You're in the company-wide meeting, and your boss is publicly celebrating your team's exceptional work. But just last week, your resource request came back denied.

In this episode, I break down what happens when you get public praise but private denial, and why excellence without protection is a trap for managers. You'll learn how to turn that visibility into leverage, protect your team's bandwidth and morale, and use praise as currency to get what you actually need.

Key Takeaways:

• Why this happens at work, and why the gap between words and actions leaves you feeling isolated and alone
• How to use public praise to strengthen your business case for headcount and budget
• The strategic way to say no when new requests flood in after your team gets visibility
• Why tracking the uptick in asks gives you the data to go back to leadership with proof

This episode is for you if you manage people and have ever felt the tension of being valued and unsupported at the same time.

Want to explore what systemic change could look like in your organization? Visit sparkthefirm.com to learn more about working together.

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Strong Face is for leaders caught between caring for their people and enforcing a system that wasn't built to do so, without losing themselves in the process.

Hosted by Tamara Steward, organizational consultant and founder of Spark the Firm, each episode takes one situation you're likely living through at work right now or have seen before, and shows you what's actually broken, and what's yours to fix.