Blog - Nicole Monturo | Coaching & Development

Imposter Syndrome

On June 29, 2017

Disbelief is our natural response to most situations. From “Should I get a pet?” to “Can I run this business?”, doubts come in every form and are probably more diverse than the entire insect species. In fact, we have also learned to give a person the benefit of the doubt that we’re having!

Doubt Isn’t Out – How It Affect Entrepreneurs

Naturally enough, as leaders are only humans, they can get as doubtful as anyone. So much so that they become uncertain of the success they have achieved. Entrepreneurs have been known to suffer from conditions such as “imposter syndrome”, in which they believe to have conned people into thinking that they’re deserving of the accomplishment of their businesses.

As the imposter syndrome isn’t restricted to the sharks of the business world, it can also affect you. Want to learn how to build the confidence that’s infectious? Read on.

Stay Away From The Imposter Syndrome

Here are a few points to keep in mind if you know that you suffer from the imposter syndrome, for a while:

Acceptance: You just found out that you’re suffering from imposter syndrome. Fine — own it. Now that you know having negative thoughts is only a symptom of your condition, you should be prepared to fight against them. Let the feeling of inadequacy become an inspiration for you to work harder and achieve more.

Introspection: It’s the success that’s making you doubt your position, isn’t it? So, take some time to retrace your path to becoming a sensation from your start as a garage business. When you remember all the struggles and the way you navigated your business through the tough times, you’d be a lot easier on yourself.

Keep updating your CV: Making a list is always helpful. When you’ve written down all your accomplishments, it’s becomes more believable. Update your resume whenever possible to keep a tab of how you led your startup to stardom.

Let go: Competitiveness is desirable but not a necessity. Stop trying to fit into other entrepreneurs’ shoes. It’s not healthy to keep a track of what every other business is doing. Also, try not to beat yourself down for a few mistakes. You can’t always win, relentlessly!

Don’t try to time-travel: Don’t keep looking back over your shoulder; it’s going to affect your leadership qualities. Missed opportunities won’t return; maybe it’s good to learn from your mistakes by analyzing past situations in a new light, but don’t obsess about your shortcomings.

Doubt is only a feeling; it isn’t reality or a hallucination. It’s like an omen; since we’ve progressed from believing in superstitions, let’s get over doubt (and subsequently the imposter syndrome) in the same way.

To Achieve Success: Avoid These Common Mistakes

By Nicole Monturo

On June 25, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

It’s great to be chosen as leader. There’s probably nothing more exciting than guiding your team through the thick and thins of a task. But as a cliché as it may sound, we know that power is always accompanied by responsibilities galore.

So, let’s find out what makes a great leader.

What Should You Be Worried About

Generally, when you work in a business, it’s idealistic to think that everyone will get along. So, you might face a little friction initially after getting chosen as the leader.

Moreover, as the chores pile up, the group members get more tense. This is the time when you need to take charge. Other than motivating your group members, you have to also divide tasks shrewdly.

Authenticity is key. Disrespecting other people shouldn’t be your intention, but you need to show that you are endowed with leadership qualities, and people need to abide by the rules you set forth.

Mistakes Made By Most Aspiring Leaders

It’s a well-known fact that history is one of the best teachers. So, learn from the failures of your predecessors. Here are some of the common blunders made by people trying to succeed in the lead role:

Change is constant, so accept it: Sometimes they may be in conflict with your long term goals, but changes are inevitable. You need to go with the flow and not stick firmly to your initial target because the situation isn’t the same anymore. But, you may argue that in some cases, stubborn leaders have come out as winners since they did not conform to suit the circumstances. To judge which of the aforementioned choices would be apt for your team, you must have a group of trusted and experienced people. You can consult other executives and administrators at the business for some sage advice.

Take charge and take the blame: When you don’t meet deadlines, and your objective seems far away, it’s mostly because you get busy with your daily tasks as an entrepreneur. A way to avoid such a situation is by setting a schedule on your calendar that you follow diligently. Another is by using features such as snooze on Gmail that’ll allow you to set up emails that will be delivered at a scheduled time. You should also be willing and ready to accept blame when plans you make or ideas you have don’t pan out the way you’d hoped. Like I said, authenticity is key, so taking charge and owning up to any mistakes — whether they’re yours or your team’s — is an important part of being a leader.

Be curious about your mistakes: Ask yourself why you failed. If you don’t identify where you went wrong, you won’t be able to rectify it. Troubleshooting helps; it’s not always requisite of you to change the entire business model after one setback. The only real mistakes in life are the ones you don’t learn from.

Don’t be too quick: Try to slow down your pace. It’s true that businesses need to be run quickly and time crunches aren’t a new issue plaguing startups, but you need to allot some time to look back on your decisions and analyze your future moves. Take the time necessary for self-reflection and be honest with your assessment of yourself and your performance.

Performance over achievement: Don’t gloat about how much you’ve succeeded but rather think about your business’ performance. When achievements take the toll on you, shortcuts seem tempting that may clash with your long term goals.

So, there you go. Avoid these common erroneous methods, and you will come out the better in every sticky situation you may face as an entrepreneur. But, do you know what’s best? Trust in yourself, because no one knows your business better than you.

Tactics to Help You Survive Your Micromanaging Boss

By Nicole Monturo

On June 22, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

Every new job comes with opportunities as well as turmoil. But, every new intern or employee has one thing in common – they must learn to respect their seniors. But, what if your boss is making it impossible for you to abide by his orders?

Well, most might deny the existence of such a situation. Following orders isn’t rocket science! Why would anyone have trouble meeting a few deadlines if they do not neglect work and have a taste for an organized lifestyle?

People who think the above are possibly unfamiliar with “micromanaging”.

What’s Micromanaging?

Have you ever seen people interfering with every little thing? Or worse, have you seen your boss fiddling around while you’re doing an assignment to make sure everything is in order?

Well, there’s a term for these people are doing: micromanaging. This means that the person may be incredibly controlling and needs to supervise every task performed by the enterprise.

How To Avoid An Awkward Micromanagement Situation?

We know that bosses don’t like being corrected very often, so this means that calling him/her out on this behavior is likely not the wisest of choices. On the same token, it’s not feasible to function in an environment where your boss calls you every other hour to make sure you’re ahead on the deadline (which is more than likely days away). So, how do you manage in this kind of environment?

Here are a few of the tips you need to know to handle your micromanaging boss:

Don’t start a fight – When you find your boss sitting in a chair near your cubicle to make sure you’re working on a report, try to calm yourself. You might be boiling in anger but it’s not prudent to have an outburst at the place where you get your paycheck. People management isn’t everybody’s forte, and your boss isn’t an expert on people. Hence, it might be so, that he or she is a little too eager at this task. Be patient with your boss.
Try to consult your boss – One of the signs of micromanaging is to expect consultancy from your employees. So, to avoid their micromanaging skills to take a toll on you, take advice from your boss as often as possible.
Keep them updated – Tell your boss how far you are in your work. That’ll help them to understand that you can meet the deadlines without them having to bother you constantly.
Report any problem – If there is a discrepancy in meeting with a deadline, communicate that to your boss, beforehand. But, mostly, try to do the work on time.

Try to handle people patiently. That’ll help you keep your job and your dignity.

The Early Bird Gets the Worm: Make Your Morning Count!

By Nicole Monturo

On June 19, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

Most of us spend our days cooped up in our office cubicles or hunched over a computer for a large part of our waking hours, be it for work or pleasure. The internet tends to suck you into a hole when you have any free time, luring you in with the latest trends and viral videos, news from around the world, your social media feeds or your favorite TV shows. All of this eats into your time and makes you compromise on exercise and rest.

Very often, you may wake up in the morning feeling exhausted and cranky as a result of being awake at odd hours. How you begin your day affects the rest of it. It is vital to make the most of your mornings; being mindful of your mental and physical wellbeing from the time you wake up will benefit you in the short term as well as the long term. Once you start really utilizing your mornings, you will find that adage on early birds will start to apply to you.

Where Do You Begin?

According to Billy Polson, CEO and co-founder of DIAKADI and the Business Movement, kick-starting your day right has a domino effect on the rest of your day, in terms of positivity, energy and mindfulness. You can train yourself to become a morning person, even if you feel you aren’t.

You can do whatever works best for you. Try to incorporate physical fitness routines that also include a state of mindfulness with them. Polson tries to ensure his morning routine is a combination of surf sessions, yoga, or strength training. Just focusing on the exercise means that the flow of blood through the body, as well as focusing on the routine, brings a sense of clarity and inner peace.

What Does Good Health Mean?

Aside from the many obvious benefits of exercise, maintaining a routine of well being affects every aspect of your life. Taking care of your health has positive effects on how your do your work and interact with people as well.

And all of this starts by waking up early in the morning and getting a jumpstart on your day.

Easy Methods To Achieve Activity In The Morning

Aside from the obvious methods of exercise and meditation, one can also kick-start their morning activities by using methods to commute to work that involves physical activity, like walking or using a cycle. These small steps will go a long way in improving your overall physical and mental health and happiness.

Why Great Managers Know How to Use Their Manners

By Nicole Monturo

On June 16, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

Leaders in the world of business are generally perceived as displaying a sense of authority and power. It has been traditionally acceptable for people sitting in senior positions to display autocratic tendencies, advancing their careers and growing their businesses by commanding fear, instead of respect.

But the growth of the startup culture in the past decade has debunked these styles of leadership and opened the doors for a completely new form of management.

Definition Of Good Leader

Being a good boss goes hand-in-hand with being an effective leader. Eve Poole, who is an associate lecturer at a business school, a consultant, speaker and an author on effective leadership, gives many insights into what makes a good leader in her latest book Leadersmithing.

The results may surprise you. Gone are the days when it was acceptable to be aggressive and unyielding to get the job done. In order to be a good manager, it is more important to practice at good manners.

Good manners aren’t just a necessity at social gatherings. With networking and social media, among other things playing such a crucial role, it is also a necessary tool in the growth of any business.

Key Strengths Of A Leader

Good leadership is about effectively guiding people towards your vision, bringing about change and growth by bringing out the best in people, and not by bullying them. It isn’t always just important to be right, but even more so to being respected. Charm can also work wonders.

How To Acquire Good Manners

Good manners are not merely an innate personality trait. Poole believes that with adequate practice, anyone can become well-mannered. She gives the example of how a pearl can be seen as a metaphor for corporate leadership. It is created to combat the harshness of grit with something smooth and beautiful. Although it occurs naturally, it can also be cultivated, as can good manners. It is a kind of shortcut to good leadership in times of adversity.

A few easy techniques include thanking people for doing a good job, narrating facts in story form rather than as lectures, making eye contact, and most importantly, learning to listen to other people’s viewpoints, regardless of hierarchy.

Being a good manager isn’t just about managing people, it’s more important to motivate them. That’s the key to getting the maximum productivity from the people you work with.

Millennials in the Workplace: Hearing Their Complaints

By Nicole Monturo

On June 10, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

The world is evolving by the hour. New forms of technology, medicine, etc. are becoming prevalent and there’s a need to update software every day for everyone.

Now, we know that millennials, the youth of the 21st century, are attached to technology more than people. So, people who belong on social media all day must be frustrated when they have to use mental math instead of a calculator (on their phone).

Therefore, it isn’t surprising that today’s youth, who want a quicker way to understand the string theory, will find a Pentium 2 an insult to their intelligence. So, let’s understand what makes the youth tick.

Why Do We Need New Tech That’s Hi-Tech?

We’ve heard why employers think millennials to be a waste of human resources because of their volatile nature, impatience and short-term employment goals.

Just to get a different perspective, let’s consider the problems faced by millennials in the workplace:

Outdated and incompetent – Now, youngsters today have a tough time shopping outside the comfort of their homes. Even the grocery supplies have been covered by BigBasket and other such apps. So, it’ll be confusing for millennials when you expect productivity while having slow and 10-year old internal software pieces. It’s a well-known fact that most computers at the workplace have Windows 8 as their OS, whereas youngsters have the habit of functioning on Windows 10. The best way to avoid conflict is by consulting with younger employees about the troubles they’re facing; they might even be eager to update your software for you!

Management gets senile – If you’ve graduated from Harvard, top of your class, you’d definitely want your voice to be heard. Sometimes, the workplace does not provide you with such opportunities. More often than not, people management is handed over to aged people (in the name of experience) who have extracted all they can from their workplace and just want some stability. So, they do not prefer hearing about new ideas and reforms that will help the business grow. Instead, employees are pressured to stick to previous business models, showing how truly toxic the mentality “that’s the way we’ve always done things,” can be.

Less act, more tact – The companies that pretend to be “progressive” and “driven” look great on the outside. That’s what attracts the youngsters to them. But, on entry, they realize that there’s more talk than walk, strategizing to expand is always occurring, and there’s no progress because entrepreneurs do not feel the need to act on it.

So, it’s probably evident why impatience is becoming one of the tags that a millennial has to live with. To help a business grow, it’s not just the experience that helps, but also the dynamicity.

Leadership Tips to Up Your Productivity

By Nicole Monturo

On June 3, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

Leadership isn’t just about leading your team through the hard times; it’s also about capitalizing on your team’s successes and pushing them to achieve more than they believe possible of themselves. As your team grows together and becomes more comfortable with one another, you want to help them figure out ways that they can all work better in tandem, streamlining processes to help them work ‘smarter not harder.’ Here are a few leadership tips for boosting your team’s — and your own — productivity.

Always be prepared.

Arrive at every meeting, gathering, and call fully prepared and ready to go. As a leader, other people are going to be looking to you for answers and guidance, and if your presentation is scattered all over or if you haven’t prepared to answer the questions people might have, you’re going to waste a lot of time trying to gather your thoughts and pull your information together. Make sure that you’re well-prepared so that you can help your team become well-prepared as well.

Stay organized.

For the same reason you want to be prepared, you want to make sure everything you need is organized and ready to go when you need it. You shouldn’t have to be shuffling through papers and rummaging through your desk to find the most important documents for your day. Staying on top of things will leave you more time to do the things that are important, rather than wasting valuable time on pointless tasks.

Start your day early.

Ben Franklin once said, “early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise,” and it’s easy to see why this simple formula for success works if you break it down and analyze it. If you’re starting every day by rolling out of bed at the last possible moment, you’re not allotting yourself enough time to fully prepare for the day ahead of you. Want to be truly successful? Start out your day early, like 5:00am early, and use those extra hours to reflect on the day and mentally and physically prepare yourself for what you need to do. The extra time allows you to be prepared and organize yourself so that you can increase your productivity.

What it Looks Like When Leadership Goes Wrong

By Nicole Monturo

On May 31, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

I’ve written many times about what it takes to be a great and effective leader, but I’ve never really explored what it looks like when leadership is ineffective or, even worse, just plain bad. Often, it’s difficult to know exactly what’s going wrong so you can fix it; however, by taking a look at what really happens when leadership goes wrong, you can identify it when you see it and help more easily craft a solution to move forward. Here are some of the red flags you may encounter when dealing with poor and ineffective leadership.

Someone’s always playing the blame game.

Things are going to go wrong every once in awhile; these things just tend to happen when working with humans and human error. However, the important thing to remember when there is a mishap is that it’s not about who’s at fault but rather what can be done to move forward. When you’re dealing with poor leadership, though, you’ll often see that problems are followed by a department- — or even company- — wide game of ‘who did it?’ If assigning blame is more important in the process of recovering from mistakes than the actual plan to move forward, you’re likely dealing with bad leadership.

Any change is met with resistance.

Repeat after me: change is good; change is natural. Change is required to keep a company running smoothly and up-to-date on latest industry happenings and trends. That’s why it’s incredibly difficult to succeed if you have a leader who is reluctant to adopt new policies and changes. Say your entire company has decided to go paperless, but your department head prefers to use paper and doesn’t want to update. It’s going to throw the productivity of the company entirely out of line and waste more time than had the changes just simply been implemented.

There’s a total lack of empathy.

You’ll hear people say that it’s important to keep a separation between your work and home life and not let personal matters seep into the workplace. However, there are obvious exceptions to this rule when it comes to matters of death, illness, or other urgent situations that arise; this is why sick time and bereavement time exist. As a leader, you definitely don’t want people to be walking all over you, but you also need to recognize that your team members are human beings with problems that will arise from time to time. Be accommodating with your team and they’ll be more likely to trust you and less likely to abuse the system. If a leader is unable to put his or herself into someone else’s shoes and see from their point of view at least a little, they’re going to fail very quickly when it comes to earning the respect of their team.

There are a lot of flip-flops.

I’m not talking about the shoes; I’m talking about people who are indecisive and unable to make a decision and commit to it. In business, there are not the time and resources available for you to keep going back and forth when it comes to difficult decisions. Bad leaders will be unsure if they’ve made the right choice and may change course several times throughout the process, but effective leaders will make the best, educated choice that they’re able and continue forward knowing that they made they best choice they could have, and that making a choice is better than not.

Miscommunication runs rampant.

Poor leaders will place very little value on the importance of communicating with their team. They may be the type of leader to give unclear instructions and expect you to figure out the rest. They might be the type that goes absent for long periods of time and is unavailable for guidance or assistance in tumultuous times. It’s also likely that any complaints voiced to these leaders will go in one ear and out the other, causing problems to persist and delaying solutions that will make operations run more smoothly. Someone who places very little importance on communication is someone who, instead of being the leader and the point of cohesion within the group, will serve to exacerbate confusion and frustration.

There’s a huge emphasis on hierarchy.

Hierarchy exists for a reason, so people know who to report to and what the chain of command is. That being said, hierarchy is not something that you should use as conversational punctuation or as a reason why someone should do something; poor, ineffective leaders like to play the rank card any chance they get. They’ll consistently put their team down by flaunting their position any chance they get rather than using their knowledge and leadership experience to guide their team along the right path.

There is no sense of autonomy or trust.

As a manager, it all falls back on you to make sure that everyone is doing their job and things are running smoothly. However, at a certain point, you need to develop enough trust with your team to believe that they’ll get their work done without hovering over their shoulders. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t check in with your team members to make sure they’re juggling their workload effectively; this just means that you can’t micromanage people and expect them to still perform well.

It can be difficult to tell if leadership is going awry if you’re constantly stuck in the middle of it. By keeping yourself alert and knowing what it looks like when things are falling apart, you can help the team better recover and address the issue before it becomes a passive problem.

The Best TED Talks on Leadership

By Nicole Monturo

On May 25, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

If you’re a frequent internet user, especially on social media, you’ve likely seen videos posted and shared of conferences called TED Talks. Maybe you’ve watched one here or there on various subjects — TED Talks have a lot more to offer than purely entertainment — think of them more as edutainment.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design and was incepted in 1984 by Richard Saul Wurman; although the conferences initially only addressed topics in the areas of technology, entertainment, and design, they now cover a wide variety of topics. These conferences host influential leaders from different industries around the world to speak on their knowledge and inform others.

One subject of TED Talks that I find to be particularly insightful and inspiring are the ones that cover matters of leadership. I watch them for knowledge, inspiration, and self-development so I can lean how to better lead others on a day-to-day basis. Although I really can’t limit my favorites to a single list without rambling for a million words, there are a few that have particularly struck me. Here are a few of my (carefully selected) favorite TED Talks on leadership.

How to Make Work-Life Balance Work – Nigel Marsh
- Nigel Marsh is a well-known author, giving us titles like Overworked and Underlaid and Fat, Forty, and Fired that explore the interaction between work and personal life. In this talk he discusses the importance of having a healthy balance between your work and personal lives and offers some advice on how to reach that balance.
The Key to Success? Grit. – Angela Lee Duckworth
- Angela Duckworth worked for years in a high-pressure consulting job until one day when she left it to take a job teaching mathematics to seventh graders in the New York public school system. It was at this job where she realized that textbook intelligence isn’t the only thing that sets the successful students apart from those had a difficult time; that other ‘secret’ ingredient was grit, which she explores in her talk.

8 Secrets of Success – Richard St. John
- If you want a strong shot of inspiration but don’t have the time to sit through an entire lecture series, marketer and analyst Richard St. John’s presentation is exactly what you need. The talk condenses years’ worth of interviews and a two-hour lecture into a three-and-a-half minute talk that gets real about what exactly it takes to succeed.

How Being a Mom Helps You Be a Better Leader

By Nicole Monturo

On May 21, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

Motherhood is often underestimated in today’s society. You are responsible for taking care of another human being, making sure he or she grows up in the best environment with all of the knowledge they need to succeed in life. While people try to minimize the commitment it takes to raise children, they don’t see the everyday battles and obstacles you have to overcome, which not only makes you a better mother but a better person all around. No matter how I look at it, one constant remains true: my experience with motherhood has helped me to be a better leader, and here’s how.

I realized no two people are the same.
- There’s a huge difference between having your first child and your second child. Your first child comes, and you’re brand new at the whole parenting thing so you learn along the way. Then, when your second child comes, you think you’ve got everything down pat and are prepared for whatever life throws your way, but there’s a catch: your second child is an entirely different human being with his or her own temperament, attitude, likes, and dislikes. Your second child may love the things your first child hates and vice versa. It taught me to realize that no two people are the same, so there is no one-size-fits-all approach to leadership; you need to handle each person and their own unique set of problems or concerns individually.
I learned how to juggle… a lot.
- Like being a mom, when you’re a leader in any capacity, you need to be able to multitask and balance a lot of plates at once. As a mom, you need to stay on top of your own life as well as your kids’ lives. If my daughter had ballet and my son had soccer practice after school at two different times, I need to be able to keep everything organized and get everyone where they need to go in a timely manner. Looking back, I can see all of the little ways that handling motherhood has made me a better multitasker, more organized, and more confident in both of my roles.
I learned how to tough it out.
- When you’re a mom, there are no sick days. You can’t call off of parenting because you have a cold or were up all night throwing up. No, you need to remain the fearless leader and take charge of the day. When you’re a leader, you also have people depending on you; you can’t just decide not to show up and expect things to run smoothly. You need to be able to weather the storms with your team, rather than jumping ship.