Staff engagement rises when people can do work they’re proud of, and when “excellent” stops being vague.In this episode of M2: Managing Managers, Jim and Thomas share a lightweight, reusable 12-week cadence that helps frontline managers engage staff by co-creating a shared definition of excellent work, removing obstacles, and running small experiments.What you’ll get:* A simple frame: think puzzle, not poker. Sit on the same side of the table and solve the work together.* The flow (5–15 minutes a week): define excellence → name roadblocks → ask customers/stakeholders → draft an excellence statement → run tiny experiments → review/adjust → assign process owners → lock in wins and repeat.* Why psychological safety matters here, and how “helping” gets toxic when leaders weaponize the inputs.* How to use low-hanging fixes to build trust fast (and prove you listened).* How to run experiments without chaos: a short experiment log, clear predictions, and learning as the goal.* A warning sign many leaders miss: if the basics require heroism, your system is broken.If you manage managers, this is a practical way to teach them how to engage teams without turning “performance” into a whipping session.

Executive burnout often looks like success from the outside and feels like a trap on the inside. You’re winning. You’re needed. You’re the clutch player. Then one day you realize you built a “prison” made of dependencies, expectations, and a superhero identity you can’t sustain.In this episode of M2: Managing Managers, we unpack what executive burnout is, how to spot it, and what actually helps you climb back out.What we cover:* The signs: overwhelm, “stuck in the gears,” numbness, and the point where your normal resets stop working.* Why it’s different at the executive level: the “work harder → get promoted → work harder” loop, plus identity fused to the role.* The first move out: create blue sky—real calm and clarity—before you try to “fix leadership” or take on more change.* A fast diagnostic: saboteurs (how your strengths get used against you under stress).* High-leverage tools: elevate/delegate, stop–start–continue, time blocking, and clarifying decision rights so your inbox and your team stop dragging you back into the weeds.* The longer-term solution: redesign the role around the value the organization needs now—explicit accountabilities, clear success definitions, and a sustainable operating model.If you think you might be there, you don’t have to stay there. You can learn a better way to lead at a high level and still keep your humanity and your life. For details on Jim’s confidential Executive Leadership Blue Sky session, visit txl-lab.com.

As a manager of managers, you need to do more than build trust. You need to understand HOW trust gets built at every level, so you can ensure your subordinate managers are well-trusted by their directs.In this episode, we break trust into three pieces you can actually manage:* Competence: People trust you more when they see you can reliably deliver in the domain that matters to them.* Benevolence: People trust you more when they experience you as genuinely on their side—when your “caring” shows up as transparency, generosity, and vulnerability.* Integrity: People trust you more when your promises are clear and your follow-through is consistent. Small promises kept beat big promises made.We also tell you what fails: paint-by-numbers trust tactics, forced scripts, and one-on-ones that become a ritual instead of a relationship.We close with a practical repair move you can teach your managers: humbly ask for one thing you could do better, then change it quickly and visibly enough that people can feel it.

How do you succeed when you're promoted to manage other managers? The common belief is that it's 10x harder, but the truth is it requires a completely different playbook.

This new role demands a shift from direct action to indirect influence, from solving daily problems to coaching your managers, and from short-term tactics to long-term strategy and system design.The M2 podcast tackles the toughest leadership transitions — and this one is notorious, with a 60% failure rate for newly promoted directors.

Here we examine why the skills that made you a great frontline manager won't work at the next level, what new skills you must develop, and how to avoid the common pitfalls that cause so many to fail.

Key point - if you're a frontline manager who wants to get promoted, start acting like you're already at the next level by developing these skills now.

How do you best grow your subordinates? One approach is with a Player Lineup.

This is a short and simple document where you track the learning and growth needs of your subordinates, for use in your 1-1 coaching conversations AND when planning holistically for the growth of your team.

The TXL training toolbox contains many useful tools -- but we only include tools that repay you 10-to-1 in time and energy saved and performance improved.

Here we examine which managers should use the Player Lineup, when, and why -- and help you decide if it's right for you.

Key point - if you're taking over a new team, this tool can be incredibly valuable.

There's a science to managing managers. In fact, without that science, you will struggle needlessly to fully support your subordinate managers in becoming excellent leaders.

Jim Prinzing and Thomas Cox share their breakthrough understanding of what followers need in order to follow at their best, which paints a clear target for exactly what each leader needs to do, and learn, in order to lead with excellence.

We further develop the idea that true lean and learning organizations need this model as their prerequisite to the work of collaborative problem solving needed to create excellence at all levels of an organization.

Ultimate PIP: Up to Par or Out the Door in 90 Days with Zero Drama Thomas "the PIP Guy" Cox shows you why the typical PIP (Performance Improvement Plan) process is broken and harmful, what to do instead, and why you should embrace the PIP as a tool that will improve your own leadership and help your whole team perform better. Learn more at https://thepipguy.com. Recorded 09-Jun-2023