Is your organization breaking a promise to you and blaming Covid-19? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Leigh Thompson, a negotiations professor at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. In this bonus episode, they talk through what to do when your boss can no longer afford to give you a planned raise.  From Alison and Dan’s reading list: Book: Negotiating the Sweet Spot: The Art of Leaving Nothing on the Table by Leigh Thompson — “Indeed, our research suggests that too much self-focus is a recipe for missing the sweet spot, because it leads us to fail to understand our relational partners. What’s more, the more we focus on ourselves, the more likely we are to distort others’ views.” HBR: 15 Rules for Negotiating a Job Offer by Deepak Malhotra — “Those who are unemployed, or whose current job seems shaky, have seen their bargaining power further reduced. But job market complexity creates opportunities for people who can skillfully negotiate the terms and conditions of employment. After all, negotiation matters most when there is a broad range of possible outcomes.” HBR: How to Be a Good Boss in a Bad Economy by Bob Sutton — “As a result, most bosses—like you, perhaps—are operating in difficult and sometimes unfamiliar territory. Equipped with skills and approaches honed over long years of business growth, they now find their roles defined by an unexpected question: How should people be managed when fear is in the air, confidence is slipping, and it looks as if the road ahead will remain rough for many miles?” HBR: What to Do When Your Boss Betrays You by Ron Carucci — “Two of betrayal’s common side effects are believing you deserve restitution for what you’ve suffered and feeling indifferent toward your work. Entitlement can begin gradually — taking longer lunches, padding travel expenses with luxurious meals — and escalate to more voracious acts of self-compensation, all justified by what you’ve tolerated.”

Is the Covid-19 pandemic messing up your career plans? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Scott Galloway, a professor at NYU Stern School of Business. They talk through what to do when you’ve been laid off with a promise that you’ll be hired back eventually, your goal of moving into management has stalled, or your employer’s inflexible work-from-home policy is forcing you to look for other jobs in a difficult market.  From Alison and Dan’s reading list: HBR: 7 Questions to Raise Immediately After You’re Laid Off by Susan Peppercorn — “While some employers can consider more moderate options to laying staff off outright — such as furloughs, reduced schedules, or pay cuts — the fear and uncertainty behind when and if companies will be able to afford to re-employ their workers is resulting in many companies simply shedding employees.” HBR: What to Do If There’s No Clear Career Path for You at Your Company by Dorie Clark — “In the new workplace reality, individual professionals almost have to take a detective-like approach, investigating and vetting opportunities. That may not be hard in smaller companies, but in large global enterprises, information becomes key.” Book: The Algebra of Happiness: Notes on the Pursuit of Success, Love, and Meaning by Scott Galloway — “The world does not belong to the big, but to the fast. You want to cover more ground in less time than your peers. This is partially built on talent, but mostly on strategy and endurance.” HBR: The Right Way to Bring a Problem to Your Boss by Amy Gallo — “None of us likes to deliver a difficult message, but when done correctly, it can be a valuable way to build a trusting relationship with your boss. You know that you should never bring a problem to your boss without a proposed solution. But often we forget to frame the situation in a way that helps us garner the necessary resources or approval to begin moving toward a solution.”

Are you starting a new job during the coronavirus pandemic? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Siobhan O’Mahony, a professor at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. In this bonus episode, they talk through what to do when you want to hit the ground running but your onboarding is not taking place in person as planned. From Alison and Dan’s reading list: HBR: A Guide to Managing Your (Newly) Remote Workers by Barbara Z. Larson, Susan R. Vroman, and Erin E. Makarius — “In response to the uncertainties presented by Covid-19, many companies and universities have asked their employees to work remotely. While close to a quarter of the U.S. workforce already works from home at least part of the time, the new policies leave many employees — and their managers — working out of the office and separated from each other for the first time.” Book: The First 90 Days, Updated and Expanded: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter by Michael Watkins — “Why are transitions critical? When I surveyed more than thirteen hundred senior HR leaders, almost 90 percent agreed that ‘transitions into new roles are the most challenging times in the professional lives of leaders.’ And nearly three-quarters agreed that ‘success or failure during the first few months is a strong predictor of overall success or failure in the job.’ So even though a bad transition does not necessarily doom you to failure, it makes success a lot less likely.” HBR: 15 Questions About Remote Work, Answered by Tsedal Neeley — “Organizations, teams, and people will experiment more with virtual work. Many of them have always wanted to test it as way of expanding their reach or labor force. It’s not that people are going to permanently adopt this new format of work, but this experience will expand everyone’s capacity. If there’s a tiny positive aspect to this mess we’re finding ourselves in, it’s that we’re developing certain skills that could helpful in the future.” HBR: When You Start a New Job, Pay Attention to These 5 Aspects of Company Culture by Allan H. Church and Jay A. Conger — “When you start a new job, look at how people tend to communicate with one another. Is it through formal channels, like meetings that are always set in advance, and to which everyone comes well-prepared? Or do individuals more often communicate spontaneously with little or no documentation?”

Do you feel fake when you try to manage up? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Nashater Deu Solheim, a leadership consultant and author. They talk through what to do when you want choice assignments, you feel like higher-ups aren’t noticing your contributions, or you need a senior manager to be more responsive.  From Alison and Dan’s reading list: HBR: Managing Up Without Sucking Up by Whitney Johnson — “When it comes to managing up, there is an underlying belief in an asymmetry of power, and you either manipulate your way around this, or resign yourself to the fact that the boss or the stakeholder on the other side of the table has the power and you don’t. Try turning this power struggle on its head and think of your boss as a client – as if you were working freelance.” Book: The Leadership PIN Code: Unlocking the Key to Willing and Winning Relationships by Nashater Deu Solheim — “Being a professional expert doesn’t make you an effective leader. What you know is of little value if you can’t translate its use effectively to others or garner support for your ideas to make a difference. It boils down to being effective in all three aspects of your leadership: leading your team, collaborating laterally with peers and building alliances with senior and external stakeholders.” HBR: Change the Way You Persuade by Gary A. Williams and Robert B. Miller — “All too often, people make the mistake of focusing too much on the content of their argument and not enough on how they deliver that message. Indeed, far too many decisions go the wrong way because information is presented ineffectively. In our experience, people can vastly improve their chances of having their proposals succeed by determining who the chief decision maker is among the executives they are trying to persuade and then tailoring their arguments to that business leader’s decision-making style.” Book: Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader by Linda A. Hill and Kent Lineback — “Managing up is important because your boss plays a pivotal role in your success—or your failure. You can leverage your boss’s influence in the organization on your behalf in several ways—for example, by obtaining valuable information, winning needed resources, and securing important support for your personal development and career.”

Are you suddenly working from home? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Tsedal Neeley, a professor at Harvard Business School. They talk through how to be productive at home whether you’re alone or distracted by children, how to care for your newly remote team and make sure they still get work done, or how to adapt when your job requires going outside and seeing people face-to-face.  From Alison and Dan’s reading list: HBR: 8 Ways to Manage Your Team While Social Distancing by Timothy R. Clark — “Uncertainty fuels anxiety. The more you communicate and share, the less chance there is to develop an information vacuum within your team. Communicate regularly even if you don’t have new information to share. Maintaining transparency through a crisis with frequent updates is the ultimate expression of good faith, empathy, and genuine concern for your team.” HBR: 15 Questions About Remote Work, Answered by Tsedal Neeley — “First, you should have a group conversation about the new state of affairs. Say, ‘Hey, folks, it’s a different world. We don’t know how long this is going to last. But I want to make sure you all feel that you have what you need.’ This should be followed by a team launch to jump-start this new way of working.” HBR: A Guide for Working (From Home) Parents by Avni Patel Thompson — “It will feel like you need to squeeze every ounce of productivity out of every minute in the day. It’s a reality that many of us will have to find time to work early in the morning or after the kids are in bed. But be sure to schedule in breaks and unstructured times to unwind and connect with your partner and kids. This is going to be a marathon and it’s important we find ways not to burn out.” HBR: Coping with Fatigue, Fear, and Panic During a Crisis by Tony Schwarz and Emily Pines — “We are dealing with two contagions — the virus itself and the emotions it generates. Negative emotions are every bit as contagious as the virus, and they’re also toxic. Fatigue, fear, and panic undermine our ability to think clearly and creatively, manage our relationships effectively, focus attention on the right priorities, and make smart, informed choices.”

When is the right time for a new job? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Hal Gregersen, a senior lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management and the author of Questions Are the Answer. They talk through what to do when you’re advancing in your role but itching for change, an outside job offer is making you question your current situation, or you’re considering going to a smaller organization for bigger responsibilities. From Alison and Dan’s reading list: HBR: Don’t Quit Your Job Before Asking Yourself These Questions by Priscilla Claman — “Is it time to quit my job? This is a question we’ve all asked ourselves at one point or another. Most people wait until they feel they must leave their job or organization, and that puts them at a disadvantage. They might end up choosing an ‘exit job’ rather than the right next career step.” Book: Questions Are the Answer: A Breakthrough Approach to Your Most Vexing Problems at Work and in Life by Hal Gregersen — “Questions have the curious power to unlock new insights and positive behavior change in every part of our lives. They can get people unstuck and open new directions for progress no matter what they are struggling with. Reframed questions, in whatever setting, turn out to have some fundamental things in common. For one thing, they have the paradoxical quality of being utterly surprising in the moment they are asked but in retrospect seeming obvious.” HBR: Is It Time to Quit Your Job? by Amy Gallo — “Everyone has bad days at work or even long periods when they feel disheartened about their job. But how do you know the difference between ordinary, occasional dissatisfaction and a genuine mismatch? How do you know when you’re truly ready to move on? And how do you then get out gracefully?” HBR: Job-Hopping to the Top and Other Career Fallacies by Monika Hamori — “It’s easy to be distracted by a better title, a bigger pool of direct reports, or other trappings, so when making a switch, always consider what the next move might be and to what extent the current move will help or hinder your ability to achieve longer-term goals.”

Do you have an employee working against you? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Adrian Gostick, an executive coach and the coauthor of Leading with Gratitude. They talk through what to do when your direct report is creating problems only to fix them, one team member is hoarding knowledge, or two employees have created a disruptive office clique. From Alison and Dan’s reading list: HBR: How to Manage a Toxic Employee by Amy Gallo — “There’s that one person on your team — the bad apple who has nothing positive to say, riles up other team members, and makes work life miserable. If you can’t fire him, how do you respond to his behavior? What feedback do you give? How do you mitigate the damage he inflicts?” Book: Leading with Gratitude: Eight Leadership Practices for Extraordinary Business Results by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton — “Rather than admonishing right away, we encourage leaders to share with employees who confess shortcomings that they are sure they intended to do well. They often discover that the person was quite committed, competent, and on top of the situation, and that unexpected obstacles were put in their way.” HBR: How to Prevent Experts from Hoarding Knowledge by Dorothy Leonard — “Lack of time or resources can, of course, constrain knowledge transfer. But one barrier to passing deep smarts along to the next generation that is often unaddressed is the expert’s inclination to hoard knowledge. Financial incentives, personal ego, and discontent or frustration with the company are three of the top reasons individuals choose to keep their expertise to themselves. But they’re also three issues that managers can actually change.” HBR: Employees Who Create Problems on Purpose by Nate Bennett — “It may involve simply embellishing a real problem or making it appear that one looms on the horizon. Just as solving a problem of one’s own creation can generate rewards, so can bringing an inflated or predicted ‘crisis’ to the attention of others.”

Is there someone you work with and wish you didn’t have to? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Jennifer Goldman-Wetzler, an organizational psychologist and the author of Optimal Outcomes. They talk through what to do when you manage a high performer who gets on everyone’s nerves, your teammate unfairly berates you, or the one person you don’t get along with is your boss.  From Alison and Dan’s reading list: HBR: How to Tell a Coworker They’re Annoying You by Caroline Webb — “Whenever we’re working closely with other people, it’s easy for tensions to arise thanks to differences in personal styles and priorities. When they do, we have a choice: should we raise the issue, or keep quiet? Many of us bite our tongue, worrying that speaking up will harm an important relationship. But research suggests that letting something simmer can make things worse, for several reasons.” Book: Optimal Outcomes: Free Yourself from Conflict at Work, at Home, and in Life by Jennifer Goldman-Wetzler — “Conflicts are typically caused by multiple factors, but our tendency is to view the situation in much simpler terms. This inclination to simplify into narrow ‘us-versus-them’ affairs stems from the fight-or-flight instinct, which restricts our focus in the face of danger. When a tiger is charging you, the tiger is all you can afford to pay attention to. Even if you understand that a situation is complicated, your mind seeks rapid clarity so you can take quick action.” HBR: How to Help an Employee Who Rubs People the Wrong Way by Rebecca Knight — “If you’ve ever cringed in a meeting when your direct report was talking, you know how tough it can be to watch a team member undermine themselves. Maybe the person is interrupting colleagues too often. Or being condescending, or even combative. No matter the specific behavior, your employee is clearly rubbing people the wrong way. As the manager, you know it’s your job to address the issue, but you’re not sure how to start the conversation.” HBR: How to Work with Someone You Hate by Amy Gallo — “Pompous jerk, annoying nudge, or incessant complainer, an insufferable colleague can negatively affect your attitude and performance. Instead of focusing on the work you have to do together, you may end up wasting time and energy trying to keep your emotions in check and attempting to manage the person’s behavior. Fortunately, with the right tactics, you can still have a productive working relationship with someone you can’t stand.”

Do you deserve more respect for your role and contributions at work? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Blair Decembrele, a career expert at LinkedIn. They talk through what to do when your direct report goes around you to your manager, your superiors move you into an undesired role without explanation, or your boss suddenly stops appreciating your work. From Alison and Dan’s reading list: HBR: Do Your Employees Feel Respected? by Kristie Rogers — “Because people’s jobs are often central to who they are and how they perceive themselves, respectful cues in a professional setting are important signals of social worth. What’s more, employees often join organizations in the hope of developing their identities over time, by growing professionally and becoming better versions of themselves. Respect is an important feedback mechanism and catalyst for this growth.” LinkedIn Official Blog: Mistakes Happen: Lean on Your Professional Community and Recover From a Career Fumble by Blair Decembrele — “Once you’ve evaluated what went wrong and apologized, figure out how to ensure it doesn’t happen again and go a step further if you can. For instance, if you fumbled an interview question, email the hiring manager additional thoughts on how you should have tackled the topic. Many professionals (29%) say the best way to recover from a fumble is to educate yourself on the issue, so commit to being better prepared next time around.” HBR: The Price of Incivility by Christine Porath and Christine Pearson — “Employees are less creative when they feel disrespected, and many get fed up and leave. About half deliberately decrease their effort or lower the quality of their work. And incivility damages customer relationships. Our research shows that people are less likely to buy from a company with an employee they perceive as rude, whether the rudeness is directed at them or at other employees. Witnessing just a single unpleasant interaction leads customers to generalize about other employees, the organization, and even the brand.” HBR: 5 Signs It’s Time for a New Job by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic — “Even when employees are happy with their pay and promotion prospects, they will not enjoy their work unless they feel appreciated, especially by their managers. Furthermore, people who feel undervalued at work are more likely to burnout and engage in counterproductive work behaviors, such as absenteeism, theft, and sabotage.”

Do you wish you were more plugged-in at your organization? Dan and Alison answer your questions with the help of Robin Abrahams, a research associate at Harvard Business School and the “Miss Conduct” columnist at Boston Globe Magazine. They talk through what to do when you want to network at a company retreat, your manager is bothered by your schmoozing with their peers, or you want to know about plum projects before they get assigned to someone else. From Alison and Dan’s reading list: HBR: Learn to Love Networking by Tiziana Casciaro, Francesca Gino, and Maryam Kouchaki — “A mountain of research shows that professional networks lead to more job and business opportunities, broader and deeper knowledge, improved capacity to innovate, faster advancement, and greater status and authority. Building and nurturing professional relationships also improves the quality of work and increases job satisfaction.” Boston Globe Magazine: Miss Conduct’s all-in-one career fix-it guide by Robin Abrahams — “Censor your snarky inner voice and have the courage to ask seemingly obvious questions or draw offbeat analogies. Networking is about creating possibilities. Giving people a safe space to explore and connect ideas is a great way to persuade them you are a uniquely insightful genius.” HBR: The Best Way to Network in a New Job by Rob Cross and Peter Gray — “Anyone who hopes to hit the ground running in a new organization must first cultivate allies — a network of people who can provide the information, resources and support needed to succeed. But few onboarding programs offer concrete advice on how to build those all-important connections.” HBR: How Leaders Create and Use Networks by Herminia Ibarra and Mark Lee Hunter — “All managers need to build good working relationships with the people who can help them do their jobs. The number and breadth of people involved can be impressive—such operational networks include not only direct reports and superiors but also peers within an operational unit, other internal players with the power to block or support a project, and key outsiders such as suppliers, distributors, and customers.”