Managing Made Simple

Learning how to hold your team accountable can start with something as small as two words: "I need." When you make an ask about what you need, your team member's job turns into a favor to you, and the follow-through becomes your problem. In this episode, Lia shares the wording shift that puts accountability back with your team, what to say instead, and why it makes the hard feedback conversations easier when someone still doesn't deliver.

In this episode you will learn:

Why "I need" hands the accountability back to you

Why "I" statements help in personal conflict but backfire at work

What to say instead: the expectation, why it matters to them, the support, and one closing question

How Lia caught herself doing this at Microsoft

How to set a sales goal so your team owns it

Why this makes feedback conversations clearer

Resources mentioned:

Share your success story with Lia: hello@liagarvin.com

Connect with me:

Website: www.liagarvin.com

Email: hello@liagarvin.com

Free guide to making hard conversations easier: liagarvin.com/convo

Instagram: @lia.garvin

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/liagarvin

When your second in command isn't stepping up, it's tempting to decide you hired the wrong person. But most new number twos think the job is to do everything themselves, so they say yes to all of it, get spread too thin, and lose track of what matters most. In this episode, Lia shares how to tell if it's the wrong fit or the wrong expectations, and how to reset the expectation so your successor can start running things the way you hired them to.

In this episode you will learn:

How to tell whether you have the wrong person or the wrong expectations

The biggest symptom that your number two thinks they have to do everything

Why building a leadership bench raises what your business is worth

What a successor should and shouldn't copy from you

How to have the expectation reset conversation with your number two

How long to give it before you make the call

Resources mentioned:

Work with Lia on your number two's role and coaching: liagarvin.com/contact

Connect with me:

Website: www.liagarvin.com

Email: hello@liagarvin.com

Free guide to making hard conversations easier: liagarvin.com/convo

Instagram: @lia.garvin

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/liagarvin

Being a leader people want to work for looks the same on every team, even when the challenge on yours feels like nobody else has ever dealt with it. A team at an insurance company and a team at a creative agency run into the same dynamics, and the same three tools motivate and keep people on both: build trust, be clear, and delegate and motivate. In this episode, Lia walks through the framework from her keynote and how to use it with your team, whatever your team looks like.

In this episode you will learn:

Why the same team dynamics show up in every industry, at every size

How to set an intention as a leader so your team gets the same you on Monday and Thursday

Why trust is the first thing to build, and what happens on a team without it

The question to ask instead of "why aren't they doing it?"

How accountability and The Sit-Down create clarity

Why delegation is a trust issue, not a skill issue, and the three places that trust breaks down

Coaching questions that start with what and how, never why

Resources mentioned:

The New Manager Playbook: liagarvin.com or Amazon

Bring this keynote to your team or event: hello@liagarvin.com

Connect with me:

Website: www.liagarvin.com

Email: hello@liagarvin.com

Free guide to making hard conversations easier: liagarvin.com/convo

Instagram: @lia.garvin

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/liagarvin

How to run performance reviews your team doesn't dread: a simple performance review conversation, a one-page self-assessment, and feedback with zero surprises. Performance reviews fill employees with stress because they feel like one moment that could decide a career, and leaders dread them too. In this episode, Lia breaks down how to structure the review so your team member leaves with a plan they own, whether your company runs a heavy review cycle or you've never run a review at all.

In this episode you will learn:

The two things every performance review covers: looking back and looking ahead

How long a performance review meeting should be

How to set up a one-page employee self-assessment, and what to ask for in it

What a team member's self-reflection tells you about their future on your team

How to give specific feedback in a review that reinforces what you've already discussed

Why your team member should own the follow-ups, and why skipping reviews costs you your best people

Resources mentioned:

The New Manager Playbook: liagarvin.com or Amazon

Owning Your Impact workshop: liagarvin.com/contact

Connect with me:

Website: www.liagarvin.com

Email: hello@liagarvin.com

Free guide to making hard conversations easier: liagarvin.com/convo

Instagram: @lia.garvin

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/liagarvin

Creating a sense of urgency on your team starts with the ask. When employees don’t follow through, the handoff was usually missing something. You ask for the client email, the deck, or the vendor follow-up, they say “on it,” and a day later you’re doing it yourself and wondering if anyone cares. In this episode, Lia breaks down the three pieces of a handoff that turn “on it” into ownership: a deadline, the reason behind it, and a two-minute check that it’s doable.

In this episode you will learn:

Why “on it” is an incomplete handoff, and how to fix it inside the ask

How to put a deadline on a request without it feeling like micromanaging

How to share context so the deadline matters to your team member, even when the reason is your own workload

The questions that get your employee to own the urgency and flag risks early

How to tell a delegation problem from a performance problem

Resources mentioned:

Work with Lia on mapping how work gets done on your team: liagarvin.com/contact

Tell Lia how the three steps went with your team: hello@liagarvin.com

Connect with Lia:

Website: www.liagarvin.com

Email: hello@liagarvin.com

Instagram: @lia.garvin

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/liagarvin