Operating Differently Now: Turning Insight Into Intentional Action

In the first two episodes of this series, we explored how performance and promotion decisions actually work, not as rewards for the past, but as judgments about future readiness.

In this episode, we turn toward action.

Operating differently at work doesn’t mean doing more. It means being more intentional in the moments that shape how your thinking, judgment, and collaboration are interpreted.

Leslie Ferry explores how everyday interactions, decisions, meetings, handoffs, and moments without a clear playbook quietly signal how you operate. By learning to pause, gather context, and reflect on how your work is landing, you can move from accidental impact to deliberate influence.

This episode offers a grounded way to translate insight into action without overthinking, self-criticism, or trying to perform differently overnight.

Key Topics Covered

• Why operating differently isn’t about effort, but intention
• How your work is always sending signals, whether you mean it to or not
• What “judgment” looks like in real, ambiguous work situations
• How collaboration shows up through questions, energy, and workability
• Why reflection is sense-making, not rumination
• How managers shape growth through everyday interactions, not just formal feedback

Understanding how your work is interpreted gives you choice and that choice is your Career Edge.

If these episodes have helped you see your work differently, that’s exactly the space Zandra is designed to support — helping people reflect, notice patterns, and operate with intention over time.

Learn more at https://myzandra.ai.

Transcript

Welcome back to the Career Edge. In the last two episodes, we've talked about how performance evaluations and promotion decisions actually work, not as rewards for the past, but as judgments about future readiness. Today, I want to build on these topics, focusing on how to turn these new insights into action to make that positive impact you desire at work and to build the career you want, once you understand the systems of work.

Operating differently doesn't mean doing more. It means being more intentional in the moments that shape how you elevate your abilities and how your work is interpreted. Obviously, our work is always sending signals about how we think, about how we collaborate, about how we handle uncertainty. The difference is whether those signals are accidental or deliberate.

So instead of asking, what should I do more of? A more useful question is, where do my actions matter most for how my work is understood? Those moments tend to show up when there's no clear playbook or obvious answer for how to achieve a goal. A problem isn't fully defined and its impact not yet fully understood. When priorities ⁓ compete,

and when different perspectives are in the room. These moments, they don't require speed. They require completeness. That pause people talk about, that's not inefficiency. It's judgment. It's the moment where you ask, what information am I missing to fully understand what's going on? Who else has context I should consider before moving forward? Have I pressure tested this idea?

Or am I still inside my own thinking? And then after a decision, you want to ask, was my intent clear to others? Did I explain the reasoning behind the direction we took? Do people understand not just what we decided, but why? That's how thoughtfulness shows up in real work. This is also where collaboration becomes visible. Not as agreement.

but as workability. You can often tell how your collaboration is landing by paying attention to a couple of key things. One, the questions you get after you speak. Two, whether people build on your ideas or hesitate. Three, whether others feel invited to contribute their perspective or not.

And four, whether a different direction still feels understood and accepted. If people ask the same question repeatedly, that's data for you. It often means something wasn't clear, not that they weren't listening. If energy drops or people disengage, that's also data for you. It's a signal worth understanding, not ignoring. For managers,

Operating differently includes one additional responsibility. Recognizing that every interaction already shapes growth. Not through formal feedback, but through what you name, what you clarify, and what you help others make sense of in the moment. Helping someone understand how their work landed, what questions it raised, and how their decisions affected others. That's not extra effort.

That's leadership in practice. It helps others see their impact may land differently than they intended. You're helping your team members recognize the signals in their work to understand deeper. It's a great gift that you're providing. So here's a grounded way to apply all of this. This week, choose a meaningful interaction. Maybe it was a decision, a meeting interaction, or a project handoff.

and reflect on it using questions like, what questions did I get? And what do they tell me about what wasn't clear? Did I make space for others' input? And did they feel heard? If we went in a different direction than expected, was the reasoning clear to everyone, including me? What might I do differently next time to create clarity sooner? That kind of reflection

doesn't create overthinking. It builds judgment.

pausing to reflect is an extremely efficient use of time, especially over the long term. It's not self-criticism or rumination. It is sense-making and creates clarity.

Because when you understand how your work is being interpreted, you gain choice. And choice is the real career edge.

If these episodes have helped you see your work differently, that's exactly the space Zandra is designed to support. Helping people reflect, notice patterns, and operate with intention over time. Thanks for listening. I'll see you next time on The Career Edge.