Hi Reader,
It's hard to believe we're just weeks away from the end of the calendar year. Here are 4 practical tips from me to help you close the year strong. It's your Monthly Management Memo - as always with something bold, something new, something borrowed, and something to pursue.
🔥Something Bold - The More Power You Have, the More You Must Do This Regularly
It's pretty clear to me that as your seniority (and power) increases in an organization, the less useful feedback you are likely to get from your colleagues. The power dynamics aren't great, but they are usually a reality. The best way to get honest feedback is to ask for it directly, receive the input well, and then make it clear that giving upward feedback is something you expect from your staff as part of their own successful performance. Regularly asking for feedback (1:1 and in team meetings) helps create that culture, and appreciating that feedback out loud when it is given can reinforce the safety in offering upward feedback. Sending a heads-up in a quick note a few days before a meeting gives employees time to think about their answers and will likely get you more honest and thoughtful responses than asking it verbally with no warning. You can write, "In our next check-in, I'd love to get your thoughts on our work together. I'd love to know what I can do to improve as your manager in particular, and what advice you have for me about how I can be a better leader for our overall team? I really do value your honest perspective and I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts."
🆕 Something New - Workshop this Week (free!)
I'm hosting a free workshop this week to help all of us have a little less stress at work (and home) in 2026. It's called, "Why Simple Systems are the Secret for a Calm 2026" and I'm preparing to share what the research says about the systems that can make work and home life less cognitively demanding, examples of simple professional systems that can make your workday less stressful and more productive, examples of home systems that make your personal life flow more easily (for those with and without kids), and why it's critical to modify these systems to work for your specific brain, context, and needs. Join me on Thursday if you can make it - RSVP here so I can send you the Zoom link.
🤝🏼 Something Borrowed - "Anything in the Box is Safe to Try"
My former colleague Sarah Koegler has this super-helpful framework when making decisions. It's all about delegating decisions by defining the constraints. Then invite them to go crazy "inside the box!" She describes it briefly here.
🏃🏾♀️Something to Pursue - Easy Team Holiday Party
If you have a remote team and want to do some fun holiday team building without having to plan it all yourself, you should really check out Confetti. They have holiday parties for really affordable prices (I just looked and there are some for like $150 for the entire team). They also have the kind where they'll ship kits to team members to do things like mixology or cookie decorating. Tons of options - check it out.
Bring your team; I’ll bring my A-game. I love helping teams with workshops on productivity, team culture, and effectiveness at work. Find out more and book a free chat to see if I can be helpful to your organization.