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Is WFH being murdered?
My analysis of what’s actually happening in the work-from-home/return-to-office debate right now… with a bit of help from Toto and the flying monkeys.
What's more damaging than burnout? Lessons from ‘The Bear’
The kids are back! Hope you’ve had a good summer (aside from anyone in the UK who needs to take this week off to absorb the only sunshine we seem to have had since June).
This week on the vlog, moving on from burnout to explore its opposite: Boreout—its impact on people, productivity, and retention, and what you can do about it.
The best advice for working parents
16 missed calls.
That’s what I had when I left a meeting.
Since then, I’ve learned that a supportive network is essential for working parents. But that finding it alone isn’t enough. You also need a strategy to get you through the potential rifts when your kids behave in less-than-ideal ways.
The secret to becoming a stress slasher
Stress at work is as contagious as the pox.
I once ruined a whole holiday in Cyprus… on the beach with three little girls. While we were ordering ice creams and booking those fabulous sea pedalos with slides, I was pinging increasingly pissy emails back and forth with my boss.
How to know if your presentation sucks—while giving it.
Okay, so if you’ve just finished speaking, and no one meets your eye or comes to talk to you… *brutal news incoming* you blew it.
If some people chat and follow up—you did OK.
Putin isn’t the only one with insurgency problems
A senior guy at a large management consultancy spent some time last week rambling me through the inane complexities of their annual appraisal system. The ins and outs are far too boring to report, but headlines: Massive time suck. Damages morale (oh the irony). Blunt, old fashioned rankings.
What people REALLY want from bosses will surprise you
The power to make work better is ours.
The big question this week is: why aren’t we stepping up?
Especially when the Gallup data we touched on last week shows that, globally, 65% of us experienced a lot of stress (44%) or anger (21%) just yesterday.
Disengagement: new data sparks urgent call for action (and new ideas)
Gallup’s Global Employee Engagement data released this week says that 77% of employees are disengaged. That is 3 out of 4 people! Most of them are ‘filling a seat and watching the clock’. But 18% are actively disruptive.
The data is new but the trend isn’t.
The most shameful decision of my career
There have been a few (!) but the one I‘m referring to feels as raw and nauseating today as when it happened.
Is hybrid actually the WORST way to work?
Except, of course, as Churchill might have said, for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time…
Hybrid is so wildly popular that even leaders who hate it have mostly conceded defeat and are sticking with it. So much so, that many tell me it’s sorted, done, old news.
Next level of performance management—or the ick?
Your performance review is coming up and you’re nervous.
You’re feeling quite disconnected: you’ve not seen a lot of your manager aside from in Teams calls, you keep missing them in the office, and they’re super busy. (Plus, you’re pretty sure they don’t quite know what it is that you do, or how painful that client is.)
Vital: 5 Game-Changing Leadership Insights!
Last week‘s HR Technologies Conference at ExCel was like HR Disneyland—a rollercoaster of information that it took me two days to come down from.
One thing you MUST know about your colleagues
Knowing it will reduce your stress, their stress and enable you to manage teams and clients a whole lot better… Also, it’s excellent for your sleep patterns.
But even talking about it may make you anxious.
How to handle bullies & blunderers
Dominic Raab (Deputy Prime Minister) and Tony Danker (Director-General of the CBI) have both left their jobs, furiously refuting allegations of bullying and harassment.
I, like most of you I reckon, recognise the pattern.
How to manage stress like the top 10%
This week on the vlog, we have Rob Cross on his new book The Microstress Effect: How Little Things Pile Up and Create Big Problems—and What to Do about It (gosh Americans Love Capital Letters!). Co-written with Karen Dillon and published by Harvard Business Review Press.
How to x100 your hybrid productivity
The question I’m always asked is whether home or office work is more productive. And for all the data reports on this, there isn’t a conclusive pattern (despite what the Daily Mail shouts).
But I have a hypothesis...
5 best team tips to boost productivity 💥
The LinkedIn Forward conference that I MCed last week was about putting people at the centre of business growth—deep diving into productivity in the new world of work.
Two words = Productivity unlocked 🔓
This week I am totally wired. Fresh (not!) off the stage from two days of hosting LinkedIn Forward‘s first London event; it was a whirl of trends, ideas, people, data…
How I overcame the fear of presenting
When I come off stage, people so often ask me how I do it—because they would ’RATHER DIE’ than talk on a stage.
I get it. I used to sweat, my mouth would go dry, I would talk far too fast (yes, I know I’m still too fast sometimes), and my voice would get very high. But I broke it down and figured it out. And you can too.
WHAT MAKES YOU ANGRY hotdesking rage is real
As humans, we’re inclined to be territorial…..And sociable. But only with the people we like of course! And then along came the hotdesk.