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Microaggressions – They’re a Big Deal!

When we think of workplace issues, we often focus on the bigger things—conflicts trivializing important matters and fights that leave colleagues nonverbal for days. But beyond these bigger issues, the subtler ones have an impact, too. The worst part is that their existence and effect often go unnoticed.

What are microaggressions?

Microaggressions are not just small and insignificant acts. They are the silent disruptors of a team’s environment and work processes, often going unnoticed. However, their impact is far from insignificant. They erode psychological safety and violate employees’ boundaries, creating an atmosphere of discomfort and unease.

What do microaggressions look like?

This term is a broad umbrella of many behaviors. They can range from small insults to cutting off someone in a meeting, everything that looks alright as standalone offenses and easy enough to let go. But there are more forms of microaggressive behavior that work, which you might notice around you:

Assuming your behavior because you are from a particular ethnicity
Making off-handed remarks about a person’s protected attributes (e.g., race, gender, caste, etc.)
Treating someone differently to dehumanize them or trivialize their contribution
Wearing traditional clothes as costumes and misusing other elements of someone’s culture
Making fun of someone’s accent, language, or habits

Why should you care?

Microaggressions are not a matter between the people who are doing it and dealing with it. Instead, they are a cause of concern for any team manager. Microaggressive behavior replaces the healthy relationships in your team with hostile engagements. As a result, trust and safety breaks down. Going into details, we can see the impact of microaggressions in all areas:

Microaggressions have a massive negative impact on the mental health of employees.
The impact is much higher on people of color than the rest because they are often subjected to subtle forms of discrimination.
Physical ailments like high blood pressure, headaches, and sleep deprivation are a direct consequence.
It stifles the team members’ ability to contribute effectively and makes them search for safer workplaces.

What can you do about this?

Managers are the guiding lights of their teams in many ways. They set the tone and show the way, and that’s precisely how you can address microaggressive behavior in your team, too.

First, make it known that such behavior is not tolerated in your team and goes against the central values that define your way of working. Enable good employee behavior to replace those.

Second, it enables training and awareness opportunities for team members harboring prejudice and discriminatory attitudes. Some issues might lie outside your scope, so it is best to get professionals involved for your team.

Third, support the team members impacted by microaggressions. Show up for them and help them see that their efforts are recognized, no matter what off-handed comments might try to prove.

Ultimately, it’s about being present for all your team members to the best possible capacity without falling into the pitfalls of discrimination that hurt your team.

What’s the update from the Doodle office?

Let’s crush your self-doubt with a hammer

Is self-doubt chasing you as you race toward professional goals? The answer is often yes. Surveys have shown that adults experience self-doubt as many as six times every day! A good chunk (14%) are concerned about their ability to succeed professionally. Feelings of self-doubt are not rare. And they impair us in more ways than one:

Self-doubt cripples our ability to dream big. We are handing out nos to ourselves without even trying
It makes the wins feel okay when they should have really been exuberant celebrations
For managers, self-doubt is a barrier on the path to being assertive and confident in their roles

6 moments of self-doubt and why they happen

Think of it this way: You have been an individual contributor for a while, and your senior shows up and tells you that you are going to lead a team now. Isn’t that exciting? Yet, something lingers at the back of your head as the day proceeds:

Am I good enough to lead others? Without experience, that’s a legitimate question to ask, right? But it also points to a lack of confidence in your own skills.

I am just pretending to be a manager. Have you ever felt you were going with the flow and enacting a script as long as the costume fit? That’s imposter syndrome lurking, which makes you doubt the veracity of your achievements.

I will never be like her. We all have colleagues who are impressive beyond belief. They are remarkable and never seem to go wrong. And we often try to match up unsuccessfully. Competing with someone else who’s in a different context and a different person further adds to self-doubt professionally.

I will mess up. You must decide who to hire for your team; what if it goes wrong? Let’s ask someone because the risk is too high. The pressure of making mistakes increases doubt in your mind, and you shy away from doing things.

I don’t know what’s going on. Your senior congratulated you a lot, but you are not very sure what being a manager entails. 1-1 meetings with all the 20 folks or a team meeting to set the cadence right- it’s a problem! If you think you are not good because you don’t know what’s next, your circumstances fuel self-doubt. Unclear or rapidly shifting expectations hurt results and the associated feel-good moments.

I can’t get this right. Your team member asked for help, and you lost it; that was the tenth query of the day! But let’s step back for once: were you ever taught about managerial duties? Probably not; most managers aren’t. So, while self-doubt may point the finger at you, it’s not you.

To sum up, self-doubt is a feeling of not being good enough that arises when you are unsure of your abilities. Sometimes, the reasons could be internal; in others, your circumstances could drive you the wrong way.

Getting rid of self-doubt as a manager

As people managers, we have plenty of opportunities to doubt ourselves, so here are some ways to not do it:

Think of your locus of control

If you have an internal locus, you will likely blame yourself for everything, even a solar eclipse. But a balance is essential. Understand when it’s you and when it’s the world around you.

Be sure of yourself

The good part about being the cause of our problems is that we can be the solution, too. Feeling stuck due to a lack of skills? Build up. Need advice? Get a mentor (here’s a free one, just for you to get started). Instead of internalizing the moments, consider them as gaps you can fill. Positive affirmations and a growth mindset will help you build confidence.

Don’t be a superhero

We aren’t Batman, and even Batman messes up sometimes. Consider the limits around you, and take up as much as you can handle. Badly set expectations and goals set you up for failure and self-doubt. Instead, be realistic and stretch yourself toward success.

#leadership #leadershipdevelopment #managerdevelopment

What’s the update from the Doodle office, you ask?

Burnout SOS: Let’s Equip You with Strategies for Success

Are you burnt out? The answer is much more likely to be yes than you imagine. According to the Microsoft Work Trends Index of 2022, more than half of the managers (53%) surveyed felt burnt out—a proportion higher than that among employees! 🔥

The numbers paint a grim picture of burnout in managers

The numbers paint a grim picture of burnout in managers. Are you thinking, why is that the case? The same report has pointed out several recent changes that could be contributing.

For instance, the number of meetings taken per week has jumped by a whopping 135% since the pandemic started. And let’s be honest: we are talking of meetings where we send emails in between trying to grasp some fast-moving information served with a sprinkle of jargon—creating a cognitive chaos of unparalleled strength. 📈💼

That’s not all. The move from brick-and-mortar to screen and sheets was not a convenient one. Along with breaking habits and norms built over the years, it raised concerns about something very dear to us—productivity. 85% of managers report that keeping confidence in employees has been challenging since the shift to hybrid working mode. 🖥️😫

So here we are in a situation where everything is going up:

The number of hours worked
The number of meetings taken
The paranoia over productivity
The resultant stress of it all!

Saving yourself from going up in the ashes

Burnout is a common malady. First, learn to recognize it. Some common signs of burnout in managers are:

Getting irritated by questions, suggestions, ideas, or noises 🔊
Dropping productivity and rising alarm ⏰
You are always tired and unwell in a subtle way 😴
You are confused about what to do next 😕
You’d rather be alone 😞

Next, embrace breaks. I know it sounds absurd because you value productivity a lot. But let’s get real: Can we form good thoughts without a relaxed mind? To avoid burnout at your job, start with these simple steps:

Build boundaries around your personal and professional lives. Workplace boundaries are great to give your mind the peace it deserves to flourish.
Take breaks as you need, be it short or long ones. Refresh and rejuvenate before heading back.
Focus on getting enough sleep and healthy habits. Burnout is not just a mental issue; it has equally damning physical side impacts.
Don’t try to be a superhero. It’s alright to do only a few things well. Especially when you are a new manager, don’t run so fast that you burn out before the finish line. Instead, recognize limits and follow your passions to realistic goals.
Lastly, be open to help. While we may not be able to solve all our issues ourselves, professional help, such as therapy or leadership coaching for career development, can offer clarity.

Here’s something even simpler: test how well you prioritize tasks (for free!) Risely’s free prioritization self-assessment offers managers insights into this crucial skill that saves time and keeps your passions alive amid the world’s clamor. 🚀📝

What’s happening in the Doodle Office, you ask?

Did You Know? Michelin Stars was started by a tire Company

Do you know that a tire company gives Michelin stars? Not kidding! The French tire company Michelin started rating restaurants in its guidebooks for travelers nearly a century ago. It was a clever attempt to boost sales, which became fierce culinary expertise over the years. 😋

Finding meaningful ways to grow

Now, if you propose a food rating service to a tire business, they are unlikely to find it appetizing. However, this old tradition of Michelin rating outlines one idea very clearly: growth is not a one-shot game. It’s ongoing. For managers, three key insights are evident –

Learn constantly

Michelin stars are awarded every year. Restaurants must maintain their standards to retain their stars, year after year. Similarly, management and leadership are dynamic areas. While you may master some aspects once, there are others that you’ll need to keep updating as time passes. And even the best ones may need some polishing from time to time. 🍎

Evolve with time

Michelin’s rating system has changed since its first implementation. While the earlier ones focused primarily on food quality, the new ones consider many more factors, including service quality and sustainability, which matter today. On the same note, your managerial approach must evolve as your career progresses and a new generation of workers finds a home in your teams. 🍳

Perception matters

Why do we even care about Michelin-starred restaurants? You’d say they’re Michelin! That’s reputation talking. We trust Michelin to be good at their job, impartial, and reliable.

Similarly, it would help if you cultivated a perception of reliability and impartiality in your actions to build a reputation that allows people to trust you without doubting it much. Demonstrating those qualities consistently makes them a part of your identity and helps you craft a unique and impeccable brand. 🍰

How many stars have you got?

Don’t worry; we are not rating you right now. But there’s something easier and much more helpful out there: a conversation with a coach who can help you achieve success.✨

Check out Merlin by Risely, an AI leadership coach designed to provide direction and define progress for insatiable managers like you. With three exciting modes, Merlin brings to you

constant learning by skill development 🧪
situational awareness through discussions and 🤼
personal brand building in role-plays 🦸

Which one are you starting first in this free conversation with Merlin? Do let us know how it goes! 🗨️

Updates from the Doodle Office

95% people are wrong about self-awareness. Are you?

For most managers, the definition of self awareness is pretty simple: it’s about knowing who you are. A self-aware person understands their emotions, thoughts, and ideas. As a result, they are able to manage themselves and others better.

However, self-awareness is more than just a buzzword, especially for managers. Better self-awareness translates to better self-image, improved relationships, higher confidence, and, consequently, higher creativity—all of which are critical for professional success as a manager.

Yet, unsurprisingly, we overestimate ourselves. While about 95% of people believe they are self-aware, only about 10-15% are. It happens because self-awareness is a linear path, and we are all along it somewhere, but mostly not at the end goal. So, while self-awareness is essential for managers, it’s not an easy journey to tread alone.

Why are you not self-aware?

To start with, a holistic view of self-awareness will force us to think along two lines –

What do I think of myself?
What do others think of me?

Now, you might say that self-awareness is more about you than what others are doing. Fair enough, but introspection might not be as effective as you are assuming it to be!

It happens because we often move ahead with answers that feel right when uncomfortable questions arise instead of digging deep into our consciousness in search of facts, figures, and feelings that drive our actions. We get defensive about our choices, assign good reasons, and do not become genuinely introspective.

On the second count, research suggests that there are primarily two reasons for this gap in the second parameter –

First, it gets lonely at the top. Managers and senior leaders have only a few people who can offer feedback. On top of it, we are speaking of candid, honest, and, at times, brutal feedback that puts the spotlight on reality.
Second, the top is intimidating. When it comes to leaders, most people would rather agree than bear the burden of disagreements and their awful consequences. The perception of power prevents honest appraisal by others.

How can you be more self-aware?

Now, this looks pretty bad. Our methods to improve self-awareness lead us astray, and the rest become inaccessible as time passes. To beat these challenges, managers can apply slow, subtle, yet effective tips.

For instance, make seeking feedback a habit. It doesn’t need to stop at asking, “Hey, what do you think of my performance?” to a team member. You need to dig deeper, change things to create safety, and rephrase your idea into “Hey, how do you think I can improve my performance?”

Similarly, you can make introspection more effective by working with the specifics of the situation instead of the feelings behind it. You can find some self-reflection questions to build self-awareness in this blog to cover the core areas of your professional life.

In the end, it’s about enabling awareness of yourself, not creating it.

What’s cooking at the Doodle office?

Mental Health Month has come and gone. What’s beyond that?

Mental Health Month has come and gone again. Come May, the social pages of every company you know are decked with mental health-themed ideas and insights. But do the struggles end just when the calendar turns the page?

Your team has some things going on, too, but let’s step back from the tokenisms this year and understand what matters.

What’s the mental health scene at work?

Some research from the UK has suggested that about 14% of employees are handling mental health issues at some point in time. Moreover, women are twice as likely to face mental health challenges at work than men in full-time employment.

These challenges, also termed psychosocial risks by the WHO, can have many causes that are directly related to the workplace, such as:

Not having work that matches skill sets ⚒️
Lack of control at work 👊
Unsafe working conditions 🍃
Lack of support from others at work 😞
Toxic behavior from colleagues or seniors 😢

These are just a few examples of “small” things that can trigger mental health problems for individuals at work, which are not solved by social media posts and DIY activities.

To make it worse, the rapid shifts at work due to the pandemic and a forced return to office for most workers have made the situation even more precarious.

What should a manager do in mental health week?

No, this is not a list of team-building activities you must do. Here’s something else:

Reduce psychosocial risks for your team members:

Microaggressions, playing the victim card, toxic communication patterns, constant conflicts, micromanagement, and so on contribute to the bad mental health of your team’s employees. Be proactive in dealing with these behaviors and create an environment that cherishes instead of endangers them.

Build psychological safety for your team

Constant threats of consequences, a lack of surety about the future, limited information sharing, and over-controlling seniors can evade a sense of safety and security at work. Limit these factors and let your team feel like they belong; you will see performance like never before.

Some of your team members will have mental health issues

Managers and workplaces must accept that that’s a fact before issuing diktats aimed at perfection. Research suggested that around 13% of all absences were accounted for by mental health conditions. As a result, workplaces need to be equipped with the right support mechanisms, which can include:

Healthcare policies inclusive of mental health conditions
Considering mental health leaves as sick leaves
Train managers in active listening and empathy
Create helpful opportunities for employees to handle stress, anger, and negative emotions
Ensure that accommodations are provided to people that augment their working capacity

The activities are great, and your team will probably have a great time collaborating on something fun but remember, mental health is beyond the event calendar. It’s a real area that matters to your team much more than metrics and KPIs.

What’s cooking in the Doodle office?

Five red flags your team should not show!

How was your day today? Of course, if today has been hectic, you will say there are not five but five hundred ways things can go wrong. Patrick Lencioni first introduced this idea,” The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” in his book of the same name. He speaks of five ways things can go that create ripple effects across the team.

What are the five dysfunctions of a team?

Absence of trust

We know that trust matters in any relationship, and the lack of it jeopardizes your team’s prospects of collaborating effectively. But there’s more to it than employees keeping to themselves; lack of trust further leads to:

your employees not feeling safe
hiding vulnerabilities and mistakes
not asking for help
second-guessing and assuming intentions

We don’t need to figure out what will happen next; we have all probably seen it happen somewhere in our careers. The second dysfunction is related to this.

Fear of conflict

When you know your team lacks trust and the factors needed to overcome challenges, what’s the most likely prayer to make? “I hope there’s no fight!” Because if one does break out, there’s bound to be a mess. Yet avoidance is not the end game. It’s only brushing matters under the carpet until they burst out. Meanwhile, the team walks on eggshells each day.

Lack of commitment

The third dysfunction identified by Lencioni can be a little harder to spot. But picture this: you don’t trust your colleague, and you don’t really want to argue about doing things your way. You are okay with letting things be. In that case, are you really committed to the team? Nope. When commitment breaks down, chaos erupts. This ambiguity negatively affects the entire team.

Avoidance of accountability

Now, this one won’t be hard to guess. You can hold someone accountable only when you can trust them to take it the right way. You need to be free from the fear of causing a scene by calling someone out. Without accountability, there are common signs of despair to witness:

project delays and missed deadlines
putting in half-hearted efforts
blame games when something goes wrong

Inattention to results

And at last, we get to the results, somehow. This problem happens frequently when team members operate in silos and do not have a shared undercurrent to inspire and motivate them. This one, most primarily, needs more clarity on the mission and vision from the leadership.

How can you save your team?

When we move through this model, one thing is clear: many problems are interconnected. Without trust, you can’t argue over decisions. And when you can’t fight for what matters to you, there will be no ownership of the process. If the process is just going by, so do the results.

The problem might look very small at the start. After all, it’s just that one team member is not open, right? However, the cascading effect can be dangerous for the team. Solid people management skills can help you tide through these situations.

Feeling something similar happening around you? Discuss it with Merlin, the AI coach. It’s a free conversation, and you can start here: pour your heart out.

What’s happening at the Doodle office?

Are you a supportive manager?

Do you consider yourself to be a supportive manager? Being supportive as a manager is not a new idea. In fact, I have been hearing of it ever since the start of my professional career. But what does being a supportive manager mean? Let’s rethink and move beyond cliches in this week’s Top newsletter.

First up, how has your experience been? Have you worked with supportive managers? Or, have you witnessed the opposite largely?

If you were part of the first setup, one thing would be clear: employees who are well-supported by their supervisors are also more connected to the team and at peace. Research supports this. Gallup found managers account for up to 70% of employee engagement. That’s a massive number. And that’s why support for your team is a big deal.

Apart from making employees more engaged at work, your support can give them reassurance in this conflicted era. Unfortunately, layoffs are too common. Job losses are raising insecurity like never before. A manager’s support in such times can significantly boost morale among employees.

Let’s explore this a bit further.

How can you support your employees when job loss threatens them?

I understand that some things are clearly beyond your control. Sometimes, there’s nothing to do but bid farewell when the hammer from senior management drops. But before that, have you tried:

Training your employees to close your team’s skill gaps. It would enhance their value proposition big time, adding to job safety.
Sharing honest feedback to ensure their growth and sustainable skill development that safeguards careers.
Becoming a coach for your team during times of stress. Your team members are worried, and this wreaks havoc on productivity even when they want to give their all.

In all three actions, you are moving beyond the rhetoric of support. That’s the critical difference between believing it and doing it. A manager who likes the idea would talk about openness and might even mention their availability to their team.

As a genuinely supportive manager, you start doing it. Actions define your leadership style.

Tangible ways to support your team include setting up learning and development opportunities, setting stretch goals with them, and motivating when hurdles hold back. Plus, it’s a long-term process. You will spend a decent amount of time tracking progress and encouraging before seeing any results.

What’s in it for you?

Valid question. After all, why should you spend time and effort on this? Supporting someone is nice, but going out of the way needs a solid incentive. You do have three prominent ones:

Your team will stick with you. When you invest attention in people, the returns are solid. Through this connection and support, you can build loyalty that is hard to find otherwise. We saw something like this in a recent interaction with Shyam Gor, a manager who made hard things happen because his senior stuck along. Now, he tries his best to return the same values.
You will retain top talent. You have good team members, but if they feel lost and lonely, that’s a recipe for disaster. High agency and curious minds need support to get through challenges. The much-awed-after “10x-ers” are smart people with great managers who enable you to be one of those.
You will earn the best thing in your career: respect. Think twenty years down the line; what’s the currency you want to flex? Supporting people early in their journey ensures you cultivate a valuable bond beyond professional stints.

The bottom line is to support your people, not just in words but in actions. Times are tough, but some empathy helps. Have you started doing any such thing? Share with us, too.

Or, if you are confused about how to support your team, talk to Merlin, Risely’s AI leadership coach, for free and get some ideas.

What’s happening at the Doodle office?

Discover Opportunities and Threats for Your Team

Have you noticed any issues with your team lately?

It could be anything. Missed deadlines or unmatched performance expectations. Or is there something new coming up that could threaten your team? AI is one such change that is set to disrupt many industries and contribute to the evolution of how we envision work. In the face of uncertainties like these, it is prudent to consider safeguards. But where do we even begin?

SWOT Analysis of a team

You must have heard of a SWOT analysis. To recap quickly, it stands for:

S – strengths
W – weaknesses
O – opportunity
T – threats

In sum, it paints a picture of where you stand and what factors, both positive and negative, you should consider while moving forward.

How do you conduct the swot analysis of your team?

Before you begin, do these three things:

Study your team properly. You might want your team to join in this activity for more perspectives
Define your broad goals
Draw four quadrants as shown below

Looking inside

The first two parts of a SWOT analysis, the strengths, and weaknesses, are derived internally. Your strengths and weaknesses are your own – which is good because you can better manipulate them.

A few areas of strengths you should consider for your team include:

Skills and expertise of team members
Successful projects and achievements
Unique resources or tools available
Strong relationships and communication within the team

Similarly, when looking for weaknesses in your team, think of the opposite:

Skill gaps or lack of expertise
Areas where the team has failed or underperformed
Communication barriers or collaboration issues
Resource constraints

Turning the gaze

Once you know the internal aspects, let’s move to the latter two in your team’s SWOT analysis: opportunities and threats. These two are closely tied to external factors often outside your control.

What factors impact threats and opportunities for your team?

Emerging market trends or technologies
Potential partnerships or collaborations
New projects or roles the team can take on
Organizational changes like restructuring
New policy and legal developments

Whether it helps or hurts depends heavily on your context. One change can impact multiple industries, each differently. So don’t rely on quick views. Think of the second-order impacts for your team and start putting them down on paper.

Okay, what next after a team’s SWOT analysis?

The SWOT analysis of a team can show you effectively where you stand. Next up, you can gauge your readiness for the world you’ll be shaping in the time to come. As a manager, you have twin roles:

Level up on the strengths to make the most of opportunities
Reduce weaknesses to minimize threats

You can start by setting priorities. Define what areas your team will handle first and put them down in an action plan so that you have the capabilities required to entertain the threat or opportunity accordingly.

For instance, if you are a manager who feels that AI will take over your job, look for opportunities: What can AI do for you instead? AI can help you cut down on time spent on manual routine tasks. AI can be your coach for effective leadership. These are the skill gaps that you can fill.

On the flip side, there are strengths that only you can leverage, like interpersonal skills to resolve conflicts well or demonstrate care for your team members.

Take the same approach for your team’s challenges. Think about what you can do to bridge the gaps and what makes you special.

Need help? Talk to AI coach Merlin about your team’s situation. It’s free for you.

How’s the fun Friday at the Doodle Office?

Ennui: 7 out of 10 people on your team are bored

Over the past weekend, Inside Out 2 became the fastest animated film to cross the $1 billion mark. That’s a mean feat. The movie is a sequel to the journey of a kid named Riley and the headquarters in her head—where emotions frolic and tussle as she floats along with life. In this installment, as Riley reaches puberty, new emotions pop up. Four new emotions—anxiety, envy, embarrassment, and ennui—join the familiar ones (Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust.)

Who’s the new one?

You must be familiar with all of them, but probably not the last. I encountered this emotion on my first watch, too. In simple words, ennui is a French term that refers to a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement. It is often associated with boredom but carries a deeper sense of existential weariness and discontentment. While it was a new entrant in our protagonist Riley’s head, it’s not new for us.

There’s a lot on a typical day that brings about ennui. Think of the repeated tasks, the same meeting that happened last week and the week before that, work that keeps going on without needing a lot of newness, or worse, the cognitive overload from mundane tasks that keep piling up.

You are not alone in this. In a Gartner survey, 7 out of 10 employees were disengaged from work. The loop continues because they lack a meaningful connection with the job that could add some excitement. The result? Unsurprising. It starts with inattentive behavior, moves to absenteeism, and culminates in turnover.

How can you spot complex signs of disengagement?

When we look at disengaged employees, it’s easy to shift the blame and move on. “They just don’t want to work.” But is that the whole story?

An SHRM article offers a quick test. Ask these questions to yourself or your team members to gauge how connected they feel with the work:

What excites you about your work?
What aspect of your job makes you feel exhausted?
What is one thing you would change about your role?
How much do you feel your work contributes to the organization’s goals?

While surveying the answers, look for clues about how people perceive work. You can notice how focused someone is, how well they display ownership and initiative toward work, and how excited they seem. You can ask open-ended follow-up questions to create a space for expression.

For instance, if a team member says a certain aspect of the job exhausts them. You can follow up by asking, “How would you like to change that?” They might suggest removing the task, doing it differently, or transferring it.

You can look for ways to distribute and delegate that part across the team and free up mental bandwidth to focus on exciting tasks. You will understand what your team members want to do and how. And that’s it—that’s your secret sauce to success.

P.S. Here are more questions you can use to connect with your team. Let’s not have the same one-on-one catch-up next time: 50+ Great One-On-One Meeting Questions For Managers

So the next time you spot someone clocking out on their desk, help, not judge.

What’s cooking at The Doodle office?

Is your team always falling short of expectations?

Hey there, manager! If you’ve been here for a while, you’d know that expectation setting is one of the core areas a people manager needs to master. Why so? Because it defines the ideal behavior and work etiquette for your team members.

That’s the simplest way to put it. But there’s more to it. Setting expectations defines the way of life within a team. Thus, implicit guidance prevails at every point in time. Whenever your team has a concern or is stuck over a challenge, their expectations show how to proceed, even without explicitly mentioning how certain things should go.

Let’s try to visualize it 🗺️

Picture this: a junior of yours welcomes a new team member, but they are quite unsure of how to proceed. However, they don’t get stuck. Why’s that? Because they have seen you talk with new team members and guide them through day one at a new job.

Let’s take this further. Suppose you brought in a new team member but couldn’t give them enough time on day one. You had a packed day, things went haywire, and life happened—the new joiner felt confused and sat empty for a while. As a result, they did not get much value on their first day.

Your team has observed this, too. What does it lead them to conclude? In our best case, they think it’s alright to focus on critical tasks first and onboarding second. The next few new hires on the team then do not get the attention they might need for a successful start to their journey. In the worst case, they picture onboarding a new team member as non-essential.

What does this mean? 🤔

What did you gather from this? Expectations are set even when you aren’t actively trying to. Setting and managing expectations becomes a messy ordeal for most managers because they try to perpetuate an ideal version of themselves and their teams. But in action, things vary.

Just think, have you done everything ideally today? Some days are a solid 80% up to standards, but others barely hit halfway. Some days, your team might get stuck on a problem, or a meeting runs way longer than expected, pushing things out. And yet, expectations are always at 100%. Perfection is the demand.

Expectations matter, here’s why 😯

What’s the result of this? Your team feels confused and cheated. They are under stress to do everything right while others around them visibly do not. The precedent doesn’t match the norm. Because while they are made to listen and emulate every expectation out there, they don’t see you doing the same. Consequently, trust and interpersonal relationships take a hit.

It sounds a little dangerous. Are you then supposed to match every action to norms? Think before you take every step? Definitely not. It’ll put a lot more stress on you. Plus, that’s just unrealistic and unhealthy. So, what’s the way out?

It’s simple. Keep your expectations realistic. Your team members are probably handling similar issues as you, so they will get stuck too and have 80% days, too. The idea is to manage expectations smartly, not enforce them at every step possible.

Plus, try Risely’s expectation-setting assessment for free. It’ll give you and your team some much-needed peace of mind. 🚀

What’s happening at The Doodle office?

Prioritize ZZZs: Tackling Sleep Deprivation for Peak Performance

Is work keeping you up too late?

The number might surprise you, but about 38% of American professionals experience fatigue at work due to lack of sleep. While a healthy 7-8 hours of bedtime is recommended for adults, most cannot meet this requirement. It happens more often on weekdays than weekends because a lengthy task list inevitably reaches home with you. ⏲️

Missing sleep is not just adding to your dark circles; studies point to a solid correlation between lost productive time of employees and sleep deprivation. Professionals on your team who are dealing with fatigue are not just tired; they can cost businesses up to 136.4 billion dollars annually in health-related lost productive time, which amounts to an excess of 101.0 billion dollars compared with workers without fatigue. 😴

What can you do against sleep deprivation?

Sleep deprivation can be a problem for you or your team. The first step in catching it is to look for the signs.

Do you see any of these around you?

Unexplained but simple errors 🔴
Missing bits of conversations or responding after a delay ⌛
Falling asleep in the middle of the day 😪
Having a hard time focusing on regular tasks 😩
Mismanaged emotional reactions 😠
And health issues with lack of sleep, such as redness of eyes, headaches, etc. 🤒

If you are nodding yes, then it’s time to act quickly. Here are a few things that you can start doing:

Focus on work-life balance

We know that everyone hands that tip in every context, but ensuring that you are not failing because of lack of sleep is pivotal. A healthy work-life balance should allow you to get out of work mode at the end of the day and get your mind in the mood for personal time and activities.

Find out if you are on the right track with these work-life balance questions. 🌴

Try a sleep journal

Sleep journals are great tools for people who have difficulty regularly sleeping or just want to check in with themselves. You might not think you are in trouble, but seeing the big picture at a glance with a sleep journal can help. A routine bedtime could be setting us up for irritability the next day. 📚

Identify what’s keeping you up

Is it a client deadline or a team member who does not see eye to eye? If work-related issues keep you up, working on boundaries can be helpful. Moreover, you can connect with your manager to discuss problems and get guidance instead of just fretting over them. However, if that seems too hard, get in touch with Merlin, Risely’s AI coach for managers and leaders. You can discuss your challenges and get expert advice at any time of the day. Start with a free conversation today. 🤖

All in all, remember that consistently staying up means losing much more than we gain. While finishing tasks in a rapid all-nighter seems delightful, it’s unsustainable and unhealthy in the long run. ⭐

You Only Need To Improve By 1% Today

Let’s start today’s edition with a reflecting question. Which one of these statements do you resonate the most with?

1. “I’m all in for shaking things up and making big moves to turn my life around! 💪”

2. “Let’s take it one step at a time; it will add to something big in the long run. 🚶♂️”

If you fall into the latter category, you might already know a thing or two about the 1% rule. And if that’s not the case, you will figure it out soon. Let’s get started.

What’s the 1% rule?

This concept finds home in James Clear’s famous book, Atomic Habits. The 1% rule emphasizes the power of marginal gains and incremental progress in achieving meaningful long-term results.

The idea is that by making minor, consistent improvements or changes, even just 1% better each day, you can compound those gains over time to achieve significant improvements in the long run. After all, progress is not an all-nothing game. Instead, it builds upon what you did yesterday.

How can managers apply the 1% rule at work?

The key to the 1% rule lies in what is known as the “accumulative advantage.” A slight enhancement keeps growing as more and more is added, albeit in small installments. So before moving forward, remember that we are going for the delayed results, not the dramatic ones.

Let’s take the example of a manager, Sarah. She has noticed that meetings often run long and wants to reduce the time spent here. Her team would be surprised if she set things straight and made the meeting a no-nonsense matter on day 1. They might struggle to adjust, too.

So, what can she do? Here are a few things –

Day 1: Sarah starts implementing a slight change to the meeting structure. She sets a clear agenda for each meeting and shares it with team members in advance, highlighting the topics to be discussed and the expected duration of each agenda item.
Day 2: Sarah encourages team members to arrive on time for the meeting by starting promptly at the scheduled time, even if only some are present.
Day 3: Sarah implements a time limit for each agenda item to ensure that discussions stay focused and don’t drag on unnecessarily.

In this manner, Sarah can incorporate three healthy habits she wants her team meetings to hold. Over a few days, when these habits have found a home, Sarah can solicit feedback and make changes as needed. In the end, Sarah gets efficient meetings, built one step at a time.

How do we incorporate the 1% rule in your growth journey at Risely?

Incremental growth toward long-term goals is also a pivotal idea behind Risely. We start with the smallest of steps, daily nudges (we talked about them in last week’s newsletter), and then move ahead with regular reinforcement through activities and assessments.

Development efforts phased over a period are crucial for you as a manager because one-shot solutions often don’t stick and disrupt schedules badly. On the other hand, daily steps offer a much more convenient route for busy leaders like you.

Check out how Risely works with a free 14-day trial today. 🌱

The secret to getting things done like a boss

In today’s edition of The Top Newsletter, we’ll discuss something that’s all too common: changes.

If you have stayed constant at a workplace for a year or two, you’ll notice that things change even when no one tries. And yet, there are a few things that we desperately want to change but cannot. 😞

I am talking of those tedious tasks that occupy a cozy permanent spot on the to-do list and don’t start rushing when the alarm hits. While stagnating items add to our burden, sometimes we just can’t push forward. This is where an exciting insight by a Nobel laureate comes in. 📚

What’s the secret to getting things done?

Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein set forth the concept of a “nudge” in their eponymous book. A nudge is any aspect of how a choice is presented that alters people’s behavior predictably without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives.

Nudges work by leveraging insights from behavioral science to influence decisions toward better outcomes subtly. We see quite a few nudges in action daily without ever realizing so. Wondering where?

The default option of no cutlery on some food delivery apps that cuts down on waste generation 🍴
Displaying fruits at eye level and candies somewhere far away in the cafeteria to encourage healthier choices 🍎🍬
The nod of your colleagues when they see you catching up with long-delayed assignments 🤝

That’s not all! Society uses many more such nudges and subtle tools to reinforce acceptable and appreciable behaviors.

How can managers use nudges?

Imagine a manager, Mark, who needs to implement a new performance management system. Despite recognizing the initiative’s importance, Mark finds it challenging to get people on board. He has explained things and answered questions, yet there’s inertia. But Mark knows about nudges and quickly devises some cool ideas.

The default option for training programs and feedback sessions is “yes.” This sets the schedule straight for everyone unless someone actively opts out. ✔️
Mark shares their example with others whenever someone completes a training module or applies something they learned. This recognition and nod to efforts encourages other team members to join. 🤝
While closing a session, Mark shares specific questions to get their team’s opinions. It helps him escape the generalized “all good” answer, and his team members think along relevant metrics to aid program improvement. 💭

How do we leverage nudges at Risely?

That was clever, wasn’t it? Nudges can be your subtle helping hand in getting a lot done. Even a notification bell or an underlined item on a to-do list can be super impactful when used well, like the one you can see here. ⬇️

That’s how Risely works, too! By subtly pushing and encouraging change through simple daily steps, Risely allows managers to unravel their true potential because we understand that you want to grow but get stuck. And that’s alright. 🤗

Want to see what nudges in action look like? Sign up for a free 14-day trial here 🚀

How to build your brand as a manager.

If you have scrolled LinkedIn recently, you might have encountered people discussing personal brands. Many tips and tricks tell you how to get this essential thing right. You might have encountered professionals who provide personal branding services and help you create an authentic version of yourself. But before getting into this storm of narratives and services, let’s unravel what this is all about.

What is a personal brand?

A personal brand refers to someone’s unique skills, knowledge, values, opinions, and personality combination. It makes you stand out from the crowd and ensures you are remembered. Often, a personal brand results over time through unintentional yet frequent actions. For instance, your habit of being on time always becomes a part of your brand once people notice you are never late. Conversely, a personal brand can be deliberate and cultivated, too! 😯

What about managers?

Surprisingly, a personal brand has always been vital for managers, even when the idea did not have this name or popularity to fend for itself. Think of the managers you have worked with; what makes you look up to them? The never give up attitude, constant openness to learning, or the senior’s ability to trust them? All of these are a part of their personal brand; even when you call someone a good manager or a bad manager.

The thing is, you will get branded irrespective of whether you consciously work on it or not.

For managers, a personal brand is like a professional identity package – it encompasses everything from your expertise in your field to how you present yourself on social media, from how you communicate to the values you uphold or how you deal with your team or others in the workplace. 🎯

What makes a manager’s brand?

Let’s break this idea down into simpler terms. When you think of someone’s personal brand, what are the aspects?

Skills and knowledge relevant to the area of work help position them as an expert. 🧠
Attitude and behavioral attributes make them a great asset. 🏄
Values guide the above two – their openness to learning and building consistently. 🎉
The story ties it all together. Knowing someone’s story helps you empathize easily; it shows you are interacting with their authentic self. ☘️

Building your brand: 3 things you can start today

First and foremost, sit down with a blank paper and pen, and think of yourself with the framework we saw above. What are your skills and expertise? What attitudes and values have guided their formation? And most importantly – what’s your story? Have your main character moment and define who you are. ⭐

Then:

Optimize your social media profiles: You can find detailed guides and tips for making the best use of every platform, like this one for LinkedIn. Optimization ensures that you present the most compelling version of yourself. 🔗
Write and speak: When you think of experts in your area, how often is it someone who does not write or talk about their work? It’s pretty rare, I’d bet. So let’s get you there too. In the simplest forms, you can start with posting on social media. Creating a blog post and attending events as a speaker can be the next steps. 🎤
Guide others: Guiding and mentoring are key skills of effective managers. It sets them apart because it shows their genuine care and responsibility toward their team. Such consistent engagement helps build a positive reputation (along with the obvious professional benefits.) 🧑🏫

Personal branding does sound like a lot, but often it’s quite simple. It’s about putting your authentic self at the forefront to build long-lasting connections. If you have any more doubts about what skills to work on or how to mentor people effectively, you can talk to Risely’s AI coach, Merlin, for free here. 🤖