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Liz's avatar
Aug 24Edited

Good afternoon, I'm Liz from London, and working as a manager in my new role. I'm finding it awkward (?) managing those almost twice my age! Very pleased to have found your blog!

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Heather Elkington's avatar

Hey Liz, happy to have you here! I've felt the exact same way before & I wrote a blog post about it which could be helpful for you. Here it is: https://www.inthemakingleadership.com/p/when-youre-younger-than-the-people

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Melody's avatar

I’m Melody, living in St. Petersburg Florida. My biggest challenge at the moment is boundaries- and being able to speak my mind openingly.

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Heather Elkington's avatar

It's amazing to have you here Melody!

We have a full blog post on Boundaries including a 30 day challenge you can join - Just search 'boundaries' at the top

Thank you for being here

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Ben Ashton's avatar

Hi I'm Ben, from Basingstoke Hampshire. I work in the People Team (HR) at a Sports team/organisation (~1000 employees) and I'm in my first official management role, so on a learning curve! My biggest challenge right now is balancing my individual contributor job vs. my management role, and ensuring I'm focused on the right priorities in a fast-paced world.

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Heather Elkington's avatar

Hey Ben! Congrats on the first official management role 👏

Yep, that hits home I feel like we're all in that position at the beginning.

Pleased you're here

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Abigail Foster's avatar

Hi! I'm Abi from London, I run Elent financial education and a team of 5. Small but powerful ☺️ Love to chat about creating those set of "values" often talked about for a young company and how we start that.

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Heather Elkington's avatar

Welcome Abi! On it - Next blog post incoming 😉

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Colin Lippy's avatar

Hello! I’m Colin from Baltimore, Maryland, USA and I manage a team of fully remote employees in a different time zone. I’m in financial services and have been a supervisor for 8 years but only managing a full team for 1 year. My team has been on an island, doing processes differently for many years so it’s a bit challenging to bring them into alignment with the expectations of the larger organization. I’m working to develop clear goals for the year and measure back to them regularly. Thanks!

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Heather Elkington's avatar

Welcome Colin, appreciate you sharing this with us.

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Yasmina Ronda's avatar

Hi, my name is yasmina, from Montreal, Canada. I work in HR, in improving employee experience more specifically and in paving the way to a shift in organizational cultural change. It’s a new field for me and I’m loving it. What keeps my thoughts running right now is how to engage our managers in the process of changing the culture and making them more accountable for their employee experience.

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Heather Elkington's avatar

That's amazing to hear Yasmina welcome 👏

Accountability is fascinating to me, and a topic I love to cover so you'll see it come through a lot

This post might be helpful as a starting point - https://www.inthemakingleadership.com/p/the-4-steps-to-building-a-hyper-accountable?utm_source=publication-search

It's great to have you here! H x

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Marlène Pagé's avatar

Fellow Montrealer here! :) I just moved to Longueuil a few months ago, but I'm not far...I've lived in MTL for years!

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Heather Elkington's avatar

Welcome Marlène, it's great to have you here! 😊

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Ross Elkington's avatar

Hello! I'm Ross - I currently work in Harworth, Doncaster for an e-commerce furniture and interiors business called Melody Maison - I am the Head of Sales and Marketing, but I am also responsible for being the office manager. My core team is 5 people, but I am responsible for about 15 all together.

I'm also the younger brother of the one and only Heather Elkington!

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Heather Elkington's avatar

Here he is 👋 ❤️

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Heather's avatar

Hi, I'm Heather, and I live near Portland, OR. For two years, I've managed a small team in a mature design organization. My current challenges are managing through change/crisis (we were recently acquired) and balancing my IC work, project management, and managerial tasks.

I'm looking forward to learning from you and this community!

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Amy's avatar

Hi I'm Amy and I was a manager in a previous job. I've just been promoted in my current organisation and will be line managing again. Feeling a little anxious about it as I found line managing quite stressful in my last job - my team were brilliant but senior management were a nightmare. Love your videos and really looking forward to learning!

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Heather Elkington's avatar

Hey Amy, it's normal to feel a little anxious but you've got this. Focus on growth over perfection!

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Sara Smith's avatar

Good morning. I’m Sara from Santa Fe, NM. I’m working as an operations manager of the County Manager/ Commission offices with eight direct reports, five of whom also report to individual Commissioners who have their own agendas and demands. My biggest challenge right now is balancing my individual responsibilities with management responsibilities. My team and I are the main customer service and admin support for internal and external stakeholders and the sheer volume of requests, demands, needs that are brought to me (and them) every day is overwhelming. I want to step out of everyday response/transaction mode and create systems and processes that will transform how we’re working.

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Heather Elkington's avatar

Hey Sara, welcome & thank you for sharing. You're definitely in the right place!

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Melissa's avatar

Hi, I'm Melissa from Cape Town South Africa. My biggest challenge as a manager is having the tough conversation, delegation, knowing when to say no and stop juggling too much, also knowing my worth, knowing that it's okay to not take on everything thrown my way.

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Heather Elkington's avatar

Hey Melissa, happy to have you here! You're in exactly the right place and I have lots of blog posts about these issues. Here's my most recent one on handling difficult conversations: https://www.inthemakingleadership.com/p/how-to-handle-difficult-conversations-021?utm_source=publication-search

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Steph's avatar

Hi!

I'm Steph living in the West Midlands. I work in corporate and have recently been promoted from mid management to senior management with little support. My biggest challenge at present is defining my relationship / leadership style with my new first line. I was previously their peer and having levelled up can find it difficult to evolve with the dynamic of existing relationships. From a peer / nice / vent to each other to now leader / problem solver. So excited to be part of your community!

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Ajay Jina's avatar

Hi all, I'm Ajay from Johannesburg South Africa, I am a new Manager working for large financial services company. I have been in my role for a year now and I am looking to develop my skills as a Manager. My biggest challenge at the moment is learning when to say No to work that detracts me from my goals and my teams goals.

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Madeline's avatar

Hi Heather! Excited to be here. I’m Madeline, I go by Maddy. I’m from Maryland in the US. I’m 31 and just received my 3rd promotion in 3 years. I’m on year 2 of managing a team (now managing a new team) and with so much change and mobility I often feel overwhelmed. I’m looking for a successful and sustainable approach to success and leadership. Can’t wait!

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Eddie Reed's avatar

I’m Eddie Reed. I’m a administrator at suburban community college on the east coast.

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Heather Elkington's avatar

Hey Eddie, great to have you here!

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TanjaF's avatar

Hi, I'm Tanja from Brussels, Belgium, currently in my first time management role in the public communications sector. Challenge: leaning in this new role and

managing people who have been my coworkers for years. I enjoy following your posts!

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