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Free download: Get the Episode 335 cliff notes, with the 4-step calm correction, the exact scripts and the 3-question check: resources.archova.org/335 Someone on your team rolls their eyes when you introduce a new process. Or makes a joke about your decision in the team meeting, and a couple of people laugh. Or takes a concern straight to your manager, and you only hear about it from your manager. Each one is small enough to wave off, which is why it works as a test. The first time someone is openly disrespectful to a new manager, they are finding out where the line is. The other 5 people in the room are watching to see where you put it, and the line ends up wherever you let it settle. In Episode 335 of The Manager Track, Ramona explains why your response in that first moment shapes what the whole team believes is acceptable, and why that matters far more than whether one person likes you. She walks through the calm correction, a 4-step method for handling disrespect promptly, privately and briefly, with the exact words to use in the room and in the follow-up. In this episode, you'll hear about: The 3 people who usually test a new manager, and what each one needs to see from youWhy letting it slide and correcting someone in front of the room both cost youThe 1 line that resets the meeting without turning it into a standoffWhat to say in the private follow-up, including how to take the concern seriously while setting the standard on deliveryWhat changes the second and third time it happens, and how to document it so it holds up If you've ever replayed a team meeting on the drive home because of one comment, this episode is for you. Listen to the episode: The Manager Track Podcast Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pAusucMeN6s Resources Mentioned in This Episode Episode 332: When Your Direct Report Has More Experience Than You DoLeadership Accelerator, Archova's 12-week program for new and early-stage managersEpisode 335 cliff notes: resources.archova.org/335 Links Schedule a Leadership Strategy Call with Ramona HERE.Grab the free New Manager Toolkit mentioned in the episode: archova.org/free-toolkitsLearn how to turn your 1-on-1 meetings from time wasters, awkward moments, status updates, or non-existent into your most important and valuable meeting with your directs all week. Learn more at: archova.org/1on1-courseGrab your copy of Ramona's best-selling book 'The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role': amzn.to/3TuOdcP Other Episodes You Might Like Episode 332, When Your Direct Report Has More Experience Than You DoEpisode 324, Managing Former Peers? Have These 4 Conversations First What's Next? Learn more about our leadership development programs, coaching and workshops at archova.org. Grab your copy of Ramona's best-selling book 'The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role': amzn.to/3TuOdcP Want to better understand your leadership style and patterns? Take our free quiz to discover your Manager Archetype and learn how to play to your strengths and uncover your blind spots: archova.org/quiz Are you in your first manager role and don't want to mess it up? Watch our FREE Masterclass and discover the 4 shifts to become a leader people love to work for: archova.org/masterclass Love the podcast and haven't left a review yet? All you have to do is go to ramonashaw.com/itunes and to our Spotify Page, and give your honest review. Thanks for your support of this show! If this episode inspired you in some way, take a screenshot of you listening on your device and post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me @ramona.shaw.leadership or DM me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/ramona-shaw * Disclaimer: Shownotes may contain affiliate links. That means that I am awarded a small commission for purchases made through them, at no added cost to you.

Free download: Get the cliff notes, including exact lines to use and a one-on-one prep worksheet here: resources.archova.org/334 You ask your direct report a handful of questions in a one-on-one and leave feeling like you coached them well. They leave wondering why you didn't just say what you wanted. That gap is common. In a Zenger Folkman study of 3,761 leaders, 24% rated their own coaching skills higher than the people around them did. On nearly every other skill, leaders tend to underrate themselves. In Episode 334 of The Manager Track, Ramona walks through 5 mistakes managers make when they try to coach. Each one is hard to spot from your own seat, since you did ask questions and you didn't give orders. In this episode, you'll hear about: The quick check that tells you whether someone needs teaching, telling, or coachingWhy "Have you thought about...?" still lands as an instructionWhat happens to your ideas once your title is in the roomThe order that keeps coaching from becoming a way around a hard conversationThe closing questions that turn a pleasant chat into a commitment, plus how to coach in a Slack reply or a document commentIf you've ever had the same coaching conversation twice with nothing changing in between, this episode is for you. Watch on YouTube: The Manager Track on YouTube Resources Mentioned in This Episode The Advice Trap by Michael Bungay Stanier, the source of the "advice monster"The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay StanierLeadership Accelerator, Archova's 90-day manager readiness program for new and early-stage managersEpisode 334 cliff notes, available on the episode page Links Schedule a Leadership Strategy Call with Ramona HERE.Grab the free New Manager Toolkit mentioned in the episode: archova.org/free-toolkitsLearn how to turn your 1-on-1 meetings from time wasters, awkward moments, status updates, or non-existent into your most important and valuable meeting with your directs all week. Learn more at: archova.org/1on1-courseGrab your copy of Ramona's best-selling book 'The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role': amzn.to/3TuOdcP Other Episodes You Might Like Episode 326, Giving Feedback as a Manager: The 3-Conversation MethodEpisode 313, Why Your One-on-Ones Turned Into Status Meetings (And How to Fix It) What's Next? Learn more about our leadership development programs, coaching and workshops at archova.org. Grab your copy of Ramona's best-selling book 'The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role': amzn.to/3TuOdcP Want to better understand your leadership style and patterns? Take our free quiz to discover your Manager Archetype and learn how to play to your strengths and uncover your blind spots: archova.org/quiz Are you in your first manager role and don't want to mess it up? Watch our FREE Masterclass and discover the 4 shifts to become a leader people love to work for: archova.org/masterclass Love the podcast and haven't left a review yet? All you have to do is go to ramonashaw.com/itunes and to our Spotify Page, and give your honest review. Thanks for your support of this show! If this episode inspired you in some way, take a screenshot of you listening on your device and post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me @ramona.shaw.leadership or DM me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/ramona-shaw * Disclaimer: Shownotes may contain affiliate links. That means that I am awarded a small commission for purchases made through them, at no added cost to you.

If you've ever read an email from someone on your team and caught yourself thinking they sound like ChatGPT, you probably took it a little less seriously. Your team does the same thing with your messages. Managers now use AI to draft feedback, prep difficult conversations, write performance reviews, and polish status updates. On paper, the output is often good. The trouble starts when the words arrive before the thinking. People pick up on that mismatch, and now they have a ready explanation for it. Research from Cornell found that people rated a chat partner as less cooperative when they only suspected AI-suggested replies, whether or not AI was involved. In this episode, Ramona looks at why scripted messages land as inauthentic even when the script is solid, what that costs a manager's credibility, and how to keep using AI without your team discounting what you say. In Episode 333, we cover: The three costs of sounding like AI, including the one that surprises peopleWhat "workslop" is, and why 42% of the people who receive it trust the sender lessWhere AI-written work gives itself away: reviews, proposals, scripted conversations, and emailsWhy knowledge is losing value as a differentiator, and what replaces itFour habits that keep your own judgment and voice in anything AI helps you write Whether you use AI for every draft or only when a deadline hits at 8 p.m., this episode shows you how to keep your own judgment visible in what you send. Listen to the episode: The Manager Track Podcast, Episode 333: https://www.ramonashaw.com/how-not-to-sound-like-chatgpt Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/08uSGQIr0fE Time RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE The Leadership Accelerator, Archova's 12-week program for new and early-stage managers: https://archova.org/leadership-accelerator/Episode 333 cliff notes (free download on the episode page): https://resources.archova.org/episode-333Free masterclass: how to lead successfully as a new manager: https://archova.org/masterclassThe Confident and Competent New Manager by Ramona Shaw: https://archova.org/booksLINKS Schedule a Leadership Strategy Call with Ramona HERE.Grab the free New Manager Toolkit mentioned in the episode: archova.org/freetoolkitsLearn how to turn your 1-on-1 meetings from time wasters, awkward moments, status updates, or non-existent into your most important and valuable meeting with your directs all week. Learn more at: http://archova.org/1on1-courseGrab your copy of Ramona's best-selling book 'The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role': amzn.to/3TuOdcPOTHER EPISODES YOU MIGHT LIKE Episode 325: How to Write a Leadership Philosophy: https://www.ramonashaw.com/write-a-leadership-philosophy/Episode 330: Written Presence: What Your Slack Messages Say About How Senior You Are: https://www.ramonashaw.com/executive-presence-in-writing/ WHAT'S NEXT? Learn more about our leadership development programs, coaching and workshops at archova.org. Grab your copy of Ramona's best-selling book 'The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role': amzn.to/3TuOdcP Want to better understand your leadership style and patterns? Take our free quiz to discover your Manager Archetype and learn how to play to your strengths and uncover your blind spots: archova.org/quiz Are you in your first manager role and don't want to mess it up? Watch our FREE Masterclass and discover the 4 shifts to become a leader people love to work for: archova.org/masterclass Love the podcast and haven't left a review yet? All you have to do is go to ramonashaw.com/itunes and to our Spotify Page, and give your honest review. Thanks for your support of this show! If this episode inspired you in some way, take a screenshot of you listening on your device and post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me @ramona.shaw.leadership or DM me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/ramona-shaw * Disclaimer: Shownotes may contain affiliate links. That means that I am awarded a small commission for purchases made through them, at no added cost to you.

Starting this week, our episodes come with downloadable cliff notes, so you have the scripts and tools in front of you when you need them. Grab this week's here: https://resources.archova.org/episode-332/ ________ You got the job but now one person on your team has been doing this work longer than you've had a career, and you can feel them watching how you handle it. So you do one of two things. You start correcting details and pushing your ideas harder than they deserve, trying to show you know enough. Or you turn every decision into a polite question about what they think you should do. Both feel reasonable in the moment. Over a few months, the team figures out who actually runs things. And the survey data on younger managers is blunt about what bothers experienced employees: a boss who acts like they know more and gets defensive when questioned. Age barely comes into it. In this episode, Ramona separates the two kinds of authority that show up in these relationships and shows you how to hold yours while putting their experience to real use. In this episode: The two kinds of authority in the room, and what happens when you mix them upWhat to say when someone says “we tried that in 2019” in front of the whole teamThe habit that turns your decisions into requests for permissionA four-part method for earning credibility with someone who has seen more than youThe team code word that turns an old failure into useful information If you've ever caught yourself explaining the same decision a third time to someone with more tenure than you, this episode is for you. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/f0Knz_suTTA Episode page: https://www.ramonashaw.com/managing-experienced-employees RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE The Leadership Accelerator, Archova's 12-week cohort program for new and early-stage managers: https://www.archova.org/leadership-acceleratorFree masterclass on leading successfully as a new manager: https://www.archova.org/masterclassThe Confident and Competent New Manager by Ramona Shaw: https://www.archova.org/books LINKS Schedule a Leadership Strategy Call with Ramona: https://calendly.com/ramonashaw/leadership-strategy-sessionGrab the free New Manager Toolkit mentioned in the episode: https://www.archova.org/freetoolkitsLearn how to turn your 1-on-1 meetings from time wasters, awkward moments, status updates, or non-existent into your most important and valuable meeting with your directs all week. Learn more at: https://www.archova.org/1on1-courseGrab your copy of Ramona’s best-selling book ‘The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role’: amzn.to/3TuOdcP OTHER EPISODES YOU MIGHT LIKE Episode 329: Stop Overexplaining at Work: The Three-Beat Answer: https://www.ramonashaw.com/stop-overexplaining-at-work/Episode 317: Leading an Inherited Team: The First 90 Days: https://www.ramonashaw.com/leading-an-inherited-team/ WHAT'S NEXT? Learn more about our leadership development programs, coaching and workshops at archova.org. Grab your copy of Ramona’s best-selling book ‘The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role’: amzn.to/3TuOdcP Want to better understand your leadership style and patterns? Take our free quiz to discover your Manager Archetype and learn how to play to your strengths and uncover your blind spots: archova.org/quiz Are you in your first manager role and don't want to mess it up? Watch our FREE Masterclass and discover the 4 shifts to become a leader people love to work for: archova.org/masterclass Love the podcast and haven't left a review yet? All you have to do is go to ramonashaw.com/itunes and to our Spotify Page, and give your honest review. Thanks for your support of this show! If this episode inspired you in some way, take a screenshot of you listening on your device and post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me @ramona.shaw.leadership or DM me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/ramona-shaw * Disclaimer: Shownotes may contain affiliate links. That means that I am awarded a small commission for purchases made through them, at no added cost to you.

When a senior leader handles a hard question at an all-hands and makes it look easy, it's natural to assume they were born comfortable in front of a room and you weren't. Kathryn Janicek has spent her career watching that assumption fall apart. As a 3-time Emmy-winning TV news producer, she put Fortune 500 CEOs on camera for 20 years and saw how many of them arrived unprepared. Today she coaches leaders for earnings calls, keynotes, and the move into the CEO seat, and she says the people at the top share an open secret: they all have a coach. In this episode, Ramona and Kathryn talk about what goes into looking effortless on a bigger stage, whether that stage is a keynote, a client pitch, or your next team meeting. In Episode 331, they cover: Why the work on nerves and confidence can't be crammed into the days before a presentation"Service over nervous," the question Kathryn asks herself before every talkThe small habits that make people stop listening, including one big-city mayor's ringsVocal fry and upspeak: who does it, and why executives ask coaches to fix itWhere "just be yourself" turns into bad career advice If you've ever assumed your competence would be enough to carry you in the room, this conversation is for you. Listen to the episode: The Manager Track Podcast, Episode 331 Watch on YouTube: The Manager Track on YouTube Resources mentioned in this episode Janicek Performance Group: Kathryn's media, public speaking, and executive presence coaching firmKathryn Janicek on LinkedIn: where she answers her direct messagesOprah Winfrey's 2013 Harvard commencement address: the "Was that okay?" story Ramona referencesFree New Manager Masterclass: the 4 shifts to become a leader people love to work forThe Confident & Competent New Manager by Ramona Shaw Links Schedule a Leadership Strategy Call with Ramona HERE.Grab the free New Manager Toolkit mentioned in the episode: archova.org/freetoolkitsLearn how to turn your 1-on-1 meetings from time wasters, awkward moments, status updates, or non-existent into your most important and valuable meeting with your directs all week. Learn more at: http://archova.org/1on1-courseGrab your copy of Ramona's best-selling book 'The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role': amzn.to/3TuOdcP Other episodes you might like Episode 327: Resistance to Coaching: What Leaders Are Really ProtectingEpisode 329: Stop Overexplaining at Work: The Three-Beat Answer What's next? Learn more about our leadership development programs, coaching and workshops at archova.org. Grab your copy of Ramona's best-selling book 'The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role': amzn.to/3TuOdcP Want to better understand your leadership style and patterns? Take our free quiz to discover your Manager Archetype and learn how to play to your strengths and uncover your blind spots: archova.org/quiz Are you in your first manager role and don't want to mess it up? Watch our FREE Masterclass and discover the 4 shifts to become a leader people love to work for: archova.org/masterclass Love the podcast and haven't left a review yet? All you have to do is go to ramonashaw.com/itunes and to our Spotify Page, and give your honest review. Thanks for your support of this show! If this episode inspired you in some way, take a screenshot of you listening on your device and post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me @ramona.shaw.leadership or DM me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/ramona-shaw * Disclaimer: Shownotes may contain affiliate links. That means that I am awarded a small commission for purchases made through them, at no added cost to you.

The perception of how senior you are gets built in rooms you are not in, using text you wrote in about forty seconds. A skip level reads three of your Slack messages. A peer forwards your email two levels up and never mentions it. None of those people hear your voice, catch the warmth you would bring in person, or hold the context you were carrying when you typed it. In writing you do not control the tone. The reader does, and they supply it from their own mood, their own week, and whatever they already assume about you. Most managers have never treated this as a skill worth learning. Ramona makes the case that it is one, and that the closer comparison is a consultant learning to write executive briefs or a lawyer learning to draft, not anything you picked up in school. In Episode 330, Ramona covers: The Cold Read: how to read your own message the way someone scrolling on a phone with eight seconds of attention and no preloaded goodwill will read itFour phrases to delete from your writing starting this week, and the one swap that gets you a better answerWhat to do when someone uses a public channel to call you out, and why the long reply is a trapA two-word signal anyone on your team can drop to end a thread that is going sideways, without either person conceding If you have ever written a careful, considerate message and then watched the decision get made without you, this episode is for you. Listen to the episode: The Manager Track Podcast, Episode 330 Watch on YouTube: The Manager Track on YouTube Resources mentioned in this episode The Executive Presence Intensive: eight weeks in small groups for mid-level and senior leaders. Next cohort starts September 28.Priya Parker on The Daily, The New York Times, late August, on how Slack did not just change how we talk at work but turbocharged conflict. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/22/magazine/priya-parker-interview.htmlHigh Conflict by Amanda Ripley, the source of the term conflict entrepreneurs.Justin Kruger and Nicholas Epley, 2005 research on tone in email. Senders expected to be understood about 78 percent of the time. Receivers read it correctly about 56 percent of the time.Episode 328: The Update Trap: Why Good Status Updates Cost You AuthorityEpisode 329: Stop Overexplaining at Work: The Three-Beat AnswerEmail [email protected] to talk about facilitating a written norms conversation with your team. Links Schedule a Leadership Strategy Call with RamonaGrab the free New Manager Toolkit mentioned in the episode: archova.org/freetoolkits1-on-1 Meeting Mastery Course: learn how to turn your 1-on-1 meetings from time wasters, awkward moments, status updates, or non-existent into your most important and valuable meeting with your directs all week. Learn more at archova.org/1on1-courseThe Confident & Competent New Manager: grab your copy of Ramona's best-selling book on how to rapidly rise to success in your first leadership role. amzn.to/3TuOdcP Other episodes you might like Episode 329: Stop Overexplaining at Work: The Three-Beat AnswerEpisode 328: The Update Trap: Why Good Status Updates Cost You Authority What's next? Learn more about our leadership development programs, coaching and workshops at archova.orgGrab your copy of Ramona's best-selling book The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership RoleWant to better understand your leadership style and patterns? Take our free quiz to discover your Manager Archetype and learn how to play to your strengths and uncover your blind spots: archova.org/quizAre you in your first manager role and don't want to mess it up? Watch our FREE Masterclass and discover the 4 shifts to become a leader people love to work for: archova.org/masterclassLove the podcast and haven't left a review yet? All you have to do is go to ramonashaw.com/itunes and to our Spotify page, and give your honest review. Thanks for your support of this show!If this episode inspired you in some way, take a screenshot of you listening on your device and post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me @ramona.shaw.leadership or DM me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/ramona-shaw * Disclaimer: Shownotes may contain affiliate links. That means that I am awarded a small commission for purchases made through them, at no added cost to you.

You give a good answer. Clear, accurate, done in one sentence. Then you keep going. You add the context, the caveat, the option you considered and did not pick. All of it is true but together it tells the room something you never meant to say. The person who asked was not doubting you. By the end of your answer, they are. Not because the decision was weak, but because you spent ninety seconds defending something nobody attacked. Ramona calls this the difference between explaining and justifying, and often, even the most capable professionals cannot tell which one they are doing while they are doing it. This episode gives you the tell, the correction, and a protocol for people who use questions as a status instrument. In this episode: Why the length of your answer is the signal people actually readThe three-beat answer, and why the third beat is the one everyone skipsThe Why Ladder: how to spot a question that is really a test, and how to name it without sounding defensiveWhat you are actually chasing when you overexplain, and why it has to go If you have ever walked out of a meeting knowing you talked too much, this episode is for you. Listen to the episode: The Manager Track Podcast, Episode 329: ramonashaw.com/stop-overexplaining-at-work Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/0mepS-bnejY Resources Mentioned in This Episode The Executive Presence Intensive, eight weeks for mid-level and senior leaders. Next cohort starts September 28. Learn more at https://archova.org/executive-presence-programLast week’s episode on the update trap and reporting your judgment instead of your work. https://www.ramonashaw.com/status-updates-to-leadership/Next week: the written version of this problem, and what your Slack messages say about how senior you are. Links Schedule a Leadership Strategy Call with Ramona: https://calendly.com/ramonashaw/leadership-strategy-sessionGrab the free New Manager Toolkit mentioned in the episode: archova.org/freetoolkitsLearn how to turn your 1-on-1 meetings from time wasters, awkward moments, status updates, or non-existent into your most important and valuable meeting with your directs all week. Learn more at: http://archova.org/1on1-courseGrab your copy of Ramona’s best-selling book ‘The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role’: amzn.to/3TuOdcP Other Episodes You Might Like Episode 281 – Are You Overexplaining? When Leaders Should (and Shouldn’t) Justify Themselves – https://www.ramonashaw.com/281-overexplaining-leadershipEpisode 303 – Exec Communication: How to Speak So Senior Leaders Actually Listen – https://www.ramonashaw.com/how-to-speak-so-senior-leaders-actually-listen What’s Next? Learn more about our leadership development programs, coaching and workshops at archova.org. Grab your copy of Ramona’s best-selling book ‘The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role’: amzn.to/3TuOdcP Want to better understand your leadership style and patterns? Take our free quiz to discover your Manager Archetype and learn how to play to your strengths and uncover your blind spots: archova.org/quiz Are you in your first manager role and don’t want to mess it up? Watch our FREE Masterclass and discover the 4 shifts to become a leader people love to work for: archova.org/masterclass Love the podcast and haven’t left a review yet? All you have to do is go to ramonashaw.com/itunes and to our Spotify Page, and give your honest review. Thanks for your support of this show! If this episode inspired you in some way, take a screenshot of you listening on your device and post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me @ramona.shaw.leadership or DM me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/ramona-shaw * Disclaimer: Shownotes may contain affiliate links. That means that I am awarded a small commission for purchases made through them, at no added cost to you.

You have done it a hundred times. Someone senior asks where things stand, and you give them the full picture: every work stream accounted for, clear timelines, nothing missed. Sure, you must have sounded competent and in control. But what if that type of response actually costs you authority? Most managers never catch this happening, because nothing about the update looked wrong. The cost shows up months later, in a promotion conversation, or in who gets pulled into the room where the decision actually gets made. In this episode, Ramona breaks down why an update and a briefing look identical on the surface while functioning as two completely different transactions, and what to change before your next meeting with anyone more senior than you. In this episode: The Decision Line: the invisible boundary between where effort lives and where authority livesWhy the research on processing fluency is so unkind to thorough peopleThe four moves that keep you above the line, including the one most managers skip entirelyWhat to say when someone deliberately pulls you down into the weedsA one-word protocol you can install with your team this week If you have ever walked out of a leadership meeting feeling like you did everything right and still lost the room, this episode is for you. Watch on YouTube: The Manager Track on YouTube. — RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE — The Executive Presence Intensive, Ramona’s eight-week program for senior leaders. Next cohort starts September 28. https://archova.org/executive-presence-program/Free New Manager Masterclass: archova.org/masterclassThe Confident & Competent New Manager by Ramona Shaw: archova.org/books — LINKS — Schedule a Leadership Strategy Call with Ramona HERE (calendly.com/ramonashaw/leadership-strategy-session).Grab the free New Manager Toolkit mentioned in the episode: archova.org/freetoolkitsLearn how to turn your 1-on-1 meetings from time wasters, awkward moments, status updates, or non-existent into your most important and valuable meeting with your directs all week. Learn more at: http://archova.org/1on1-courseGrab your copy of Ramona’s best-selling book ‘The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role’: amzn.to/3TuOdcP — OTHER EPISODES YOU MIGHT LIKE — Episode 303 – Exec Communication: How to Speak So Senior Leaders Actually Listen — https://www.ramonashaw.com/how-to-speak-so-senior-leaders-actually-listen/Episode 309 – From Executor to Strategist: How to Talk About Your Work at the Right Altitude — https://www.ramonashaw.com/crafting-a-vision-as-a-leader/ — WHAT’S NEXT? — Learn more about our leadership development programs, coaching and workshops at archova.org. Grab your copy of Ramona’s best-selling book ‘The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role’: amzn.to/3TuOdcP Want to better understand your leadership style and patterns? Take our free quiz to discover your Manager Archetype and learn how to play to your strengths and uncover your blind spots: archova.org/quiz Are you in your first manager role and don’t want to mess it up? Watch our FREE Masterclass and discover the 4 shifts to become a leader people love to work for: archova.org/masterclass Love the podcast and haven’t left a review yet? All you have to do is go to ramonashaw.com/itunes and to our Spotify Page, and give your honest review. Thanks for your support of this show! If this episode inspired you in some way, take a screenshot of you listening on your device and post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me @ramona.shaw.leadership or DM me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/ramona-shaw * Disclaimer: Shownotes may contain affiliate links. That means that I am awarded a small commission for purchases made through them, at no added cost to you.

Most resistance to growth never announces itself. It shows up as a calendar that will not cooperate, a quarter that is too full, a leadership program that would be a better fit next year. Maren Perry, founder and CEO of Arden Coaching, has spent twenty years working with senior leaders and executives. She can identify what usually lies beneath that scheduling problem. People reach senior roles because they were very good at something, and that gives them something to protect. Coaching asks them to set it down for an hour and look honestly (and vulnerably) at what is working and what is not. In this episode, Ramona and Maren get into the part of leadership growth that rarely gets said out loud: the distance between what a leader knows they should do and what they actually make room for. They dig into: What resistance looks like The two sides of any goal, the thinking side and the feeling side, and what it means when they do not matchWhy people feel stuckThe quadrant most leaders agree drives their success and still give zero attention to If you have a project, a conversation, or a development opportunity that has been sitting on your list for months, this conversation will help you understand why it is still sitting there even though you know you "should" tackle it now. Watch on YouTube: The Manager Track on YouTube — RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE — Maren Perry, Founder and CEO of Arden Coaching, on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/marenperryArden Coaching: ardencoaching.comListener resources from Maren: ardencoaching.com/podcast — LINKS — Schedule a Leadership Strategy Call with Ramona here: calendly.com/ramonashaw/leadership-strategy-sessionGrab the free New Manager Toolkit mentioned in the episode: archova.org/freetoolkitsLearn how to turn your 1-on-1 meetings from time wasters, awkward moments, status updates, or non-existent into your most important and valuable meeting with your directs all week. Learn more at: http://archova.org/1on1-courseGrab your copy of Ramona's best-selling book 'The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role': amzn.to/3TuOdcP — OTHER EPISODES YOU MIGHT LIKE — Episode 194 – Coachability: https://www.ramonashaw.com/194-coachabilityEpisode 294 – Want to Achieve Big Goals? The Two Critical Factors Most People Miss: https://www.ramonashaw.com/achieve-big-goals — WHAT'S NEXT? — Learn more about our leadership development programs, coaching and workshops at archova.org. Grab your copy of Ramona's best-selling book 'The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role': amzn.to/3TuOdcP Want to better understand your leadership style and patterns? Take our free quiz to discover your Manager Archetype and learn how to play to your strengths and uncover your blind spots: archova.org/quiz Are you in your first manager role and don't want to mess it up? Watch our FREE Masterclass and discover the 4 shifts to become a leader people love to work for: archova.org/masterclass Love the podcast and haven't left a review yet? All you have to do is go to ramonashaw.com/itunes and to our Spotify Page, and give your honest review. Thanks for your support of this show! If this episode inspired you in some way, take a screenshot of you listening on your device and post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me @ramona.shaw.leadership or DM me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/ramona-shaw * Disclaimer: Shownotes may contain affiliate links. That means that I am awarded a small commission for purchases made through them, at no added cost to you.

Someone on your team does something you do not like. It is small, so you let it go. It happens again a few weeks later, and you let that one go too. By the third time, you are irritated, and now you are carrying six weeks of unspoken frustration into a thirty-minute feedback conversation. Even if you keep your cool, that pressure goes somewhere. Into your tone, your body language, sometimes the words you pick. Ramona calls this the most reliable way managers turn a manageable issue into a performance problem. Silence is not neutral. Every week you notice something and say nothing, you are teaching your team member that it is acceptable. In this episode, Ramona breaks one feedback conversation into three and gives the exact language for each one. The 90-second conversation that stops most performance problems from ever becoming performance problemsThe recovery move for when you already skipped the first two conversations and the review is next weekThree research findings that explain why your direct report is genuinely surprised when you finally speak up If you have ever documented a problem privately for months and then watched someone say "this is the first I'm hearing of any of this," this episode is for you. Watch on YouTube: The Manager Track on YouTube — RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE — The Confident & Competent New Manager by Ramona Shaw, the source of the meetings example: amzn.to/3TuOdcPKluger, A. N., and DeNisi, A. (1996). The effects of feedback interventions on performance. Psychological Bulletin. The meta-analysis covering 607 feedback incidents and over 23,000 observations.The invisible gorilla selective attention study by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons.The Leadership Accelerator, Archova's 12-week program for new and first-time managers: archova.org/leadership-acceleratorFree masterclass for new managers: archova.org/masterclass — LINKS — Schedule a Leadership Strategy Call with Ramona HERE: https://calendly.com/ramonashaw/leadership-strategy-sessionGrab the free New Manager Toolkit mentioned in the episode: archova.org/freetoolkitsLearn how to turn your 1-on-1 meetings from time wasters, awkward moments, status updates, or non-existent into your most important and valuable meeting with your directs all week. Learn more at: http://archova.org/1on1-courseGrab your copy of Ramona's best-selling book 'The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role': amzn.to/3TuOdcP— OTHER EPISODES YOU MIGHT LIKE — Episode 124 – Giving Feedback: 3 Common Mistakes Episode 286 – The End of “Nice Leadership”: How to Be Direct, Kind, and RespectedEpisode 292 - Performance vs Potential: A Better Approach to Assessing Your People — WHAT'S NEXT? — Learn more about our leadership development programs, coaching and workshops at archova.org. Grab your copy of Ramona's best-selling book 'The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role': amzn.to/3TuOdcP Want to better understand your leadership style and patterns? Take our free quiz to discover your Manager Archetype and learn how to play to your strengths and uncover your blind spots: archova.org/quiz Are you in your first manager role and don't want to mess it up? Watch our FREE Masterclass and discover the 4 shifts to become a leader people love to work for: archova.org/masterclass Love the podcast and haven't left a review yet? All you have to do is go to ramonashaw.com/itunes and to our Spotify Page, and give your honest review. Thanks for your support of this show! If this episode inspired you in some way, take a screenshot of you listening on your device and post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me @ramona.shaw.leadership or DM me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/ramona-shaw * Disclaimer: Shownotes may contain affiliate links. That means that I am awarded a small commission for purchases made through them, at no added cost to you.

Sometime in the next few months, a decision will land on your desk that makes half the room unhappy. It will show up on an ordinary Tuesday, in a week that was already full, and you will have about a day to decide. Most managers meet that moment with instinct and hope. When the team performs and nothing breaks, principles never get tested. Ramona calls this sunshine leadership. Then a decision gets contentious, a strong performer starts to slip, or two people you like want incompatible things, and your team watches what you do next. They notice fast which of your stated principles are real and which ones are decoration. In this episode, Ramona walks through how to build a leadership philosophy that holds up in exactly those moments, including where it sits inside Archova’s APS method (awareness, principles, system). She covers: Why borrowed methods fail without an anchor, and what a block of clay has to do with itThe two rules for choosing leadership values (most managers break both)The sentence that turns a value like quality into a rule your team can actually followThe two-week shadow test that reveals whether your philosophy is operating or decorativeThe trap of values that point away from your own goals, and how to bridge it If you have ever said one thing in a team meeting and done another under pressure, this episode is for you. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/H3HyT3aDRgw — RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE — The Leadership Accelerator, Archova’s 12-week program for new and early-stage managers: archova.org/leadership-acceleratorFree masterclass on how to successfully lead as a new manager: archova.org/masterclass‘The Confident & Competent New Manager’ by Ramona Shaw: archova.org/books or amzn.to/3TuOdcP — LINKS — Schedule a Leadership Strategy Call with Ramona HERE (calendly.com/ramonashaw/leadership-strategy-session).Grab the free New Manager Toolkit mentioned in the episode: archova.org/freetoolkitsLearn how to turn your 1-on-1 meetings from time wasters, awkward moments, status updates, or non-existent into your most important and valuable meeting with your directs all week. Learn more at: http://archova.org/1on1-courseGrab your copy of Ramona’s best-selling book ‘The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role’: amzn.to/3TuOdcP — OTHER EPISODES YOU MIGHT LIKE — Episode 106 – What Is Your Leadership Philosophy?Episode 247 – Beyond Values: Creating Explicit Leadership Expectations — WHAT’S NEXT? — Learn more about our leadership development programs, coaching and workshops at archova.org.Grab your copy of Ramona’s best-selling book ‘The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role’: amzn.to/3TuOdcPWant to better understand your leadership style and patterns? Take our free quiz to discover your Manager Archetype and learn how to play to your strengths and uncover your blind spots: archova.org/quizAre you in your first manager role and don’t want to mess it up? Watch our FREE Masterclass and discover the 4 shifts to become a leader people love to work for: archova.org/masterclassLove the podcast and haven’t left a review yet? All you have to do is go to ramonashaw.com/itunes and to our Spotify Page, and give your honest review. Thanks for your support of this show!If this episode inspired you in some way, take a screenshot of you listening on your device and post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me @ramona.shaw.leadership or DM me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/ramona-shaw * Disclaimer: Shownotes may contain affiliate links. That means that I am awarded a small commission for purchases made through them, at no added cost to you.

Six months ago you sat next to these people. You complained about leadership together, covered for each other when something slipped, and knew exactly what got said in the hallway versus in the meeting. Now you run the team, and every one of those unspoken rules is up for renegotiation. Most new managers handle this by saying nothing and hoping the awkwardness fades. Ramona did exactly that after her promotion into leadership. Within two years, she had damaged some of those relationships and felt more stressed than she ever had as an individual contributor. In this episode, Ramona walks through the conversations she wishes she had opened with, and why the manager who tries to stay liked ends up losing both the relationship and the team. She covers: The two kinds of expectations that shape every working relationship, and why the unspoken ones do the damageA four-box matrix of management approaches, including the trap that feels the safest and costs the mostThe four things to renegotiate out loud with every former peer in your first two weeksWhat to say to the person on your team who wanted your jobWhy the trust you built as a peer is already banked, and the one question your team still needs answered Whether you were just promoted over your peers, you can see that promotion coming, or you are two years in and still avoiding the elephant in the room, this episode gives you the words for the conversations you have been putting off. Watch on YouTube: The Manager Track on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LYlESAru-U0 — RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE — The Leadership Accelerator (12-week cohort program for new and early-stage managers): archova.org [verify link in show notes]"The Confident & Competent New Manager" by Ramona Shaw, including the explicit vs. implicit expectations framework and the productivity/rapport matrix: archova.org/books or AmazonFree masterclass for new managers: archova.org/masterclassPersonnel psychology research on multiplex workplace relationships (friendship plus reporting line) and maintenance difficultyFiske, Cuddy, and Glick research on warmth and competence in how we assess leaders — LINKS — Schedule a Leadership Strategy Call with Ramona HERE (link: https://calendly.com/ramonashaw/leadership-strategy-session)Grab the free New Manager Toolkit mentioned in the episode: archova.org/freetoolkitsLearn how to turn your 1-on-1 meetings from time wasters, awkward moments, status updates, or non-existent into your most important and valuable meeting with your directs all week. Learn more at: http://archova.org/1on1-courseGrab your copy of Ramona’s best-selling book ‘The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role’: amzn.to/3TuOdcP — OTHER EPISODES YOU MIGHT LIKE — Episode 24 – Can I Be Friends With My Direct Reports? Episode 321 – From Doer to Leader: Redefining Competence in Your New Role — WHAT’S NEXT? — Learn more about our leadership development programs, coaching and workshops at archova.org.Grab your copy of Ramona’s best-selling book ‘The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role’: amzn.to/3TuOdcPWant to better understand your leadership style and patterns? Take our free quiz to discover your Manager Archetype and learn how to play to your strengths and uncover your blind spots: archova.org/quizAre you in your first manager role and don’t want to mess it up? Watch our FREE Masterclass and discover the 4 shifts to become a leader people love to work for: archova.org/masterclassLove the podcast and haven’t left a review yet? All you have to do is go to ramonashaw.com/itunes and to our Spotify Page, and give your honest review. Thanks for your support of this show!If this episode inspired you in some way, take a screenshot of you listening on your device and post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me @ramona.shaw.leadership or DM me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/ramona-shaw * Disclaimer: Shownotes may contain affiliate links. That means that I am awarded a small commission for purchases made through them, at no added cost to you.

Somewhere along the way, you picked up the idea that thoughtful ICs wait until they’re ready before going for the manager role. So you keep asking the question. Am I ready? And every time you ask it, it feels responsible. It feels like preparing. Ramona has watched that exact question stall talented ICs for years. It has no evidence standard and no end date, which means you can ask it forever while it quietly turns your next career move into a verdict someone else gets to hand down. In this episode, Ramona throws out the usual trait checklist (communicate well, put the team first, manage your time) and replaces it with a willingness audit: four questions you answer yes or no to, all testable this week, none requiring anyone’s permission. She covers: The four willingness questions, starting with whether you can stand having your results measured through other people’s workThe senior engineer who kept hearing "not quite there yet" and responded in exactly the wrong wayTwo scripts that turn vague feedback into a specific behavior and a dateThree signs "you’re not ready" is your manager stalling, not a real assessmentWhat Bandura’s self-efficacy research says about waiting until you feel capableThe part almost nobody says out loud: for some of you the honest answer is no, and there’s a clean way to own it Whether you’re circling the decision, hearing "not yet" on repeat, or quietly suspecting the manager track isn’t for you, this episode gets you to an honest answer faster. Watch on YouTube: The Manager Track on YouTube — RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE — The Leadership Accelerator (12-week cohort program for new and early-stage managers): archova.org/leadership-acceleratorAlbert Bandura’s research on self-efficacy and mastery experienceCenter for Creative Leadership research on how leadership capability developsLinda Hill, "Becoming a Manager" (research on new managers’ assumptions)Free masterclass for new managers: archova.org/masterclass"The Confident & Competent New Manager" by Ramona Shaw: archova.org/books — LINKS —Schedule a Leadership Strategy Call with Ramona here: https://calendly.com/ramonashaw/leadership-strategy-session)Grab the free New Manager Toolkit mentioned in the episode: archova.org/freetoolkitsLearn how to turn your 1-on-1 meetings from time wasters, awkward moments, status updates, or non-existent into your most important and valuable meeting with your directs all week. Learn more at: http://archova.org/1on1-courseGrab your copy of Ramona’s best-selling book ‘The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role’: amzn.to/3TuOdcP — OTHER EPISODES YOU MIGHT LIKE — Episode 61 – From IC to Manager: 4 Main Shifts Episode 321 – From Doer to Leader: Redefining Competence in Your New Role — WHAT’S NEXT? — Learn more about our leadership development programs, coaching and workshops at archova.org.Grab your copy of Ramona’s best-selling book ‘The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role’: amzn.to/3TuOdcPWant to better understand your leadership style and patterns? Take our free quiz to discover your Manager Archetype and learn how to play to your strengths and uncover your blind spots: archova.org/quizAre you in your first manager role and don’t want to mess it up? Watch our FREE Masterclass and discover the 4 shifts to become a leader people love to work for: archova.org/masterclassLove the podcast and haven’t left a review yet? All you have to do is go to ramonashaw.com/itunes and to our Spotify Page, and give your honest review. Thanks for your support of this show!If this episode inspired you in some way, take a screenshot of you listening on your device and post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me @ramona.shaw.leadership or DM me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/ramona-shaw * Disclaimer: Shownotes may contain affiliate links. That means that I am awarded a small commission for purchases made through them, at no added cost to you.

You walk into a meeting with senior people, and within seconds the internal questions start: Should I speak early or wait until I’m asked? Am I reading the mood right, or am I about to present data to a room that wants something else entirely? And when the energy shifts mid-meeting, someone influential goes quiet, the questions turn political, the doubt gets louder: do I name what’s happening, or do I keep going through my slides and hope it passes? Ramona doesn’t treat reading the room as charisma you’re born with. The managers who look intuitive in meetings are running a short list of questions in their heads, typically faster than everyone else, and adjusting what they say based on the answers. That list can be learned. In this episode, Ramona breaks down what reading the room actually involves and why so much of your credibility in a new room gets decided before you’ve said anything of substance. She covers: The three reads to make in the first two minutes of any meeting, starting with who is actually running it (rarely the person who scheduled it)The four roles you can hold in a meeting, and why a mismatch here is the real reason meetings feel like they go badlyWhat the room is hungry for, and how to tell when it flips from competence to relationship mid-meetingThe "thin slices" research showing how fast people size you up, and what they judge firstFive things that decide your first two minutes, and only one of them is what you say Whether you’re walking into a room of unfamiliar stakeholders, presenting to executives, or watching a meeting drift away from you mid-slide, this episode gives you the questions to run and the language to use. — RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE —The Executive Presence Program (8-week program for mid-level to senior leaders): archova.org/executive-presence-program — LINKS —Schedule a Leadership Strategy Call with Ramona HERE (link: https://calendly.com/ramonashaw/leadership-strategy-session)Grab the free New Manager Toolkit mentioned in the episode: archova.org/freetoolkitsLearn how to turn your 1-on-1 meetings from time wasters, awkward moments, status updates, or non-existent into your most important and valuable meeting with your directs all week. Learn more at: http://archova.org/1on1-courseGrab your copy of Ramona’s best-selling book ‘The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role’: amzn.to/3TuOdcP — WHAT’S NEXT? —Learn more about our leadership development programs, coaching and workshops at archova.org.Grab your copy of Ramona’s best-selling book ‘The Confident & Competent New Manager: How to Rapidly Rise to Success in Your First Leadership Role’: amzn.to/3TuOdcPWant to better understand your leadership style and patterns? Take our free quiz to discover your Manager Archetype and learn how to play to your strengths and uncover your blind spots: archova.org/quizAre you in your first manager role and don’t want to mess it up? Watch our FREE Masterclass and discover the 4 shifts to become a leader people love to work for: archova.org/masterclassLove the podcast and haven’t left a review yet? All you have to do is go to ramonashaw.com/itunes and to our Spotify Page, and give your honest review. Thanks for your support of this show!If this episode inspired you in some way, take a screenshot of you listening on your device and post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me @ramona.shaw.leadership or DM me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/ramona-shaw * Disclaimer: Shownotes may contain affiliate links. That means that I am awarded a small commission for purchases made through them, at no added cost to you.

There is a thought a lot of managers carry around and almost never say out loud: “Honestly, my direct report is a stronger performer than I am.” If you have had some version of that thought, it usually shows up with a little shame attached. And the standard response, someone telling you that you are great and you do it better than your employee, tends to bounce right off. It does not fix anything, because it is aimed at the wrong problem. Here is what is actually going on. For your whole career, being good meant one thing: I know the most, I do it best, people come to me when the work is hard. Then you got promoted, and the definition of competence quietly changed. Nobody told you the new rules. So you are standing in a new role, still grading yourself with the old ruler, and of course you come up short. In Episode 321, Ramona breaks down: Why “my report is a stronger performer than I am” is an apples-to-oranges error, not a verdict on youWhat actually happens in your brain when your competence feels threatened, and why it registers like survivalThe quiet trap of comparing your year one to someone else’s year fiveThe “which chair are you sitting in?” test that pulls you back into the right seat If you have ever caught yourself diving back into the technical work because it is the one place you still feel sharp, this episode will show you what to do instead. Watch on YouTube Resources mentioned in this episode The Leadership Accelerator, Archova’s 90-day manager readiness program for new and early-stage managers: archova.org/leadership-acceleratorFree Masterclass, the 4 shifts to lead as a new manager: archova.org/masterclass“The Confident & Competent New Manager” by Ramona Shaw: archova.org/books  (also on Amazon: amzn.to/3TuOdcP)CEB research finding that 60% of new managers fail or underperform in their first 18 months, referenced in the episodeLinks Schedule a Leadership Strategy Call with Ramona: calendly.com/ramonashaw/leadership-strategy-sessionGrab the free New Manager Toolkit mentioned in the episode: archova.org/freetoolkitsTurn your 1-on-1 meetings into your most valuable meeting of the week: archova.org/1on1-courseGrab Ramona’s best-selling book “The Confident & Competent New Manager”: amzn.to/3TuOdcP Other episodes you might like Episode 256 – The Leadership Identity Shift: From Executor to Influencer  youtube.com/watch?v=L_KXIyEjNAYEpisode 311 – Delegating: When Stepping In Becomes Stepping On  ramonashaw.com/delegation-for-managers What’s next? Learn more about our leadership development programs, coaching and workshops at archova.org.Want to better understand your leadership style and patterns? Take the free Manager Archetype quiz: archova.org/quizIn your first manager role and don’t want to mess it up? Watch our FREE Masterclass: archova.org/masterclassLove the podcast? Leave an honest review at ramonashaw.com/itunes and on Spotify. Then take a screenshot listening and tag @ramona.shaw.leadership on Instagram or DM Ramona on LinkedIn. * Disclaimer: Shownotes may contain affiliate links. That means that I am awarded a small commission for purchases made through them, at no added cost to you.