At Work with The Ready

You didn’t think we’d do our first-ever Brave New Work live show and let you miss the party, did you? That’s right, we’re coming in hot with a very special episode we recorded at SXSW on March 11th in partnership with our friends at Slack.Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans hit the Slack Studio Live stage with Brian Elliott (co-founder of Future Forum, an SVP at Slack, and a friend-of-the-pod) to talk about the future of work and break down several myths that keep holding us back. Plus, we kept Austin weird with one our strangest check-in rounds yet!We came prepared with our hottest takes (and not just because it was nearly 90 degrees) on these pervasive workplace myths: The person who’s always busy is the person who’s most productive. Compensation is the most important thing when choosing a new role. If you aren’t at the top, there’s nothing you can do to spark change at work. There’s no place for feelings in the workplace. You can’t build culture if you’re not IRL at an office. Bonus Content Alert! You might hear this episode and wonder…was this really recorded outside in front of a live audience?! It was (BNW tips its hat to Taylor Marvin weekly with good reason) and we have the goods to back it up. Head to our YouTube channel for the unedited version that features our faces and cheering crowds for the real-deal Brave New Work live experience.Special thanks to Sparks for recording us live!------------------Our book is available now at bravenewwork.comWe want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.comLooking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com-------------------00:00 Walk On Stage01:05 Intro & Check-In: Do you believe in ghosts, aliens, or both?05:02 Myth 1: The busy person is the most productive.09:23 Myth 2: Money is the most important thing when choosing a job.14:38 Myth 3: Non-leaders have no power to change their work environment26:00 Myth 4: Feelings don't belong in the workplace42:55 Myth 5: It's not possible to build culture if your company isn't in person in an office.50:04 Wrap Up: Subscribe and leave us a review!

Rebroadcast Note: We’re still sleeping off a taco- and margarita-filled weekend at SXSW, so we’re resurfacing one of our most popular episodes today. While two years have passed since we first had this conversation about hybrid work (and much has changed since then), it’s an inescapable fact that many companies are still struggling (some quite publicly) with this particular new way of working. We’re planning on revisiting this topic later in 2023, so email us with your hybrid horror stories and any questions you’d like answered! [This episode originally aired on July 12, 2021.]It’s a major question on many minds these days: When will the office reopen? Or rather: Will the office reopen? Different countries are in very different stages of heading back to physical workspaces (or not); in the United States, the prospect of on-premise work is inching closer as companies struggle to decide between three main models: fully in-office; fully remote; or…maybe some mix of both?In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans unpack why floppy hybrid models are doomed to fail, different flavors of creativity (that don’t rely on glass-walled conference rooms), and what the most adaptive path forward could look like.Our book is available now at bravenewwork.comWe want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.comLooking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Rebroadcast Note: Some things never go out of style, which is why we resurface this foundational episode year after year. Plus, our BNW community has grown by a few thousand new listeners since it last aired! If you’ve already heard this episode, check out our back catalog, leave us a review, or email the podcast to let us know what topics you’d like us to cover this year. If this is the first you’re hearing of “Brave New Work 101,” happy listening. [This episode originally aired on September 14, 2021.]Today’s episode is a foundational survey class; we’re mapping the territory of the work we do, why we do it, what we’re all about—and why we’d love to talk to your boss. Whether you’re a systems design nerd like us or a newcomer who knows in their bones that work sucks but doesn’t have to, we’ve got answers to your big questions—about implementing self-management at your own organization; about assuaging fears of team effectiveness or brittleness; about leader’s becoming more power-literate and less ego-filled; and a whole lot more. So…how does this apply to you? We’ll put it this way: If you’re involved in a complex system with more than two human beings (spoiler alert: you are!), you’re already doing this work—and we’re here to help make it awesome.Our book is available now at bravenewwork.comWe want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.comLooking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

We’re back with part two of our conversation about talent marketplaces. Last week, Rodney and Aaron explored what talent marketplaces are and the types of organizational problems they can help address. (Pro tip: If you haven’t yet listened to that episode, hit pause and check it out now!)This week, they’re moving past the big picture and getting into the nitty gritty of what makes talent marketplaces work…or not. It’s not just about how to move pieces around a chess board, but rather about disrupting old-school organizational power plays. Today, Rodney and Aaron take a closer look at: What it takes to maintain a transparent marketplace that matches the right people with the right opportunities without resorting to shady, backroom dealings How traditional performance management systems penalize (instead of promote) moving talent around What experiments a company can try to give these principles a shot How compensation works when people aren’t tethered to a traditional role with clear benchmarks or boundaries ----------------Our book is available now at bravenewwork.comWe want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.comLooking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com----------------00:00 Check-In: What are you looking forward to this weekend?01:42 How do talent marketplaces work for people participating in them?05:50 How traditional organizations prevent and penalize mobility10:16 What you learn when you let people leave teams and move around16:02 Experiments with talent marketplaces for companies to run21:38 Compensation structures for talent marketplaces25:08 Who pays for cross-functional teams?27:45 Fine tuning and maintaining the system28:54 Why these teams are the best places to learn new ways of working

We’ve probably talked about the classic, old-school, hierarchical org chart hundreds of times on the show. Not because we love it (longtime Brave New Work-ers know it’s not really our jam), but rather because it’s one of the most recognizable organizational structures out there. Despite its everywhere-ness, the boxes-and-line org chart isn’t exactly an adaptive way to design an organization. So what’s an alternative?We head to Hollywood (metaphorically) to explore a different structural model: the talent marketplace. Where org charts break, talent marketplaces bend—offering greater flexibility and resilience.In Part 1 of this two-parter, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans dig into the many benefits of talent marketplaces, the sticky problems they help solve, and what can trip up companies when they first move toward this model.Our book is available now at bravenewwork.comWe want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.comLooking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com-------------------------00:00 Check-In: What is your ideal amount of novelty and rotation when it comes to your roles at work?03:40 What is a talent marketplace?10:27 What is the problem talent marketplaces solve?13:39 One big winner can actually limit a talent marketplace20:23 Managing success the rest of the system isn't ready for24:58 The tipping point of scarcity

We’ve all been there: trying to suss out what a colleague’s crossed arms meant during a presentation; reading between the lines on a passive-aggressive message; or struggling to interpret a perplexing emoji reaction (what do pineapples have to do with the budget?). We're all just doing our best at understanding our coworkers with little to no real information. That’s where a “User Manual to Me” can come in handy. These personalized handbooks can provide a helpful framework for others to better understand our behaviors, quirks, needs, desires, and working styles—if we commit to getting real when writing our own.In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans dive into how teams can make and use these manuals in a meaningful way, including: Why it’s better to be “real” versus “aspirational” when filling one out How you can dig deeper when you keep getting “polite” answers Why user manuals are living documents that should be revisited over time What we can learn about ourselves by making one Additional “User Manual to Me” Inspiration: Adam Bryant - New York Times Brad Feld - Blog Our book is available now at bravenewwork.comWe want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.comLooking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com----------------00:00 Check-in: What's the warning sign on the back of your box?03:55 What is a user manual to me?08:54 Benefits of making a user manual11:07 Why people don't answer some questions honestly13:13 Aspirational vs real agreements20:12 Aaron & Rodney's manuals22:03 Q1 - What do people misunderstand about you?23:33 Q2 - How can people earn an extra gold star with you?27:01 Varsity Q1 - What pulls you below the line?29:34 Varsity Q2 - What are you worried about?34:00 Facilitating user manuals with your own team

Whether your company is fully remote, fully in-person, or somewhere in-between, work in 2023 (and beyond) will require healthy and robust digital ecosystems—because that’s where so much work takes place day in and day out. Still, wanting a first-rate digital-first workplace and having one are two different things—and there’s no one-size-fits-all roadmap to follow. Every team has different needs, so we can expect different journeys. But that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from each other.In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans reflect on The Ready’s early years (hat tip to Panera for providing O.G. office space), sharing advice and learnings from the growing pains of yesteryear. Then, as part of our partnership with Slack, they sit down with Kelsey Stevenson, Chief Product Officer at Bitly, to talk about how the growing company is evolving its own digital-first workplace and the experiments they’re running to build trust, culture, collaboration—and a very active pets channel in Slack.Learn more about Bitly: bit.lyConnect with Kelsey on LinkedIn: bit.ly/3WX2waVOur book is available now at bravenewwork.comWe want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.comLooking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Why are “Ask Us Anything” episodes our favorite ones to make? Because our listener questions are never not inspiring, provocative, moving, sharp…just insert your favorite emoji here. What can we say? Y’all are the best.In today's episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans head back to the mailbag (and try to break their record of answering only two questions per episode). They offer their hot takes (naturally) and dig into: Why workplace rituals matter and how to develop ones that are legit meaningful What to do when leaders at the top say they’re hungry for change…and then block it left, right, and center How to help teams transition to new tools, especially when that adoption requires brand new skills and brand new levels of (currently non-existent) trust Our book is available now at bravenewwork.comWe want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.comLooking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

Emojis might seem like all fun and games—but they can also speak a thousand words about a company’s culture. If they’re used, how they’re used, who uses them, whose posts always gets peppered with dozens of fire or rocket ship reactions—that’s all pretty juicy (and potentially spicy) information about an organization’s sense of camaraderie, connection, trust, agreements…you name it.In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans unpack the power of those little icons at work and ask questions like: What role do emojis play in remote work? How can emojis help asynchronous teams increase efficiency and decrease friction? What can our emoji habits reveal about unspoken workplace agreements and behaviors? How do teams build bespoke emoji libraries and languages? Why can sending your boss an emoji feel like a risky move? How can emojis contribute to more equitable workplaces? Is there a secret emoji council and where’s our invite? Slack x Duolingo’s research on emoji use at work: https://slack.com/blog/collaboration/emoji-use-at-workOur book is available now at bravenewwork.comWe want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.comLooking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com

There’s a lot of “Looking for a job” energy in the world right now—but interviewing can be a nerve-racking experience. Folks on both sides of the equation want something—reliable gig, reliable colleague—and that can give way to performativity, misrepresentation, and hidden agendas. Because when an interview process doesn’t incentivize authenticity, negative patterns can pop off real quick. In this episode of Brave New Work, Aaron Dignan and Rodney Evans offer guidance on building better interviews, including: The importance for interviewees to self-assess skills already mastered and skills yet learned How both sides of the interviewing equation can create space for more curiosity and nuance The lies we tell ourselves about resumes and cover letters Why designing interviews that simulate real-life work are so critical The top four questions Aaron asks himself as an interviewer Do you have any cringeworthy interview stories? We want to hear all about ’em. Send us your goofs, your guffaws, and your facepalms at podcast@theready.com.Our book is available now at bravenewwork.comWe want to hear from you. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@theready.comLooking for some help with your own transformation? Visit theready.com