Building an Unconventional Career as a Leader with Mike Pretlove

What do you need to know as a first time manager? What are the biggest pitfalls to avoid? How can you pick the right job and opportunity to break into management?

To answer these questions, and more, we sat down with Mike Pretlove, who has been a leader now for over 15 years. He’s led teams in a variety of roles, first managing designers, then a major operations role, and now as founder of a new software startup. 

We cover a variety of key concepts to help you build an unconventional career as a leader and motivate your teams, like showing more empathy, giving the right amount and frequency of feedback, and improving your decision making skills. Listen in to find out what works and doesn’t as a new manager.

Listen to our episode on building an unconventional career as a leader:

• ​​​Spotify​​
• ​​Apple Podcasts​​
• ​​Google Podcasts​​
• ​​Stitcher​​

Show Notes:

• The SBI model for feedback: https://www.adelaide.edu.au/hr/ua/media/2034/pdr-giving-feedback.pdf
• Other approaches to giving feedback:
  • Check out Episode 3 of our podcast on how to give feedback here:  
    Creating High Performing Teams: 3 Simple Steps for How to Give Feedback
  • 5 more ways to give better feedback:
  • How to turn around an underperforming team member
• Getting buy in from your team is really important. Learn how to do get their support for changes here.
• And if you’re interviewing for a new job, use these questions to make sure you work for a good manager.

Key actions for you to take today to build an unconventional career:

1. Remember to start small with any changes so you do not overwhelm or get too much resistance from your team.
2. Then, remember these 3 steps you can take today:
   • Get organized and be an organized leader
     • Remember promises and key dates for your team. 
     • Be sure to keep your promises so your team will, too.
   • Exercise empathy 
     • Get to know what they like and how things work best for them for feedback, praise, and communication.
   • Deliver feedback on a regular basis
     • Smaller and more often is better. Never surprise them at review time. 
     • Genuine, feedback or praise, once a week is fantastic. 

Where to find and follow Mike:

• You can find Mike Pretlove on Linkedin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mpretlove/
  • He welcomes your messages or requests to connect after listening to the show.