How Work Really Works with Steve
Doing good work is important, but it is rarely enough to build the career you want.How Work Really Works is a weekly management and career coaching podcast for professionals preparing to lead and new managers learning how to succeed. Drawing on his experience as a senior executive, adviser, and mentor, Steve explores the workplace challenges that often determine whether people move forward or get stuck.Each episode tackles one practical issue, from communicating with senior leaders and handling difficult conversations to building credibility, influencing decisions, leading teams, and taking control of your career. Expect candid advice, real experiences, and...
How to Disagree With Your Boss Without Damaging Your Career
What should you do when you believe your boss is making the wrong decision?
Steve explains how to challenge your manager without turning a professional disagreement into a career limiting event. You will learn why the setting matters, how to express concerns respectfully, when to bring an alternative solution and when it is time to stop pushing and support the final decision.
The episode also examines the situations where staying quiet is not appropriate, including serious ethical, legal, safety and compliance concerns.
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Your Vendor Is Not Your Partner
Every vendor seems eager to call themselves a strategic partner. The real test begins after the presentation ends and the contract is signed.
In this episode of How Work Really Works, Steve explains how to manage vendors without allowing them to manage you. He covers setting clear expectations, writing a useful scope, measuring performance, spotting a declining relationship and preparing for renewals before your negotiating leverage disappears.
You will also learn when to escalate poor delivery, how to manage a vendor transition and why squeezing every possible dollar from a supplier can ultimately cost you...
Manager Minute: Stop Rewarding the Firefighter
Every team has a firefighter. They are the person who rushes in, fixes the crisis and saves the day. But if you only reward the rescue, you may encourage the chaos that made it necessary.
In this Manager Minute, Steve explains why managers should recognize great problem solving while also rewarding prevention, documentation and knowledge sharing. The best teams do not just put out fires. They stop them from starting.
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manager minute, management advice, leadership, people management, team leadership, workplace management, employee recognition, problem solving, crisis management, team development, knowledge sharing, career...
Preparing for Your Next Performance Review
A successful performance review should be more than a score, a form and an uncomfortable conversation squeezed between two meetings.
In this episode of How Work Really Works, Steve looks at performance appraisals from both sides of the table. Employees will learn how to document their achievements, reduce the impact of recency bias, discuss career ambitions and arrive prepared with the right questions. Managers will learn how to give fair ratings, avoid surprises, handle difficult conversations and turn the review into something genuinely useful.
Whether you are preparing to receive feedback or deliver it, this...
You Do Not Need Permission to Lead
Leadership does not begin when someone changes your title. It begins when you see something that needs to be done and take responsibility for helping.
In this episode, Steve shares how his own move into management began through leading a major international transformation program long before the formal title arrived. He explores the difference between genuine leadership and simply trying to control people, why credibility matters more than position and how to take initiative without overstepping your authority.
You will also learn how to lead peers, challenge decisions respectfully, handle a manager who feels threatened...
Manager Minute: Stop Solving Every Problem for Your Team
When your team brings you a problem, solving it yourself may feel faster. Do it too often, however, and you become the bottleneck while your employees stop developing their own judgment.
In this Manager Minute, Steve explains how one simple question can encourage independent thinking, improve decision making and help you build a team that does not need you in every conversation.
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Your Boss Is Not Responsible for Your Career
Your manager can support your development, recommend you for opportunities and help open important doors. But they cannot take responsibility for your career.
In this episode, Steve explores why doing good work is not always enough to move forward. Drawing on his own experiences with supportive leaders, empty promises, unexpected international opportunities and perhaps a little too much company loyalty, he explains how to communicate your ambitions and recognize whether a career plan is real or simply a reassuring conversation.
You will also learn how to find a mentor, create visible evidence that you are...
Why Technical People Sometimes Struggle to Lead
Technical expertise can earn you a leadership role, but the habits that made you successful as a technical specialist can make managing people surprisingly difficult.
In this episode, Steve shares his own transition from hands on technical work into leadership, including his struggle to surrender control, delegate responsibility and stop stepping in to solve every problem. He explores why technical leaders must learn to operate beyond ones and zeroes, translate complex ideas into business language and trust people who may know more than they do.
The episode also asks an important question: should every successful...
Manager Minute : Stop Being the Bottleneck
When every decision, approval and answer has to pass through the manager, the team slows down and the manager becomes the bottleneck.
In this Manager Minute, Steve explains how to delegate with clear guardrails, help employees develop better judgment and stop rescuing people before they have thought through the problem themselves. Because good management is not about making every decision. It is about building a team capable of making good decisions without you.
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When Your Career Has Stalled
Your career can look successful on paper and still feel completely stuck.
In this episode, Steve explores why capable people get passed over for promotions, including invisible ambition, the competence trap, limited opportunities and genuine readiness gaps. Drawing on his own experience of watching colleagues advance while he remained a senior director, Steve explains why being valued is not always the same as being advanced.
You will learn how to have a more useful career conversation with your manager, assess whether the next opportunity truly exists, create visible evidence that you are ready and decide...
When It Is Time to Leave Your Job
When is it really time to leave your job?
A bad week, a difficult manager or one disappointing decision does not necessarily mean you should resign. But staying because change feels uncomfortable can quietly cost you years.
In this episode, Steve explains how to tell the difference between a temporary problem, something that can be fixed and a situation that is unlikely to improve. He covers the warning signs that matter, how to explore your options before leaving and how to make your next move without damaging your reputation.
You will also get...
How to Recover From a Career Mistake
Everyone makes mistakes at work. What often matters most is what you do next.
In this episode, Steve explains how to respond when something goes wrong, take responsibility without destroying your confidence, communicate effectively and rebuild trust through consistent action. He also looks at how good managers should handle employee mistakes, encourage honest reporting and distinguish a genuine error from a larger performance problem.
A practical guide to recovering well, learning the right lessons and preventing one bad decision from defining your career.
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Manager Minute: The Employee Who Wants a Promotion Too Soon
What should you do when an employee wants a promotion before they are ready?
In this Manager Minute, Steve explains how to encourage ambition without rewarding impatience. Learn how to communicate readiness gaps clearly, establish practical development goals and turn an uncomfortable promotion conversation into a useful career plan.
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The Career Skills Nobody Teaches You
Technical knowledge may get you hired, but it is rarely the only thing that determines how far your career progresses.
In this episode, Steve explores the important career skills that organisations depend on but seldom teach. You’ll learn why judgment, prioritisation, clear communication, reliability, business awareness and influence often matter as much as technical expertise.
We also look at how to make stronger recommendations, focus on what genuinely matters, reduce unpleasant surprises and become someone people trust with important work.
Practical career advice for anyone who wants to grow, take on greater re...
How to Survive Office Politics Without Becoming Political
Office politics exists whether you choose to participate or not. The good news is that you can navigate it without becoming manipulative, fake or the person mysteriously copied on every email.
In this episode, Steve explains how workplace influence really works, why strong performance alone is not always enough and how to build credibility without playing games. You’ll learn how to read the room, develop useful relationships, avoid gossip, handle difficult personalities and make sure your work is visible for the right reasons.
Practical advice for surviving office politics while keeping your integrity, your re...
Manager Minute: Stop Avoiding the Awkward Conversation
Avoiding a difficult conversation rarely makes the problem disappear. It usually gives it time to become a much bigger problem.
In this Manager Minute, Steve explains how managers can address performance and behavior concerns early, keep the discussion focused on facts, and create a clear path forward without turning it into a confrontation.
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Managing Up Without Sucking Up
Managing up is not about flattery, agreeing with everything your boss says or suddenly developing an enthusiastic interest in their weekend golf stories.
In this episode, Steve explains what managing up actually means and how to build a productive relationship with your manager without becoming a professional suck up. You’ll learn how to understand your manager’s priorities, adapt to their communication style, raise concerns constructively and disagree without damaging trust.
We also look at what to do when your manager is difficult, unpredictable or simply not very good at managing.
Practical, hone...
Your First 100 Days
Starting a new role can feel like being handed a map after the journey has already begun. Everyone else seems to know how things work, while you are still trying to find the right meeting room.
In this episode of How Work Really Works with Steve, we explore how to make your first 100 days count. You will learn how to understand the organization, build trust, identify the people who really influence decisions, choose sensible priorities and deliver early results without attempting to reorganize the company in your second week.
Steve also shares practical advice for...
Manager Minute: How to Handle Unrealistic Career Expectations
What do you say when an employee expects a promotion they are not ready for? Steve explains how managers can support ambition while being honest about readiness, identify development gaps and create a practical path towards career advancement without making promises they cannot keep.
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Why Nobody Says What They Really Mean at Work
Why do people at work say “Let’s circle back” when they really mean no?
In this episode, Steve explores why workplace communication becomes vague, indirect, and confusing, and how to say what you mean without sounding rude or reckless. Learn how to read between the lines, ask better questions, give clearer feedback, and replace corporate fog with useful conversations.
Whether you are a manager, an employee, or working toward your next career move, this episode offers practical ways to communicate clearly, avoid misunderstandings, and get better results at work.
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Manager Minute: How to Manage a Difficult Employee
What should you do when an employee becomes difficult to manage? In this Manager Minute, Steve explains how to address problematic behavior, have a direct conversation, set clear expectations and give someone a fair opportunity to improve without allowing the problem to continue indefinitely.
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Doing Good Work Is Not Enough
Doing great work does not always lead to recognition or promotion. Steve explains how career advancement really works, why workplace visibility and professional relationships matter, and how to communicate your value without sounding like you are boasting. Learn practical ways to build credibility, demonstrate leadership and ensure your contribution is understood.
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Start Here: Welcome to How Work Really Works
How Work Really Works with Steve is a weekly podcast offering practical career advice, management coaching and leadership lessons. Learn how to communicate better, handle difficult workplace situations, lead with confidence and advance your career through useful guidance, real executive experience and a little dry humor.
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