Management

Working as a manager is always a learning experience, for me at least. Maybe everyone else just knows what they are doing, but I definitely won’t pretend I do. Except if my bosses are reading this, then I DEFINITELY know what I am doing… So with the idea that always learning is the best thing you can do, here is another entry in the catalogue where my direct reports are the ones teaching me. This time it is all about creating opportunities for growth and give them the space they need. ...

As mentioned in my opening blog post, I am currently running two teams at KOHO, and to be completely honest, I have found this to be more challenging than expected. Currently, I have around 13 direct reports over the two teams plus a few additional people that I meet with regularly as part of the work I do. From this two major themes have come up. I’m not tired. No, wait, I am suuuuuuper tired… The first major thing that came up was my own exhaustion. The most surprising part of running two teams directly was how many meetings that would involve. I have approximately twenty 1:1’s every week which is ten hours of just person to person meetings. It is important to call out here, I like people. Legitimately, I enjoy meeting and talking to people, learning about their lives, and telling them too much about mine. The surprising downside to this is that I am investing emotionally into all of these meetings and that is leaving me with very little in the rest of my life. ...