Advertise on podcast: Michelle Lewis - The Leadership Lounge

Send us Fan Mail How do you stop fire-fighting and build time to think? Firefighting mode is seductive, because it feels productive. You’re busy, you’re needed, things are getting resolved and there’s also that little hit of adrenaline that comes with the urgency. But it’s actually costing you the thinking time, the deep, unhurried, connective kind of thinking that shapes decisions, solves the real problems and moves things forward in ways that actually matter. In this episode from The Leadership Lounge, I share some practical steps you can use to create the thinking time that you need to move things forward in a meaningful way. #Leadership #LeadershipBehaviours #StrategicThinking #ThinkingTime Calm, intentional career advice that works. Thanks for listening, if there is anything else careers related that you would like me to delve into then feel free to drop me a message.

Send us Fan Mail Many of us will have heard this phrase at some point in our careers when we’ve been asked to take on additional responsibilities: “We just need to see you operating at that level for a while before we can make it official.” But there are significant consequences for both you and your organisation of fulfilling an acting up role before you get the actual recognition and job title. It’s something I’ve termed the 'prove-it trap' and there are things you can do to help prevent it happening to you, but you will need to be intentional about it. In this week's episode of The Leadership Lounge, I take a straightforward look at what you can do if you find yourself in this situation. Calm, intentional career advice that works. Thanks for listening, if there is anything else careers related that you would like me to delve into then feel free to drop me a message.

Send us Fan Mail Someone on your team is having a really tough time, they haven’t said anything, but you’re their manager and you can see that something is going on. They’re really distracted, seem a lot less engaged and you can also see that their work is slipping and now the team are starting to notice too. You want to get this right, but worry about being intrusive, or conversely, coming across as cold. You also worry about the rest of the team who are picking up slack, the late deliverables and what you should do and the whole thing feels so stressful. So what's the best way to handle this? Have a read or listen to this week’s episode to find out more  Calm, intentional career advice that works. Thanks for listening, if there is anything else careers related that you would like me to delve into then feel free to drop me a message.

Send us Fan Mail Whether you manage a team, lead other managers, or you're the one sitting in the 1-2-1 wondering when it'll end, then this post is for you. You know how 1-2-1s roll, you’ve got the recurring slot in the diary for thirty minutes, maybe even an hour, once a month where you sit down, run through what’s going on, talk about workload, maybe mention a few things coming up and then you both go back to your desks. Job done. Except it isn’t, not really. Because 1-2-1s aren’t meant to be operational. They’re actually meant to be relational. Calm, intentional career advice that works. Thanks for listening, if there is anything else careers related that you would like me to delve into then feel free to drop me a message.

Send us Fan Mail There’s something about a long weekend that lays bare the secrets about how we really lead. How we behave in the small, almost unnoticeable choices we make when work pauses and I can see that there are a few patterns that emerge when a long weekend rolls around. Most leaders tend to fall into 3 types....  Have a listen to this week's post to see if this resonates with you. #LeadershipBehaviours #WorkplaceCulture #LeadByExample Calm, intentional career advice that works. Thanks for listening, if there is anything else careers related that you would like me to delve into then feel free to drop me a message.

Send us Fan Mail So it’s happened, you’ve got the promotion you were looking for or perhaps the company restructured and your role has changed and you’ve taken on a leadership position or moved to a different level of leadership, and somewhere in the blur of new responsibilities, different expectations, and unfamiliar territory, things feel very different.  The ‘who you are at work’ has changed and the style and strategies you may have always relied on, might now feel clunky and you start to doubt yourself, wonder if you’re really ready for this role.  Here's a 3 stage framework to help you navigate this shift. Calm, intentional career advice that works. Thanks for listening, if there is anything else careers related that you would like me to delve into then feel free to drop me a message.

Send us Fan Mail Imagine the scene. A member of your team put themselves forward for an internal role.  And now you know the answer is no. How you handle the next few hours, and the next few weeks, will say something significant about who you are as a leader.  When you show up for someone’s disappointment with honesty and care, you’re not just managing a situation. You’re making a statement about what kind of team this is and about what kind of leader you are.  Calm, intentional career advice that works. Thanks for listening, if there is anything else careers related that you would like me to delve into then feel free to drop me a message.

Send us Fan Mail Do you find yourself working long hours, even when no one has explicitly asked you to? Struggling to find time for yourself? Feeling like a lot is expected of you… because it usually is? If so, you’re not alone.  Life is busy. Work is busy. And for many capable, conscientious people, it’s frighteningly easy to slip into a rhythm where work slowly expands to fill every available space. The never-ending to-do list. Meetings that could (and should) have been an email. Work emergencies. Family emergencies. Other people’s priorities quietly becoming your own. Managing boundaries at work is challenging, but it’s also essential if we want any kind of work/life harmony and if we want our work to remain meaningful rather than all-consuming. Calm, intentional career advice that works. Thanks for listening, if there is anything else careers related that you would like me to delve into then feel free to drop me a message.

Send us Fan Mail 'Am I doing what I'm really meant to do?  Most of us have asked ourselves this question at some point in our career and it's a question that comes up frequently in coaching sessions with clients, who feel like something isn’t quite right. Their career isn’t delivering the life, the feeling, the meaning they had hoped for, so let's look at a framework that can help. Calm, intentional career advice that works. Thanks for listening, if there is anything else careers related that you would like me to delve into then feel free to drop me a message.

Send us Fan Mail Being told “you’re not strategic enough” can feel like feedback without substance. You might be working hard. Delivering results. Keeping things moving. So when you’re given this feedback, it can feel like: “Well, what exactly do you want me to do differently?” This kind of feedback statement, is really lazy if it comes with no direction on what ‘good’ looks like, but if we don’t have a clear picture of ‘good’ how do we know how to fix it? Here's how. Calm, intentional career advice that works. Thanks for listening, if there is anything else careers related that you would like me to delve into then feel free to drop me a message.

Send us Fan Mail Every January, I try to do one thing that nudges me gently out of my comfort zone. It’s not a “new year, new me” reset. More often, it’s the thing I’ve been thinking about for a while, the idea that keeps resurfacing, the step I’ve been quietly circling, the change that feels uncomfortable but persistent. What I am re-learning is that the starting something new isn't the hard part, the sticking with it even when it feels hard is. Because it affects how we see ourselves when we suddenly become a beginner again. But, no surprise, it's consistency rather than bravery that is key Calm, intentional career advice that works. Thanks for listening, if there is anything else careers related that you would like me to delve into then feel free to drop me a message.

Send us Fan Mail In many organisations, there are people frantically trying to get everything finished before the festive break, burning themselves out for the price of a (very temporarily) empty inbox, so we end up collapsing into the break, exhausted. So, how do you close down the year without burning yourself out and restart the new year, without resentment? Calm, intentional career advice that works. Thanks for listening, if there is anything else careers related that you would like me to delve into then feel free to drop me a message.

Send us Fan Mail There is a silent crisis sitting at the heart of many organisations, where mid-level leaders are crumbling under the pressure of trying to be all things to all people. For years, the middle layers of leadership have been framed as the dependable anchor of our organisations, the ones who “know how things really work,” they’re often the experienced steady hands who keep the wheels turning. Their competence acts as a kind of camouflage, and that’s precisely the problem, as we're not looking so hard for the warning signs that they need help. Calm, intentional career advice that works. Thanks for listening, if there is anything else careers related that you would like me to delve into then feel free to drop me a message.

Send us Fan Mail There’s a quiet crisis in leadership development. Across every sector, bright, capable people are being promoted into their first management roles and then left to figure it out alone. They go from being high­-performers in their field to leading others overnight. Often with no roadmap, no safety net and no real support beyond a quick “Congratulations, you’ll be great!” And that’s a problem. Calm, intentional career advice that works. Thanks for listening, if there is anything else careers related that you would like me to delve into then feel free to drop me a message.

Send us Fan Mail Why we should be worried when women over 50 feel invisible and the power they bring to your organisation when they don’t. Somewhere between mid-career and senior leadership, too many brilliant women quietly start to disappear. Not because they’ve lost their spark, but because the workplace has stopped seeing them.  And yet, in many organisations these women are often the very people holding the ship together. Calm, intentional career advice that works. Thanks for listening, if there is anything else careers related that you would like me to delve into then feel free to drop me a message.