About
About me
Hello, I'm Natalie.Professionally, I've been managing people and leading teams in the technology sector for around ten years after starting out my career as a software tester - a discipline I remain passionate about.
More recently my focus has switched towards managing managers.
I live in a town called Canterbury, on the South East coast of England in the UK, and share a home with my husband and son.
Becoming a mother has been both the most rewarding and most challenging experience of my life. Juggling parenthood with full-time work is a balancing act that I continue to refine, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
About the blog
I started the blog because managing people is the area of my work that I have always enjoyed the most and because helping other people become great people managers is the thing I am most passionate about.
Being a great people manager is a constant work in progress and I believe that the best way to improve people management skills is to try things out, reflect on them, learn from them, and try to do better next time. Learning from other good managers' experiences is also valuable.
The reason I am so passionate about helping people become great people managers is that I have personally witnessed the detrimental effects poor people management can have on individuals (and teams) all too often. It can have a significant effect on an individual's growth, career development, and, worse, mental well-being. Ultimately, if your individuals aren't happy, the success of your teams and organisation is also impacted.
Many blogs and articles about people management and leadership can be vague and difficult to extract practical steps from. The primary objective of this blog is to provide practical steps that you can apply day-to-day.
There are many different management and leadership styles and no one way is the 'right way', so this blog isn't aiming to tell you how you should manage people, rather, the aim is to share helpful hints and tips on approaches that I have found to be successful (after trying different things out, making some epic mistakes along the way, and learning from them). In a nutshell, I'll be sharing how I 'do' people management.
Where does the name come from?
The name 'Management Sprinkles' originated from two things:
- My desire to 'sprinkle' people management tips and advice on others (i.e. little and often) to help them grow into better people managers.
- A metaphor I often use likening people's professional (and personal) development and growth to that of a plant - we all need sunshine and a regular 'sprinkle' of water in our life!
How can I get in touch?
If there are topics you would like me to write about, please get in touch by sending an email to natalie@managementsprinkles.com. I can't promise to write about every topic suggested but I will always try to respond.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. It brings me hope and joy that you are thinking about honing your people management skills and I hope the hints and tips I share in this blog help you do that.
