Eat Sleep Work Repeat - better workplace culture

 As we start a new year considerations about the jobs we do have never been more prominent. One headline this year has already suggested that up to three-quarters of us might be considering changing jobs. Intriguingly money doesn't appear to be in the top five reasons to make a change.I wanted to understand what was going on here, and what any of should be doing about it. Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis are the UK's most respected careers coaches. Their first book The Squiggly Career is a perennial bestseller, and has become adopted into the lexicon of how we talk about a renegotiated relationship with our careers. Their TED Talk has received millions of views. They have a new book out, You Coach You, which offers practical coaching for anyone curious about changing their career. Some of their suggestions - like job scanning - will help you reorientate what you want from your job - and how you can achieve it.Whether you're thinking about changing work - or just have friends who are considering it - this is a great episode to help us reflect on what we want from our jobs.Buy You Coach You nowSign up for the newsletter Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/eatsleepworkrepeat. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pre-order DisconnectedAt this time of year I find myself listening to more podcasts I’ve released two episodes this week. One is a truly brilliant discussion about how simple decisions can transform workplace culture. And the second is not really about workplace culture but is a stimulating reflection on the way we’re living .A couple of years ago I loved Jia tolentino’s Trick Mirror which was a sparklingly intelligent reflection on the way that the internet is evolving. And along the same lines is a brand new book, Disconnected by Emma Gannon. Emma is increasingly accomplished in multiple fields, she’s a novelist, a non-fiction writer and also an incredibly successful podcaster with over 10 million listens to her podcasts.She’s written a new book which comes at a time that a lot of us are considering renegotiating relationship with our phone. But how can be not lose what we love about our devices which increasing our connection to those around us - a great discussion.Along the way we also talk about her brand new writers' journal which you can find out more about here.Photo by Rahul Chakraborty on Unsplash Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/eatsleepworkrepeat. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How did thinking about workplace culture increase the profitability of firms?I was doing some thinking for some businesses over the last few weeks and the work of one person sprung to mind. Zeynep Ton is a professor of operation management at MIT Sloan School of Management. She found herself looking at the challenges that some businesses had with high employee turnover. They were losing a lot of people. It was causing their service to suffer - it was also costing them a lot of money training and recruiting people. Sounds familiar?From this it lead to another understanding. Some organisations by thinking about and planning the employee experience of work create jobs that were less stressful and more rewarding. It struck her that quite often companies don’t want to make decisions or create limitations for fear of upsetting customers. But in the process they become more muddled for customers and less rewarding for employees.Zeynep goes on to say that the firms who think about these things and set about creating good culture and good jobs (a) are more profitable and have higher revenue (b) build more sustainable businesses so their stock does better.Here are her 4 pillars:operational simplificationstandardisation AND empowermentcross-trainingoperating with slackGood more about the Good Jobs StrategyRead Zeynep's bookSign up for the Make Work Better newsletter Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/eatsleepworkrepeat. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Over the last few weeks the newsletters that have achieved the most resonance were related to having a friend at work. For many of us our favourite jobs were enhanced by having a desk buddy - or a group of friends we could laugh with. But for many people their experience of work is increasingly lonely - maybe they had friends when they were in the office but that experience has transformed in the last two years. Yes, we've managed to get our jobs done, maybe our domestic life has even improved but work just feels a little more isolated and joyless.How big an issue is this for us? Noreena Hertz is here to persuade you this silent spread of loneliness has wide reaching consequences, both for our organisations and for our societies.In a brilliant and wide-ranging discussion we discuss why loneliness matters and what any of us should be thinking about to make our experience of work more complete. If you enjoyed this then this week's newsletter covers adjacent themes: sign up herePhoto by Lowie Vanhoutte on Unsplash Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/eatsleepworkrepeat. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What can we learn about what is going to happen next with work by chatting to the leaders of the sector that supplies our workplaces? You might think very little. There’s certainly no shortage of people in the commercial property sector who have been intent on suggesting that we need to go back to the rat race of all office/all the time.But in that space there are some visionaries who are helping us seeing what is staring us in the face. Last year we’ve spoken to Antony Slumbers, on the newsletter I’ve shared links to the Work Bold podcast by Caleb Parker.Get Cushman & Wakefield’s Return to the Office reportRead more of the C&W Futures postsSign up for the podcast's newsletter - Make Work BetterToday I add Richard Pickering to that list. I was delighted to hear Richard, someone whose writing I’ve been following for a couple of years, speak at an event I was presenting at.We had such a stimulating discussion on the sidelines that I was desperate to persuade Richard to come on here to talk. Richard is the Chief Strategy Officer at Cushman & Wakefield, one of the largest commercial real estate services companies in the world. His job is to make sense of the changes happening in the demand for property and to advise clients where we’re going.He’s straight talking - both about what the office needs to adapt and how this is going to have ripple effects for companies and cities.We talk about: How we’ve only just started understanding different modalities of workHow firms might start including commuting time in the working dayHow cities might start offering public transport for freeHow cities will become younger Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/eatsleepworkrepeat. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oliver Burkeman was a productivity geek. He was the guy trying to get it all done. He was that person, convinced he could optimise living to get the most out of life, writing about it in a wry, detached way in a Guardian column.In this episode we talk about his pursuit of elite productivity - but also what it taught him about the ultimate goal of managing one's time. A truly brilliant discussion. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/eatsleepworkrepeat. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sign up for the newsletter Over the last few weeks I've been intrigued with the firms who have chosen to bite the bullet and ditch their office. What are their philosophies about getting colleagues together in person? How do they think about recruiting? What software tools do they use? What made them make the leap?First up I talked to Camilla Boyer who plays a leading role at making the culture at events platform Hopin. Andrew McNeile is the Chief Customer Officer for Thinscale - a company that supplies secure remote working software for outsourcing firms. One of their customers has 375,000 user on their remote work systems. Then I chatted to Lewis Clark at Qatalog he is responsible for storytelling at Qatalog who are remote first (but he spends one day a week in the office).Then I realised all of these firms were in some way invested in the shift to remote working so I talked to a real person - Lisa Freshwater has been helping Blood Cancer UK ditch their office for good. Finally I chatted to Dan Sodergren whose company YourFLOCK is fully remote. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/eatsleepworkrepeat. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How can we use the power of psychotherapy to help us in our jobs? A brilliant discussion with psychotherapist Naomi Shragai where we talk about how her practice has increasingly brought workplace issues to her coach.We cover:how imposters' syndrome might not be a disaster for your careerhow to tell if your boss is a narcissisthow to deal with boss who is a people pleaserIf you're a people watcher or amateur psychologist you're going to love this. Naomi's new book is The Man Who Mistook His Job for His Life: How to Thrive at Work by Leaving Your Emotional Baggage Behind Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/eatsleepworkrepeat. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s episode is one for those who have an appetite for psychology. It is by two authors of a brand new book that I was interested to check out because it covers some of the biggest themes that hybrid working is going to impact - the issue of group identity. I genuinely think this is one of the biggest things that companies need to be thinking about right now.As we discuss a lot of firms have thought about mission or values but the very best organisations create a sense of collective identity in their teams (and look this might be slightly different identity for different themes).Identity is often seen to be something negative in politics or society - mainly because it is so expertly used by people we don't like. But it's incredibly powerful for any group - and understanding it is vital. Group identity is a big predictor of your likelihood of being vaccinated, clever nations like New Zealand used it to set about creating 'a team of five million' to fight the disease. The discussion is with by Jay Van Bavel  and Dominic J. Packer who as you’ll hear are both Canadian psychologists practicising in the US. Their book, The Power of Us, is out this week. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/eatsleepworkrepeat. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join the discussion on the newsletterThis is the first of two read-alongs in August. Stacks of listeners and newsletter subscribers are reading along on two culture books with us, today we’re talking about Legacy by James Kerr. In two weeks we’re talking about What You Do Is Who You Are by Ben Horowitz. Even you don’t read them the podcast here will cover the lessons of the books for anyone interested in workplace culture - and learning together. Go to the newsletter to join in with the conversation.The All Blacks are the most successful rugby team of all time, in fact they have been called the most successful team in any sport. Drawing their players from a male population of just 2.5m New Zealand adult men, they don’t have any size advantage of the pool they draw from (if size determined outcome then England have more rugby players than the rest of the world combined). But the importance of team values have helped the team create and sustain a meaningful connection with the legacy of the team.‘Culture is like an organism, continually growing and changing’. Listen to the discussion then join the conversation about the key themes - either reply to the newsletter or add your comment in the chat threads here:Sweeping the sheds/no dickheadsRituals define the All Blacks’ cultureDivergent vs convergent meetings Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/eatsleepworkrepeat. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.