Tuesday 5 May 2020

Mentoring suggestions: helpful resources for people managing (and being human in the workplace)

 I'm having the most amazing and humbling response to my offer to open up some mentoring spaces, and I know I'm not going to be able to spend time with all the people who have submitted their interest.

The podcast I wish someone had given me when I started managing people

Manager Tools "Basics". Listen to them on 1.5 time. Prepare to roll your eyes at some of the episodes and the need to reinforce beyond-basics like "have one-on-one meetings". But the episodes on feedback have completely reshaped my approach to this and I wish wish wish I'd heard them years ago.

The book I wish someone had given me when I started managing people

Lara Hogan's Resilient Management. Like the podcast above, it's written for the tech world, but I thoroughly recommend at least downloading the trial chapter from the link and giving that a read. It took me until last year (when Lara presented at Webstock) to see how the forming / storming / norming / performing model she uses could help me understand what the hell was going on with teams I'm working with, and to think about how people's essential needs (status, security, novelty) shape their reactions to change and challenge in the workplace. Well written and blessedly short.

The blog I wish someone had shown me when I started managing people

Leadership Freak. Middle-aged American man warning. The frequency may wear on you. But every couple of posts he makes a point that really really helps me. Like this recent one about accountability.

The podcast that made me feel better about finding everything so hard right now

Am I the last woman leader in the English-speaking world to learn about Brené Brown? Seems like it. I can't stand her author interviews on her new podcast, but these two short episodes really helped me get some perspective on what's been going on with me over the last few weeks:

Anxiety, Calm + Over/Under-Functioning (I'm a classic over-performer in response to stress and this podcast helped me step outside myself and understand how I was behaving)

On tough first times (We are doing so many new things, in new ways, in a situation of great ambiguity. It's not surprising we're feeling snappy, knee-jerky, and stressed.)

The podcast that helps me find my empathy

Esther Perel has been one of the best things in my lockdown experience. Her insight, charm and brutality make such a unique and listenable package. I binged on her couple's therapy podcast and haven't listened to all the episodes of her more recent 'How's Work' but I've listened to the following two episodes twice. In them, Perel explores the idea of the 'relational dowry' we bring into the workplace,

Prologue (an introduction to the idea of a 'relational dowry'; needs for identity at work; power relationships in the workplace; stability and growth)

Special Episode: Esther Perel and Adam Grant of Worklife (In which organisational psychologist Adam Grant tests and debates Esther's approach with her)

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