrome
“In the middle of a difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein
7 Ways to Retain More of Every Book You Read
There are many benefits to reading more books, but perhaps my favorite is this: A good book can give you a new way to interpret your past experiences. Whenever you learn a new mental model or idea, it’s like the “software” in your brain gets updated. Suddenly, you can run all of your old data points through a new program. You can learn new lessons from old moments. As Patrick O’Shaughnessy says, “Reading changes the past.”
Of course, this is only true if you internalize and remember insights from the books you read. Knowledge will only compound if it is retained. In other words, what matters is not simply reading more books, but getting more out of each book you read.
https://jamesclear.com/reading-comprehension-strategies
:: Linkedin Learning
Linkedin Learning: Be the Manager Who Fights for Their Team
People remember the manager who fights for them, the leader at work who shines a light on the team. But most employees don’t feel that kind of connection, be it to management or their job or company in general. In this course, HR expert Laurie Ruettimann shows you how to become the type of manager you’ve always wanted to be.
:: Upcoming Events
CSN session: Coaching Those In Your Care
In CSN’s recent presentations on Building Employee Trust, we discussed four growth areas for building trust in teams: Emotional Intelligence, Change Management, Empathy, & Coaching. We end this series with a conversation around Coaching.
Join CSN members Rich Gassen and Shelly Vils Havel for a small group discussion on this topic, with definitions, examples, and resources for coaching those in your care. Some pre-work will be sent via email August 12 to registrants. Come prepared to share stories and have candid conversations around your journey in this area of supervision.
When: August 18, 9:30 am-11:15 am via Zoom
Register at https://go.wisc.edu/85j9xc