Episodes

Progress report MAC008-MAC013
Aug. 21, 2023

Progress report MAC008-MAC013

As with any career, it's important to periodically check your progress. Since this podcast started you should have held at least two career development discussions with your leader. Hopefully you're making the most of these s...

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A Little Bit of Luck - MAC013
Aug. 14, 2023

A Little Bit of Luck - MAC013

The Roman philosopher Seneca has a quote about how luck happens when preparation meets opportunity. When it comes to your career, this is so very true. If you spend your time waiting for an advancement to fall into your lap, ...

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Receiving Effective Feedback - MAC012
Aug. 7, 2023

Receiving Effective Feedback - MAC012

I was inspired to cover this topic by a post that I saw on LinkedIn by . In that post, she listed . This was a good follow-up to my previous episode on how to structure your one-on-one. One topic in that structure was focused on...

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How to structure your one-on-ones - MAC011
July 31, 2023

How to structure your one-on-ones - MAC011

An important aspect of managing your career is having regular conversations with your manager about your career goals and performance. What does a GOOD career development one-on-one look like? First, when discussing timing, I...

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What sort of leader are you? - MAC010
July 24, 2023

What sort of leader are you? - MAC010

If you imagine a medieval battlefield there were four main groups involved in the fighting. There were the mele fighters who were the front lines -- the men carrying swords and spears or other similar weapons. There was also ...

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Should I transition to management - MAC009
July 17, 2023

Should I transition to management - MAC009

So, the answer on how to choose a future career path is…..it depends. It depends on you and your desires and it depends on the company you work for. So, obviously, "it depends" isn't a very useful answer. So let's dive in to ...

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The Five Recognition Languages - MAC008
July 10, 2023

The Five Recognition Languages - MAC008

So, the company I work for has an annual employee survey and my results recently came out. In most areas, I score well, over 90% positive. But one question that I have consistently scored between 80 and 85% favorable (for mul...

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Progress Report - MAC001 to MAC006
July 3, 2023

Progress Report - MAC001 to MAC006

In , I talked about how you should be looking for opportunities to increase the scope and impact of the work that you perform. Delegating and automating process driven tasks and soliciting for work that involves more discretion and judgement. ...

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Is your work Important?  Is it Urgent? - MAC006
June 26, 2023

Is your work Important? Is it Urgent? - MAC006

Based on the lead quote, Stephen Covey popularized the concept of the "Eisenhower Decisions Matrix" in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The basic premise is that you should rank the things you need to do base...

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Documenting Your Work - MAC005
June 19, 2023

Documenting Your Work - MAC005

One of the things that I often tell my team is "if you're the only one who can, you're the one who always will". What I mean by that is that if you're a single point of knowledge, as a manager, I can't assign those tasks to a...

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Being "Scared" - MAC004
June 12, 2023

Being "Scared" - MAC004

In the corporate world, being scared leads to self-doubt and inaction. If your goal is to advance your career, those are two attributes that you CAN'T let take over. So, when you find yourself feeling fear, what then? The str...

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Mentoring - MAC003
June 5, 2023

Mentoring - MAC003

Whether official policy or not, in many companies in order to be promoted, you have to have already begun doing the work of the next level. When that next level is a position of leadership, it isn't always easy to have that w...

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Individual Development Plan - MAC002
May 29, 2023

Individual Development Plan - MAC002

An individual development plan is a document that YOU create and YOU own that documents how you'd like your career to progress. It's main purpose is to facilitate communication with your leaders on your career goals - both sh...

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Higher Level Tasks - MAC001
May 22, 2023

Higher Level Tasks - MAC001

If we look at your day to day activities, some of your tasks are process driven. They are driven by standard operating procedures (SOPs) that dictate what needs to be done. There may be associated flowcharts and decision tree...

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Introduction - MAC000
May 18, 2023

Introduction - MAC000

Welcome to Managing a Career, I'm Layne Robinson. This podcast is aimed to help you navigate the path to professional success. Whether you're a recent graduate still searching for your place or a seasoned professional with ye...

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