How to give a performance review your team won't dread

A fractional COO helps business owners get out of the day-to-day by building the system that's missing between them and their team, and then making sure the team follows it. In this episode, Lia breaks down the interruptions, duplicate work and missed priorities that drain a business day after day, what she does as a fractional COO to fix them, and why implementation is the piece most plans skip. In this episode you will learn: What the paper cuts in your business are costing you Why being stuck in the day-to-day isn't about hiring the wrong people How an owner-dependent business affects what it's worth How small check-ins can fix a whole workflow How to turn a lead from an ad into a long-term client The three pieces of fractional COO work: systems to scale, implementation and a hiring blueprint Resources mentioned: Work with Lia as your fractional COO: [email protected] Connect with me: Website: www.liagarvin.com Email: [email protected] Free guide to making hard conversations easier: liagarvin.com/convo Instagram: @lia.garvin LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/liagarvin

As a first time manager, it's tempting to open with "I'm just here to help" or "I'll learn more from you than you'll learn from me." It comes from a good place, and it costs you your team's confidence and your own. In this episode, Lia shares the first few conversations to have with your new team instead, the ones that build trust quickly even if you've never managed before. In this episode you will learn: Why playing yourself down backfires with a new team What your team wants from a new manager How to name the situation when a team has been through a lot of change How to learn each person's goals and make a plan with them How to share your leadership intention and invite your team to keep you honest The weekly question to ask yourself as a new manager Resources mentioned: The New Manager Playbook: liagarvin.com or Amazon Connect with me: Website: www.liagarvin.com Email: [email protected] Free guide to making hard conversations easier: liagarvin.com/convo Instagram: @lia.garvin LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/liagarvin

Learning how to hold your team accountable can start with something as small as two words: "I need." When you make an ask about what you need, your team member's job turns into a favor to you, and the follow-through becomes your problem. In this episode, Lia shares the wording shift that puts accountability back with your team, what to say instead, and why it makes the hard feedback conversations easier when someone still doesn't deliver. In this episode you will learn: Why "I need" hands the accountability back to you Why "I" statements help in personal conflict but backfire at work What to say instead: the expectation, why it matters to them, the support, and one closing question How Lia caught herself doing this at Microsoft How to set a sales goal so your team owns it Why this makes feedback conversations clearer Resources mentioned: Share your success story with Lia: [email protected] Connect with me: Website: www.liagarvin.com Email: [email protected] Free guide to making hard conversations easier: liagarvin.com/convo Instagram: @lia.garvin LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/liagarvin

When your second in command isn't stepping up, it's tempting to decide you hired the wrong person. But most new number twos think the job is to do everything themselves, so they say yes to all of it, get spread too thin, and lose track of what matters most. In this episode, Lia shares how to tell if it's the wrong fit or the wrong expectations, and how to reset the expectation so your successor can start running things the way you hired them to. In this episode you will learn: How to tell whether you have the wrong person or the wrong expectations The biggest symptom that your number two thinks they have to do everything Why building a leadership bench raises what your business is worth What a successor should and shouldn't copy from you How to have the expectation reset conversation with your number two How long to give it before you make the call Resources mentioned: Work with Lia on your number two's role and coaching: liagarvin.com/contact Connect with me: Website: www.liagarvin.com Email: [email protected] Free guide to making hard conversations easier: liagarvin.com/convo Instagram: @lia.garvin LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/liagarvin

Being a leader people want to work for looks the same on every team, even when the challenge on yours feels like nobody else has ever dealt with it. A team at an insurance company and a team at a creative agency run into the same dynamics, and the same three tools motivate and keep people on both: build trust, be clear, and delegate and motivate. In this episode, Lia walks through the framework from her keynote and how to use it with your team, whatever your team looks like. In this episode you will learn: Why the same team dynamics show up in every industry, at every size How to set an intention as a leader so your team gets the same you on Monday and Thursday Why trust is the first thing to build, and what happens on a team without it The question to ask instead of "why aren't they doing it?" How accountability and The Sit-Down create clarity Why delegation is a trust issue, not a skill issue, and the three places that trust breaks down Coaching questions that start with what and how, never why Resources mentioned: The New Manager Playbook: liagarvin.com or Amazon Bring this keynote to your team or event: [email protected] Connect with me: Website: www.liagarvin.com Email: [email protected] Free guide to making hard conversations easier: liagarvin.com/convo Instagram: @lia.garvin LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/liagarvin

How to run performance reviews your team doesn't dread: a simple performance review conversation, a one-page self-assessment, and feedback with zero surprises. Performance reviews fill employees with stress because they feel like one moment that could decide a career, and leaders dread them too. In this episode, Lia breaks down how to structure the review so your team member leaves with a plan they own, whether your company runs a heavy review cycle or you've never run a review at all. In this episode you will learn: The two things every performance review covers: looking back and looking ahead How long a performance review meeting should be How to set up a one-page employee self-assessment, and what to ask for in it What a team member's self-reflection tells you about their future on your team How to give specific feedback in a review that reinforces what you've already discussed Why your team member should own the follow-ups, and why skipping reviews costs you your best people Resources mentioned: The New Manager Playbook: liagarvin.com or Amazon Owning Your Impact workshop: liagarvin.com/contact Connect with me: Website: www.liagarvin.com Email: [email protected] Free guide to making hard conversations easier: liagarvin.com/convo Instagram: @lia.garvin LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/liagarvin

Creating a sense of urgency on your team starts with the ask. When employees don’t follow through, the handoff was usually missing something. You ask for the client email, the deck, or the vendor follow-up, they say “on it,” and a day later you’re doing it yourself and wondering if anyone cares. In this episode, Lia breaks down the three pieces of a handoff that turn “on it” into ownership: a deadline, the reason behind it, and a two-minute check that it’s doable. In this episode you will learn: Why “on it” is an incomplete handoff, and how to fix it inside the ask How to put a deadline on a request without it feeling like micromanaging How to share context so the deadline matters to your team member, even when the reason is your own workload The questions that get your employee to own the urgency and flag risks early How to tell a delegation problem from a performance problem Resources mentioned: Work with Lia on mapping how work gets done on your team: liagarvin.com/contact Tell Lia how the three steps went with your team: [email protected] Connect with Lia: Website: www.liagarvin.com Email: [email protected] Instagram: @lia.garvin LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/liagarvin

What to say instead of good job: "great work" and "nice job" are comments anybody could get, and specific employee recognition is a completely different tool. This episode breaks down acknowledgement, naming a quality you see in someone out loud, and why one sentence from a leader can change what a person believes they're capable of. Lia shares the sentence a manager said to her at a conference that changed the trajectory of her career, and the two-step method for doing it with your own team this week. In this episode you will learn: Why "I think you're good at this" undoes the compliment, and the two words to use instead The two-step method for recognizing your team members: pay attention first, then name it out loud Where to find hard evidence of what your people are great at when you're not sitting next to them all day What to say when someone pushes back and tells you no, they're not good at that The three rules for naming a strength in an employee: it has to relate, it has to make sense, and it has to be true Why the people who are best at something are usually the last to know it's rare Download my FREE guide to making hard conversations with your team easier at liagarvin.com/convo Looking for support for yourself of your team? I've got you covered. Explore manager training, leaders keynotes & offsites, and 1:1 advisory, or my 90-Day-COO program for business owners who want simple systems that actually work. I transform teams from cost centers to profit centers with practical tools and research-backed strategies that make managing EASIER. Get all the details at: www.liagarvin.com Contact: liagarvin.com/contact Email: [email protected] Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lia.garvin Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Lia.Garvin -- © 2026 Lia Garvin / Managing Made Simple

How to keep employees from quitting rarely comes down to money. Gallup found 42% of voluntary employee turnover is preventable, and most of it traces back to one conversation that never happened. In this episode, Lia breaks down the retention conversation to have with your best person before they start looking, and tells two stories from her own career where 30 minutes would have kept her in a job she loved. In this episode you will learn: Why the person about to quit almost never tells their manager first, and what they do instead What made a promotion conversation at Google land as nothing, and the version that would have kept her on the team What to say when the answer is no and you can't change it, so the no doesn't end the relationship The 3 steps of The Sit-Down applied to employee retention, including the words to open with Why waiting for your team to raise a concern first never works, even for approachable leaders The signals a good employee sends for months before the resignation lands Download my FREE guide to making hard conversations with your team easier at liagarvin.com/convo Looking for support for yourself of your team? I've got you covered. Explore manager training, leaders keynotes & offsites, and 1:1 advisory, or my 90-Day-COO program for business owners who want simple systems that actually work. I transform teams from cost centers to profit centers with practical tools and research-backed strategies that make managing EASIER. Get all the details at: www.liagarvin.com Contact: liagarvin.com/contact Email: [email protected] Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lia.garvin Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Lia.Garvin -- © 2026 Lia Garvin / Managing Made Simple

The hard conversation with an employee you keep putting off has a structure. Giving feedback to an employee does not have to become a whole thing. In this episode, Lia breaks down the Sit-Down: one thirty-minute conversation, three steps, that works for the missed deadline, the behavior nobody has named out loud, the change your team did not ask for, and the person doing great work who has not heard about it in six months. In this episode you will learn: The three steps of the Sit-Down, and why leaders skip the first one Why "hey, can we talk" makes people brace for bad news, and what to say instead The exact language for recognizing a high performer so it lands as a career plan, not a compliment What to say to the employee who keeps saying "I'm on it" and never finishes the work How to follow up in writing so you have documentation without making it feel like a case file How the same three steps work when you are announcing a re-org or a change nobody asked for Resources mentioned: Free guide, the Sit-Down across five sticky team situations: liagarvin.com/convo Download my FREE guide to making hard conversations with your team easier at liagarvin.com/convo Looking for support for yourself of your team? I've got you covered. Explore manager training, leaders keynotes & offsites, and 1:1 advisory, or my 90-Day-COO program for business owners who want simple systems that actually work. I transform teams from cost centers to profit centers with practical tools and research-backed strategies that make managing EASIER. Get all the details at: www.liagarvin.com Contact: liagarvin.com/contact Email: [email protected] Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lia.garvin Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Lia.Garvin -- © 2026 Lia Garvin / Managing Made Simple