In this mini episode of People Are the Worst, Lindsey and Lucy unpack a frustrating but surprisingly common leadership challenge: employees who rely on their manager for every decision.

Leaders often accidentally train this behavior. Every time a manager immediately answers a question, they reinforce the pattern. Over time, the employee learns that the fastest path forward is simply asking their manager instead of thinking through the problem themselves.

The solution is shifting from directing to coaching.

Instead of giving answers, Lindsey walks through a simple coaching framework leaders can use to help employees develop their own problem-solving skills: the GROW model. By asking questions about the goal, the current reality, possible options, and the way forward, managers guide their team members to think through solutions on their own.

It takes more time and patience upfront. But the payoff is powerful. Employees gain confidence, managers stop becoming the “human answer machine,” and teams start bringing solutions instead of just problems.

If you feel stuck answering the same questions every day, this episode offers a simple shift that can change how your team operates.

Want to Ask Us a Question? We’re taking real questions from real managers and people leaders. Email us at dearlandl@elevateleadership.com, and we just might feature yours in a future episode.

Learn more about our solutions at https://www.elevateleadership.com/

Connect with Lindsey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseynehls/

Connect with Lucy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-georgiades-84933622/

Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube so you never miss an episode. And leave us a review to let us know what you think.

Unlike managing direct reports, managing peers comes with no formal authority. No one technically has to listen to you, follow your lead, or prioritize your work. Influence becomes the only real currency.

That is where leading with curiosity becomes a powerful leadership skill.

Rather than relying on hierarchy or positional power, curious leaders ask better questions, invite ideas, and create space for collaboration. By approaching cross functional relationships with curiosity instead of control, leaders build trust, uncover better insights, and move work forward even when they cannot dictate outcomes.

In this conversation, Lindsey highlights why managing across can feel harder than managing down and why influence, not authority, becomes the defining leadership capability in modern organizations.

If you have ever struggled to align peers, navigate cross functional work, or get buy in without formal authority, this episode offers a mindset shift that can transform how you lead across teams.

Want to Ask Us a Question? We’re taking real questions from real managers and people leaders. Email us at dearlandl@elevateleadership.com, and we just might feature yours in a future episode.

Learn more about our solutions at https://www.elevateleadership.com/

Connect with Lindsey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseynehls/

Connect with Lucy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-georgiades-84933622/

Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube so you never miss an episode. And leave us a review to let us know what you think.

The question comes from Brock, a leader who feels stuck in the weeds and is struggling to protect his time while still supporting his team. What unfolds is a practical and grounding conversation about why boundary issues rarely come from bad intent and almost always come from unspoken expectations.

Lindsey explains that many leadership frustrations stem from implicit expectations that were never clearly articulated. When roles, ownership, and decision rights are left undefined, managers naturally step in, lines blur, and over time, resentment builds on both sides. The solution is not pulling away, but slowing down long enough to make expectations explicit.

If you feel stretched thin, this episode offers clarity without guilt and structure without rigidity.

Want to Ask Us a Question? We’re taking real questions from real managers and people leaders. Email us at dearlandl@elevateleadership.com, and we just might feature yours in a future episode.

Learn more about our solutions at https://www.elevateleadership.com/

Connect with Lindsey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseynehls/

Connect with Lucy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-georgiades-84933622/

Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube so you never miss an episode. And leave us a review to let us know what you think.

In this episode of People Are the Worst, Lucy and Lindsey introduce Leadership Intelligence, a modern leadership framework built for an era of change and an AI-driven, emotionally heavy world. Leadership Intelligence helps leaders to become resilient, curious, and deeply human when uncertainty is the norm.

Lindsey & Lucy outline the five core skills leaders need in the AI era:

1. Personal Resilience: Managing your inner narrative, catching negative self-talk before it nukes your confidence, and building the steadiness to lead through chaos.
2. Team Resilience: Creating psychological safety, guiding through conflict, and proactively protecting culture as teams grow and evolve.
3. Curiosity: Asking better questions, inviting dissent, and turning ambiguity into insight.
4. High-Velocity Decision Making: Balancing data, stakeholders, and process to make smart decisions without stalling momentum.
5. Staying Human: Leading with empathy, trust, and connection in a world that’s increasingly automated.

This week, they go deep on the first two: personal and team resilience.

You’ll hear practical tools such as:

1. The four-question framework to rewire negative internal chatter
2. How to make expectations explicit to protect your time and energy
3. Using Stephen Covey’s Spheres of Control to coach without absorbing emotional labor
4. Setting boundaries without guilt
5. Building culture intentionally as your company grows
6. Motivating teams through ambiguity without pretending you have all the answers

If leadership feels heavier than ever before right now, you’re not imagining it. Leadership Intelligence is how you stay grounded in it. Listen and start building the key skills you need for what’s next.

Want to Ask Us a Question? We’re taking real questions from real managers and people leaders. Email us at dearlandl@elevateleadership.com, and we just might feature yours in a future episode.

Learn more about our solutions at https://www.elevateleadership.com/

Connect with Lindsey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseynehls/

Connect with Lucy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-georgiades-84933622/

Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube so you never miss an episode. And leave us a review to let us know what you think.

We break down how to lead with clarity instead of overexplaining, why the core compensation message needs to come first, and how sticking to the facts actually builds more trust. You will hear how to prepare your rationale, when to stop talking, and why empathy is your most powerful tool once the reaction comes.

We also unpack a common dilemma: Should performance reviews and compensation discussions happen together or separately? If you want your feedback to land, timing matters.

If compensation season makes you nervous, this episode gives you a simple, steady framework to handle it with confidence and care.

Want to Ask Us a Question? We’re taking real questions from real managers and people leaders. Email us at dearlandl@elevateleadership.com, and we just might feature yours in a future episode.

Learn more about our solutions at https://www.elevateleadership.com/

Connect with Lindsey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseynehls/

Connect with Lucy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-georgiades-84933622/

Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube so you never miss an episode. And leave us a review to let us know what you think.

In this episode, we dive into the most nuanced, and avoid-at-all-costs conversations managers are often thrown into without a script. We walk through some real-world questions from leaders dealing with everything from disappointed team members to deserving-but-not-ready promotion seekers.

You will gain our advice on:

1. How to tell someone they’re not getting a raise with empathy
2. The order (and emotional load) of separating performance reviews from compensation
3. What to do when a mid-level outperformer starts comparing themselves to a higher-paid peer who’s not performing as well
4. How to address the “I want more money but I haven’t taken any more initiative” dilemma
5. Why making promises you can’t keep is one of the fastest ways to ruin trust
6. How to keep top performers motivated when they’ve hit the top of their compensation band

We also tackle the subtle dynamics that can erode team morale such as rewarding the squeaky wheel, accidentally underpaying the “nicest” team members, and how to calibrate compensation across a team with fairness and transparency.

By the end of this episode, you’ll have language to use, failure modes to avoid, and a stronger compass for leading with clarity and care during compensation season.

Want to Ask Us a Question? We’re taking real questions from real managers and people leaders. Email us at dearlandl@elevateleadership.com, and we just might feature yours in a future episode.

Learn more about our solutions at https://www.elevateleadership.com/

Connect with Lindsey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseynehls/

Connect with Lucy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-georgiades-84933622/

Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube so you never miss an episode. And leave us a review to let us know what you think.

In this mini episode of People Are the Worst, Lucy and Lindsey respond to a question from Mandy, a manager facing one of the most uncomfortable leadership moments: delivering tough, repeated feedback to a direct report who hasn’t taken it well in the past.

We break down how to manage the moment without escalating emotions or shutting the conversation down. You’ll learn how to prepare yourself emotionally before the conversation, why stating your intention upfront matters more than you think, and how empathy can quickly de‑escalate defensiveness.

Lucy walks through a simple but powerful empathy framework you can use in real time, agreeing with something true, summarizing what you’re hearing, naming the emotion, and asking a gentle question that re‑engages the other person’s thinking brain. Lindsey adds why this approach works so well and how empathy, when done correctly, is the fastest path to calmer, more productive conversations.

We also talk about the role of vulnerability, how summarizing throughout the conversation helps people feel heard, and how to keep the discussion focused on alignment rather than blame.

If you’ve been putting off a feedback conversation because you’re worried about tears, defensiveness, or emotional fallout, this mini episode will give you language, structure, and confidence to handle it with clarity and care.

Good luck, Mandy! We’re rooting for you.

Want to Ask Us a Question? We’re taking real questions from real managers and people leaders. Email us at dearlandl@elevateleadership.com, and we just might feature yours in a future episode.

Learn more about our solutions at https://www.elevateleadership.com/

Connect with Lindsey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseynehls/

Connect with Lucy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-georgiades-84933622/

Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube so you never miss an episode. And leave us a review to let us know what you think.

So why is your direct report acting like it never happened?

In this episode of People Are the Worst, Lucy and Lindsey dive into one of the most frustrating patterns managers face: when someone receives clear, thoughtful feedback but somehow, nothing changes.

Whether it’s passive resistance, people-pleasing, or a lack of psychological safety, the reasons someone “forgets” feedback are rarely surface-level. We talk about:

• Why “nice” employees often resist feedback more than difficult ones
• The neuroscience behind competing commitments and why good intentions still lead to bad follow-through
• How to use language that creates clarity and accountability (without micromanaging)
• The difference between feedback and norms, and how to align your team on both
• Why “I must help if someone asks” is wrecking your team’s productivity
• The subtle ways feedback avoidance shows up in remote team dynamics

Plus: real scripts, tactical tools, and stories that show how to move from “we talked about it” to “we did something about it.”

If you’ve ever felt stuck in the “we’ve already talked about this” loop, this episode will give you the clarity, confidence, and language to break the cycle.

Want to Ask Us a Question? We’re taking real questions from real managers and people leaders. Email us at dearlandl@elevateleadership.com, and we just might feature yours in a future episode.

Learn more about our solutions at https://www.elevateleadership.com/

Connect with Lindsey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseynehls/ 

Connect with Lucy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-georgiades-84933622/

Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube so you never miss an episode. And leave us a review to let us know what you think.

They share simple, real-world ways to create a safer environment for honest conversation, from admitting what you don’t know to calling forward quieter voices and using devil’s advocate prompts to normalize disagreement. Plus, a surprising reminder: overly polished meetings can shut people down. Sometimes, less structure leads to more honesty.

A short, practical guide for any manager trying to get their team talking again.

Want to Ask Us a Question? We’re taking real questions from real managers and people leaders. Email us at dearlandl@elevateleadership.com, and we just might feature yours in a future episode.

Learn more about our solutions at https://www.elevateleadership.com/

Connect with Lindsey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseynehls/ 

Connect with Lucy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-georgiades-84933622/

Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube so you never miss an episode. And leave us a review to let us know what you think.

In this episode, we’re answering a question from a manager who wants his team to lean in more, take risks, and bring forward their own recommendations rather than wait for direction every time. We dig into what really gets in the way of ownership and proactivity, and (spoiler alert) sometimes the problem starts with us as managers.

We’ll show you how to:

• Get out of your team’s way, for real
• Set expectations that actually create ownership
• De‑risk decision‑making with guardrails instead of approvals
• Reinforce risk‑taking with meaningful praise
• Avoid accidental micromanaging (even when you think you’re helping)

Then, we shift into a question from another manager: “Why does my team go silent in meetings but share all their opinions privately?”

We’ll walk you through tactical ways to build psychological safety, model vulnerability, encourage debate, and set up meeting formats that help both “speak‑to‑thinkers” and “think‑to‑speakers” contribute confidently.

Finally, Natalie asks: “When’s the right time to ask for feedback and how do I actually get useful input?”

We break down how to ask for specific feedback, how often to request it, and how to receive it without defensiveness, even when it stings a little.

Want to Ask Us a Question? We’re taking real questions from real managers and people leaders. Email us at dearlandl@elevateleadership.com, and we just might feature yours in a future episode.

Learn more about our solutions at https://www.elevateleadership.com/

Connect with Lindsey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseynehls/ 

Connect with Lucy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-georgiades-84933622/

Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube so you never miss an episode. And leave us a review to let us know what you think.

Additional Resources:

Psychological Safety Survey (Amy Edmondson)

Rate your team of peers: 2 points = True |  1 = Sometimes True | 0 = False

1. If you make a mistake on this team, it is rarely held against you
2. Members of this team are able to bring up problems and tough issues
3. People on this team don’t reject others for being different
4. It is safe to take a risk on this team 
5. It is easy to ask other members of this team for help
6. No one on this team would deliberately act in a way that undermines my efforts
7. Working with members of this team, my unique skills and talents are valued and utilized 

Rating Scale: 

• 0-5 - Psychological safety on your team needs some work. What can you do immediately to make some progress here?
• 6-10 - Psychological safety is not bad, but some improvement would go a long way
• 11-14 - Great job! Psychological safety on your team is high! 

What starts as a small complaint about a strong scent turns into a reminder that even the awkward, low‑impact moments at work deserve a little courage and a sense of humor. Because giving feedback doesn’t always have to feel like confrontation. Sometimes, it’s just about saying what everyone’s already thinking (kindly).

Listen for a laugh, a dose of reality, and proof that feedback can be both direct and human.

Want to Ask Us a Question? We’re taking real questions from real managers and people leaders. Email us at dearlandl@elevateleadership.com, and we just might feature yours in a future episode.

Learn more about our solutions at https://www.elevateleadership.com/

Connect with Lindsey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseynehls/ 

Connect with Lucy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-georgiades-84933622/

Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube so you never miss an episode. And leave us a review to let us know what you think.

1. What do you do when a direct report keeps “forgetting” feedback and backslides on performance again and again?
2. Should you say something when your team turns cameras off in meetings but not in 1:1s?
3. How do you support career growth when there are zero promotion opportunities in your org chart?

We share real-world coaching stories and tactics we’ve seen work across teams, including confronting competing commitments, using levity in awkward moments (tuna fish lunch, anyone?), and facilitating growth in flat organizations by designing experiences instead of chasing titles.

This episode is full of actionable advice to help you lead your team with clarity, compassion, and confidence.

Want to Ask Us a Question? We’re taking real questions from real managers and people leaders. Email us at dearlandl@elevateleadership.com, and we just might feature yours in a future episode.

Learn more about our solutions at https://www.elevateleadership.com/

Connect with Lindsey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseynehls/ 

Connect with Lucy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-georgiades-84933622/

Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube so you never miss an episode. And leave us a review to let us know what you think.

You know that moment when you close your laptop after back-to-back meetings and think, “People are the worst”? Yeah, us too. And that’s exactly why this podcast exists.

We are Lindsey Nehls and Lucy Georgiades, cofounders of Elevate Leadership, and together we’ve coached thousands of people leaders through the chaos of managing humans at work. Now, we’re taking all those hard-earned lessons, ridiculous stories, and practical tools and bringing them straight to you.

In this trailer, we’re introducing what People Are the Worst is all about and what you can expect from each episode. Whether you’re leading a team, managing up, or stuck between a rock and a people problem, we’ve got you. We’ll tackle questions like:

• How do you influence without authority?
• How do you lead through constant change?
• How do you give feedback that lands and preserves the relationship?
• How do you think strategically when you’re drowning in daily fires?

Let’s figure out our people problems—together.

• Learn more about our solutions here.
• Connect with Lindsey on LinkedIn.
• Connect with Lucy on LinkedIn.
• Email us with your questions, and we may answer them on an upcoming episode: dearlandl@elevateleadership.com.