« Return to Blog
Leadership-Featured

Leading with Confidence, Vision, and Direction with Jennifer Chapman (Ep. #55)

The BetterManager Team
Building Better Managers Podcast Episode 55 - Jennifer Chapman

Building Better Managers Podcast Episode #55: Leading with Confidence, Vision, and Direction with Jennifer Chapman 

If your leadership development program isn’t cultivating leaders and managers that know how to build and develop a culture of trust, loyalty, and positive work relationships, it’s already hurting your bottom line.

Every day your people managers encounter opportunities to lead, nurture, and take care of their employees, but they also need to learn how to take care of and manage themselves.

In this episode, Jennifer Chapman, founder and executive coach at Ambition Leadership and a former Fortune 500 leader, shares practical and actionable ways for managers to build confidence, be more assertive, and leverage workplace relationships so that both they and their teams are as effective and productive as possible.

In this episode:

Meet Jennifer Chapman

  • Jennifer is an ICF certified leadership coach, trained through Georgetown University’s prestigious Executive Leadership Coaching program in Washington, D.C. She coaches a variety of corporate, government, and non-profit clients and specializes in working within engineering, research, and science industries. Her primary focus is helping leaders who have been promoted through technical expertise embrace their roles as people managers.
  • As a former leader in a Fortune 500 firm, I speak rom personal experience on how to: develop an authentic leadership presence; increase emotional intelligence, self-awareness and self-management; balance critical leadership characteristics of being approachable and collaborative while leading with authority, vision, and direction; manage up and down; lead and motivate multi-generational workforces; empower employees to take ownership of their jobs and careers; and create a sense of team among geographically dispersed employees.

Common Situations for Managers That Are Really About Managing Themselves

  • Not feeling that they actually have a seat at the table
  • Felling they're not respected by direct reports/peers
  • Not getting buy-in on ideas

Practical Exercises to Increase Confidence

  • Remind yourself of your rock star moments and what skills/qualities you used then that could apply now
  • Review why you were chosen for your job over someone else
  • Score self on scale of 1 – 10 on how confident you’re feeling that day and a note that explains the score. Make sure to review these on a regular basis to find commonalities
  • Look at your camera when you’re talking, not at your screen. Then you focus on your message and not overanalyzing others’ expressions.
  • Anticipate difficult conversations, make a plan for what you want to say, practice it
  • Set small goals, such as sharing an idea in a meeting, or speaking up in support of someone else’s idea

How to Help Managers Who Aren't Leveraging Relationships at Work

  • Talk through specific projects and look at where things have gone wrong. ALWAYS tie back to people.
  • Start with a positive work relationship and analyze what makes that relationship valuable. What can you learn from this?
  • Use the “don’t,” “won’t,” “can’t” model instead of lumping everyone into the "incompetent" bucket.
  • Practice active listening with a colleague and see how it impacts the conversation

Takeaways/Next Steps

  • Tips for managers who are wanting to be more assertive or more respected at work:
    - Don’t "fake it til you make it." MAKE IT. Start where you feel confident, have some "wins" and then start tackling the harder tasks.
    - Leverage the expertise of others — and make sure you acknowledge their contribution.
    - Be grateful for any and all help you get!

Downloads & Resources

Follow Jennifer on LinkedIn here, and on Facebook.

Subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast platform!

Check out our blog articles on Leadership here.

Jennifer Chapman

Jennifer is an ICF certified leadership coach, trained through Georgetown University’s prestigious Executive Leadership Coaching program in Washington, D.C. She coaches a variety of corporate, government, and non-profit clients and specializes in working within engineering, research, and science industries. Her primary focus is helping leaders who have been promoted through technical expertise embrace their roles as people managers.

As a former leader in a Fortune 500 firm, I speak from personal experience on how to:• develop an authentic leadership presence; increase emotional intelligence, self-awareness and self-management; balance critical leadership characteristics of being approachable and collaborative while leading with authority, vision, and direction; manage up and down; lead and motivate multi-generational workforces; empower employees to take ownership of their jobs and careers; and create a sense of team among geographically dispersed employees.

Episode Transcript
(Click to open & scroll on the copy revealed)
BetterManager raises up Executives & Managers at every level