We know you’re busy, so we’re going to curate the best management content and advice in this newsletter – so you can focus on all the other important things that you do. If you want to be the best manager for your team and constantly hone in on your leadership skills, be sure to check for a new email every two weeks!
Why TLDR (too long didn’t read)? Because we’ll give you a short summary of all the content we share so you learn something valuable from every email.
To get started, here are our 3 most popular articles from this year and one of our favourite pieces by Lara Hogan (leadership author and co-founder at Wherewithall):
How great managers give and receive feedback
TLDR: The best managers offer feedback as work happens and not only during feedback cycles or performance reviews. Before giving out feedback, always ask for feedback about yourself first. Then, use the following feedback equation: Observation + Impact + Request. Remember, feedback is a gift 🎁.
10 Mistakes you should avoid during your one-on-one meetings
TLDR: The deadly sins of one-on-one meetings include not collaborating on an agenda, doing most of the talking, using the one-on-one as a project status update, not following up on action items, running out of time, always meeting in the same location, and never asking for feedback ⚠️.
Top 10 lessons from Julie Zhuo’s The Making of a Manager
TLDR: Julie Zhuo (Facebook’s VP of Product Design) got promoted to her 1st management position at the age of 25. This article summarizes some of Zhuo’s hard-earned advice.
- A manager’s main job is to get better outcomes from a group of people working together.
- Managing a team becomes easier when you know your strengths and weaknesses.
- If your direct reports don’t trust you, you can’t do much to help them.
- Preparing an agenda is the key to having productive meetings 🔑.
Dealing with surprising human emotions: desk moves
TLDR: Learning about people’s core needs can critically improve your management style. It will help you understand why someone is reacting in a surprising way to a situation that you wouldn’t perceive as threatening. Those core needs are: Belonging, Progress, Choice, Fairness, Predictability, and Status. Talk in your 1:1s about folks’ core needs, write them down, and reread them when triggering things happen 🔍.